If there’s one game that will surely dominate the gaming landscape in 2025, it’sGrand Theft Auto 6. This upcoming title from Rockstar Games and Take-Two Interactive is the first new installment in theGTAfranchise in over ten years. The last entry,Grand Theft Auto 5, sold over 200 million copies in its lifetime, so anticipation forGTA 6is unsurprisingly quite high. In fact, whenGrand Theft Auto 6was first announced in December 2023, its reveal trailer amassed a whopping 93 million views on Rockstar’s official YouTube channel just 12 hours after it went live, making it one of the fastest-viewed videos in YT history. Given the incredible attention the title is getting more than a year before its release, it seems safe to say thatGTA 6is poised to have one of the most successful and influential game launches of all time.
Just because it’s generating so much excitement, it doesn’t meanGrand Theft Auto 6will live up to everyone’s lofty expectations. Indeed, there are some aspects of the game that may limit player freedom. For example, from the footage shown intheGTA 6reveal trailer, the crime-committing dual protagonists, Lucia and Jason, appear to be in a Bonnie and Clyde-style romantic relationship with each other. While romance has had a presence in previous titles in the series, this looks like the first time that the plot of aGrand Theft Autogame will be centered around the budding love between two lead characters. Although this change to the series’ protagonist formula is certainly interesting, Lucia and Jason’s romantic relationship likely indicates that dating other NPCs won’t be a prominent feature inGTA 6.
The Romance Between GTA 6’s Dual Protagonists Could Suggest that Dating Won’t Be in the Game
Dating Has Been a Notable Feature in Previous GTA Games
Though earlyGTAtitles did feature minor romance subplots, the 2004 PS2 gameGrand Theft Auto:San Andreaswas the first entry in the series to incorporate datingas an actual gameplay mechanic.GTA: SA’s protagonist, the pragmatic gangster Carl ‘CJ’ Johnson, had six potential girlfriends he could choose from. Although two of the girlfriends in the game, Millie Perkins and Denise Robinson, could only be unlocked after completing certain story missions inSan Andreas’s main campaign, the rest of Carl’s possible partners could be dated regardless of story progression.
The ability to date girlfriends made its return in the next twomainline entries in theGrand Theft Autoseries,GTA 4andGTA 5. InGTA 4, there were five different women that the game’s protagonist, Niko Bellic, could date, three of which could only be met on the internet in-game.GTA 5, on the other hand, took a more stripped-down approach to the dating mechanic fromprevious Grand Theft Autoinstallments. While players could hook up with certain characters in the game, they were unable to take them out on dates, like inSan AndreasorGTA 4.
GTA 6 Lacking a Dating Mechanic Would Be Disappointing, But a Well-Written Romance Could Make Up for It
Since Jason and Lucia are already in a romantic relationship with each other,there’s a good chance thatGrand Theft Auto’s trademark dating gameplay featuredoesn’t return at all inGrand Theft Auto 6. UnlessGTA 6’s protagonists break up sometime during the course of the main storyline or one of them outright dies early on in the game, it seems likely that the game won’t provide players with any romance options.
After the success of recent titles likeBaldur’s Gate 3andCyberpunk 2077, both of which featured extensive dating mechanics, being unable to romance NPCs inGTA 6will probably disappoint some. That being said, if Rockstar is able to execute the romance betweenGrand Theft Auto 6’s protagonists well, then perhaps the absence of this feature won’t matter much in the long run.
Grand Theft Auto 6
WHERE TO PLAY
Grand Theft Auto VI heads to the state of Leonida, home to the neon-soaked streets of Vice City and beyond in the biggest, most immersive evolution of the Grand Theft Auto series yet.Jason and Lucia have always known the deck is stacked against them. But when an easy score goes wrong, they find themselves on the darkest side of the sunniest place in America, in the middle of a criminal conspiracy stretching across the state of Leonida — forced to rely on each other more than ever if they want to make it out alive.
