The 'all the good devs left Rockstar' take is so tired

Seen this one floating around again lately. "GTA 6 is gonna suck because all the good devs left." Usually they're talking about Leslie Benzies, sometimes Dan Houser. And yeah, it's annoying.

Leslie's post-Rockstar project was Everywhere. Remember that? Exactly. It was a mess. The guy was important, sure, but he wasn't the whole company. Dan Houser wrote some great stuff, but he's not the only writer. Rockstar's always been a massive team effort.

The core people who actually built the worlds we love are still there:

• Aaron Garbut — head of art, been there since GTA III
• Rob Nelson — he was running Rockstar North during RDR2's development, and that game turned out alright
• Sam Houser — still the president, still the creative vision guy

I think a lot of gamers don't get how these games are made. It's not one auteur in a room. RDR2 had something like 1,200 voice actors. The credits are longer than most movies. If making a GTA was easy, someone else would've done it by now. But nobody has, because the scale is insane.

It's like doubting a scientist when you don't even know what an atom is. You can be skeptical, but at least understand the basics before you write off a whole studio.

What's the most underrated part of Rockstar's process that you think people overlook?

Source: r/GTA6 · Curated content.

ok so the "all the good devs left" crowd always forgets aaron garbut is still head of art and he's been there since gta iii

Garbut staying matters, but I'm more relieved the mission scripting team still has veterans from IV and V. You don't replicate Three Leaf Clover by accident.