A former Rockstar animator finds parts of GTA 6 dated: the UI and the faces

Mike York, an animator on GTA V and Red Dead Redemption 2, tells TechRadar the UI and facial animation look dated. He still expects the game to sell enormously. How much his opinion is worth.

Two months from launch, almost everything published about Grand Theft Auto VI is promotion. That is why it stands out when someone with the craft points at what does not convince them. That is what Mike York, a former Rockstar animator, did in an interview with TechRadar picked up on 16 September by GamesRadar and HobbyConsolas.

Who Mike York is

York spent several years at Rockstar and worked as an animator on Grand Theft Auto V and Red Dead Redemption 2. He is no longer at the studio: he is commenting from the outside, analysing public material. That is the part worth keeping in mind — he is not describing anything he has seen from the inside, only what "An Extended Look", the 26-minute video Rockstar published on 27 August, shows.

His background does give him authority on one specific thing: he knows how animation works on a game this size, and how expensive it is to change it when the date is close.

What he finds dated: the UI

York's clearest criticism is aimed at the interface. He says it does not match the style of the game or what the series usually does, and that Rockstar has more than enough talent to change it before release if it wanted to. Then he adds the realistic caveat: at this point in development the studio has plenty of other things to worry about, so he doubts it is a priority.

He is not alone: the weapon wheel shown in the video already drew discussion among players. It is a minor detail next to the rest of the game, but it is one of the few things that can be judged from what has been shown.

The faces: why he thinks MetaHuman is not being used

The second criticism is technical. York believes Rockstar is not using MetaHuman — Epic's face capture and creation technology — but a more traditional method, close to GTA V's. He finds the facial animation rough.

His explanation of why is the interesting part: a high-fidelity face carries hundreds of bones, and that is heavy when dozens of characters are on screen. It is the kind of work reserved for the cutscenes of a linear game, not for an open world with hundreds of simulated pedestrians at once. Put another way: what he sees as a flaw may also be a deliberate decision so the game runs.

One official data point pushes the same way: Rockstar has said it built a team dedicated only to pedestrians, with more than 600,000 animations, twice as many as Red Dead Redemption 2. The priority seems to be the world, not a close-up of a face.

What he had already said about Jason

This is not the first time York has commented on the video. In earlier TechRadar interviews this month he said Jason moved in a slow, methodical way, almost like a robot, and looked short on expression. He missed the charisma of protagonists such as Niko Bellic and hoped the final game shows more personality. About Lucia he said the opposite: he sees her as livelier, the counterpoint to Jason.

And he still expects it to sell enormously

The headline falls short without the ending. York closes by saying that, just as with GTA V, the game will perform really well and keep people playing for years, and that whatever ships rough will be patched. That is exactly what happened in 2013: GTA V launched with a much debated interface and became the best-selling game of its generation.

How much weight to give this

• It is an opinion, not a leak. York is not revealing anything internal; he is analysing a public promotional video.
• A video is not the game. What is shown is edited to impress, and the UI in it can change before 19 November.
• His experience does count when explaining the technical "why", which is the most useful part of the interview.

Has Rockstar responded to this criticism?

No. Rockstar does not comment on this kind of analysis and has said nothing about the UI or the facial animation.

Can the UI still change before launch?

Technically yes, and York himself says the studio could do it. Whether they want to touch something like that two months out is another matter.

Does this mean GTA 6 will look worse than expected?

No. The criticism is limited to faces and UI. York himself praised the lighting, the clarity and the hair physics in the material shown.

Sources: interview by TechRadar, reported by GamesRadar and HobbyConsolas; earlier comments on Jason via TechRadar; the 600,000 animations figure via TechRadar. Image: official thumbnail of "Grand Theft Auto VI: An Extended Look", by Rockstar Games.