Rockstar tried to replace GTA 6 weapon wheel, Schreier says

Rockstar Games spent a long time trying to get rid of the weapon wheel in GTA 6, and then kept it anyway. That's according to Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier. In a YouTube video covered by Dexerto on October 19, Schreier said the team tested a long list of replacements over "months, if not years" before going back to the familiar circle.

Schreier shared details from his visit to Rockstar North that he hadn't published before, including conversations with Rob Nelson, whom Dexerto describes as the game's development boss.

Why the wheel was on the chopping block

Schreier says the problem started with a design goal borrowed from Red Dead Redemption 2. Rockstar wanted Jason and Lucia to carry a limited set of guns instead of a bottomless arsenal. A GTA 5-style wheel with fewer weapons in it would leave visible empty slots, which would keep reminding players of everything they couldn't carry.

So the team tried other options. "They tried trays and webs and all sorts of different things," Schreier said, and according to Dexerto he added that Rockstar even tested having no weapon interface at all. None of it stuck. "After all that, they just wound up back at a weapon wheel," he said.

Brazilian outlet GameVicio also covered the remarks, citing Dexerto, and reported the same chain of events.

A symptom of a slow stretch

Schreier presents the weapon wheel saga as one example of a broader problem. In his account, GTA 6 had a rough patch between 2019 and 2022, when Rockstar was still working out what the game should be. The studio wanted many of RDR2's immersive systems without losing the speed and chaos people expect from GTA, and that balance was hard to find.

"It wasn't actually making progress for a long period of time and that was frustrating for people," Schreier said. He also reports that some designers grew frustrated enough with the lack of direction that they left Rockstar. Neither Rockstar nor Take-Two has commented on those claims in the source coverage.

According to Schreier, things started to improve in late 2022 and early 2023. He says the first trailer in December 2023 gave the team a clearer picture of what it was building. This fits his earlier reporting on the game's production, which we covered in our piece on Bloomberg's GTA 6 making-of report.

What it means when you pick up the controller

The wheel survived, but Dexerto reports that the gun systems around it have changed. The number of weapons you can carry is capped, and NPCs react when you walk around with a gun out. Dexerto also says Dead Eye-style aiming came over from RDR2. That puts it alongside the Criminal Profile system, which Dexerto describes as GTA 6's take on RDR2's honor meter.

If you were worried about learning a new menu while being chased by Vice City police, you don't need to be. Dexerto notes that the returning wheel appears in GTA 6's 27-minute Netflix Extended Look, so the final version is already on screen.

What's still open

These development details come from Schreier's reporting, not from Rockstar. The studio hasn't publicly described the scrapped prototypes or the staff departures. We also don't know yet how many guns Jason and Lucia can carry at once, or how you swap weapons in and out of your loadout. Hands-on coverage after the review embargo should answer that.

GTA 6 launches November 19 on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.