Grand Theft Auto VI could be one of Rockstar Games’ longest single-player experiences yet. Rockstar North co-studio head Rob Nelson has revealed that one of his playthroughs of the upcoming game lasted around 80 hours.
The figure comes from a recent interview with The New York Times. Importantly, the 80-hour run was not limited to the main story. Nelson’s playthrough also included some optional goals, including optional content that can have an impact on the narrative. That means 80 hours should not be treated as Rockstar’s official estimate for completing the main campaign.
It does, however, give players a useful indication of the game’s scale. This was an actual playthrough by one of the developers, rather than a theoretical estimate based on the number of missions or the size of the map. Nelson completed the run in February, before the game’s final release.
The optional content is interesting because some of it can affect the story. Rockstar appears to be giving players reasons to spend time away from the critical path instead of treating side content as completely separate from the main campaign. That could also mean two players may reach the end of the game after spending noticeably different amounts of time in Leonida.
The 80-hour figure also puts GTA 6 in a different category from previous entries in the series. For comparison, HowLongToBeat data puts the average time for GTA V’s main story and some side content at around 51.5 hours. Completionists took considerably longer, averaging around 89.5 hours. These figures are based on player-reported data, so they should not be treated as direct comparisons with Nelson’s developer playthrough.
That matters because Nelson was not describing a typical player’s completion time. Developers can spend more time testing systems, exploring content and taking different approaches during development. GTA 6 also gives players a large number of optional activities and objectives, making playtime highly dependent on how each person approaches the game.
Rockstar has not announced an official number of hours for GTA 6’s main story. There is also no confirmation that every player will need anything close to 80 hours to reach the ending.
