Games

Grand Theft Auto Fan Counts the Number of NPCs in the GTA 6 Trailer

Published

2 months ago

October 9, 2024

Christoph Rediske

Key Takeaways

A GTA 6 fan has discovered that the game’s announcement trailer features over 630 NPCs.
GTA 5’s announcement trailer contained only 71 NPCs by comparison, hinting at GTA 6’s gargantuan scope.
GTA 6’s high NPC counts might lead to lower framerates on consoles due to CPU limitations, with even the PS5 Pro speculated to miss out on a 60fps mode.

One very devoted Grand Theft Auto 6 fan has tallied up the number of NPCs in the game’s announcement trailer. The long wait for more Grand Theft Auto 6 news is clearly getting to some fans, but these NPC observations do provide some perspective on the game’s immense scope compared to previous entries in the open-world crime series.

GTA 6‘s first trailer debuted in early December 2023, following which Rockstar Games went radio silent on the highly anticipated title. Aside from repeated confirmations of a fall 2025 launch window for GTA 6, no new information about the game has been released by either Rockstar or publisher Take-Two yet. The lack of communication has frustrated a lot of fans, and some have taken matters into their hands to predict GTA 6‘s next marketing beat.

Why GTA 6 Could Be the Ideal Home for a Fan-Favorite San Andreas Feature

GTA: San Andreas was home to a now-forgotten gameplay feature that GTA 6 is well-poised to bring back, making it better than ever.

Amid the forecasts and speculation around GTA 6‘s next trailer, Reddit user great_maccc went back to the game’s reveal trailer to count the number of NPCs in it. In a recent post on the GTA 6 subreddit, the user confirmed that GTA 6‘s Trailer 1 features over 630 NPCs. For added perspective, great_maccc also included the NPC count of GTA 5‘s first trailer, which stands at a relatively measly 71. Since both trailers run for around one and a half minutes, GTA 6 featuring over 9 times the number of NPCs compared to GTA 5 is quite staggering, and a valid indicator of how huge and dense Leonida may be.

GTA 6’s High NPC Counts Might Spell Bad News for Framerates

The sheer density of NPCs packed into GTA 6‘s urban sprawl seems very impressive, but it could come at a cost that many console users are dreading: the lack of a 60fps performance mode. High NPC counts with complex scripts are often very taxing on CPUs, as evidenced by Dragon’s Dogma 2‘s exorbitant CPU usage on all platforms. If GTA 6 goes the same route, reducing the resolution and workload on the GPU may not be enough to push the framerate to a playable 60fps, as the bottleneck would be on the CPU side.

GTA 6‘s performance on the PS5 Pro should also be interesting to evaluate. The upgraded mid-generation console features huge improvements in GPU performance and AI upscaling, but CPU improvements are on the milder side with only a 10% boost in clock speeds. It’s entirely possible, then, that GTA 6 may not run at 60fps on PS5 Pro either. However, all of this is ultimately speculation, and Rockstar’s technical wizardry could overturn the expectations surrounding GTA 6‘s performance on current-gen consoles.