NOWADAYS, A STORYLINE CAN BE GENERATED IN SECONDS, its script finalised soon after. In a world where the feeling of a place, down to the specific shade of a sunset, can be assembled from a desk on another continent, the creatives who still take the time to handcraft every element stand apart. Rockstar Games, creators of the Grand Theft Auto series, have built worlds that feel just as much like a place to visit as a game to play for nearly three decades; their signature attention to detail at every level defines the experience. With titles that consistently expand on what’s possible when gameplay and storytelling are intertwined, they pursue one idea: that games can be more.

Luxury means what and to whom exactly? For LOVE Issue 27, the team behind Rockstar Games’ upcoming Grand Theft Auto VI game speaks with Kacion Mayers about their decade of obsessive world building, the research trips that shaped Leonida, and unpack what the American Dream looks like now. In a world this dense, they explain, nobody you meet in GTA VI will be an extra.

Artwork featuring Jason Duval and Lucia Caminos by Rockstar Games.