A former GTA developer says AI could port GTA VI to PC before Rockstar does

Rockstar has always launched on consoles first and let PC players wait. AI might change that math. Kyle Orland looks at the possibility for Ars Technica, drawing on comments former Rockstar developer Obbe Vermeij gave Rock Paper Shotgun.

The threat

AI-powered reverse-engineering tools can turn a console game binary into portable source code with brute-force efficiency and little human effort. Vermeij said that if he were Rockstar, he'd worry someone would take the PS5 version of Grand Theft Auto VI and have AI convert it to PC.

It wouldn't be easy. GTA VI is far more complex than the early 3D GTA games fans decompiled by hand, with detailed weather systems and even simulated sweat. Vermeij guessed the token bill could run to tens of thousands of dollars, and the result probably wouldn't match Rockstar's own port. But it might be good enough for some PC players.

Why it changes things

The old protection was effort. Games were so expensive to build that ripping one off and rebuilding it wasn't realistic. Vermeij says that has completely changed, and he wouldn't be surprised if Rockstar tried to bring the PC release closer to the console launch to get ahead of it. Reports point to a PC port in the first quarter of 2027, though there's no official date.

The bigger picture

This isn't just about one game. If AI can decompile and port a modern AAA title for the price of a used car, then platform exclusivity, delayed releases and even copy protection lean on assumptions that no longer hold. It's the same pattern security researchers keep finding: the work that used to make attacks impractical is now cheap.

For game developers, the takeaway is that obscurity isn't protection anymore. Release strategy may matter more than binary format.

Scoreboard update: AI +1. AI makes porting a blockbuster game cheap enough to threaten the publisher's own release plan.

Stay undead.