Rockstar wants physical intimacy ‘done right’ in GTA 6 as it confirms nude scene

A romantic rebirth (Rockstar)

GTA 6 is aiming to deliver a relationship role-player through Jason and Lucia, as Rockstar confirms the former will bare all in the shower. 

Aside from its incomprehensibly large Florida-inspired sandbox, the most exciting aspect of GTA 6 is its dual protagonists. 

Jason and Lucia are the first couple to lead a GTA game – Lucia is the first female protagonist of any kind – and their relationship looks set to play a key role in the story and gameplay. 

It’s not an area games have historically been great at, especially when it comes to tackling physical intimacy, but Rockstar wants to change that with GTA 6. 

Speaking in an interview with IGN, Rob Nelson, co-studio head of Rockstar North, said how the studio has been iterating to ensure Jason and Lucia’s relationship is ‘done right’. 

When it’s suggested that games have traditionally been bad at portraying physical intimacy, Nelson replied: ‘Well, we don’t want to be so bad at it. These characters feel very right together – they really do. For anybody that wants to play around with the idea of role-playing their relationship, it’s amazing. 

‘So many people on the team have connected with the characters. But physical intimacy is a huge part of a relationship, and so it has to be done right. Like anything that we do, we have to iterate and try things and iterate on it until we figure out what feels right.’

Nelson goes onto explain that, unlike GTA 5 which had three disparate characters you could control, they want players in GTA 6 to feel like they ‘want to check in’ with both Jason and Lucia. 

‘As opposed to GTA 5, where it’s three separate characters who are aligned but living very separate lives, you spawn into this game and often go, ‘Where is she? Where is he? I want to check in. I want to know where they are,” Nelson said. ‘In life, you generally always know where your partner is. Even if you’re apart, you know roughly where they are and what they’re doing.

‘So, we had to really find our way through to see how the relationship would feel to play. It took a fair bit of iteration, but now it feels really good, we think, and it’s unlike anything we’ve done. Where when playing as one character, you’re that one, and when you’re the other one, you’re the other one. When you bring them together, it feels like you’re a steward of their relationship, and you feel protective of them as a unit.’

Rockstar,however, did confirm it’s up to players how much they explore Jason and Lucia’s relationship, which will have an impact on how the story plays out.

A big question hanging over GTA 6 is how far it’ll go in portraying sex and nudity as part of this relationship. Recent age ratings have revaled sex scenes will be involved in some capacity, but Rockstar has now confirmed Jason will bare all in the shower. 

Digital pin-ups (Rockstar Games)

As outlined in the same IGN interview, Nelson, while playing the game as Lucia, switches back to Jason, where he’s seen ‘naked’ in the shower. 

It’s unclear if you can actually see everything on display, or if Lucia can be found in the same scenario, but Rockstar has featured full frontal nudity in its games, as far back as GTA 4’s DLC.

Rockstar is no stranger to giving their lead characters a scrub. In Red Dead Redemption 2, Arthur Morgan can visit a bathhouse, but the scenes never show anything more than that.

GTA 6 is set to launch worldwide on November 19, 2026 across PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S. 

It’s only just over a month away (Rockstar)

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