IO Interactive Coder: GTA 6 NPCs “10 Years Ahead” of Industry

2 September 2026 · 5 min read

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Berkay Dursun, an AI programmer at IO Interactive who spent three years building crowd technology for 007: First Light, has publicly assessed GTA VI’s NPC system. In his words, it is “at least 10 years ahead” of the rest of the industry. It’s important to be clear about what this is: a personal, professional opinion from an outside developer — not a statement from Rockstar Games, and not the game’s technical documentation.

The one-minute version

• This is Berkay Dursun’s assessment, an IO Interactive AI programmer — not Rockstar’s position.
• The phrase “10 years ahead” is his subjective impression, without an official benchmark.
• According to Dursun, most games (including Hitman and Assassin’s Creed) rely on looped crowd animations without real AI.
• In GTA VI, in his view, every NPC is simulated individually.
• Dursun explicitly states he doesn’t work at Rockstar and is assessing the tech as an independent specialist.
• The closest equivalent, in his opinion, is Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord.

Who is Berkay Dursun

Dursun is an engineer at IO Interactive, the studio behind the Hitman series, specializing in character AI. He spent three years working on crowd technology for the studio’s spy project, 007: First Light. In other words, this isn’t a random commentator — it’s someone whose day job is simulating NPC behavior in large games. That gives his assessment weight, but it doesn’t turn it into an official fact about GTA VI: Dursun is analyzing another studio’s game from the outside, based on publicly shown material, not Rockstar’s source code.

Dursun’s assessment: “at least 10 years ahead”

The key quote, circulated by GTA BOOM and GamingBolt: GTA VI’s NPC system, according to Dursun, is “at least 10 years ahead of the industry.” That phrase is best read literally, as one specialist’s impression, not a measurable metric. Dursun doesn’t present formulas or tests backing the specific figure of “10” — he’s conveying the general impression of an experienced crowd developer, comparing what he saw to what other studios typically do.

Dursun himself, according to the sources, is careful each time to frame the limits of his own vantage point: he’s assessing the technology as someone who built similar systems for 007: First Light, not as a Rockstar insider with access to GTA VI’s internal documentation.

Why he calls it a breakthrough: looped animations versus living AI

Dursun’s argument rests on a comparison with how crowds are typically handled in big games. In his telling, most projects, including Hitman (his own studio’s game) and Assassin’s Creed, rely on looped animations: NPCs walk set routes, repeat the same action cycles, and have neither a schedule nor an internal “logic” that genuinely reacts to the player.

In GTA VI, as Dursun sees it, the approach is different: every character is simulated separately, with its own AI that reacts to the player’s actions and, in his words, “lives its own life” — rather than simply replaying an animation loop on a timer. That difference is exactly what he points to as the basis for his 10-year gap claim.

Worth noting here is a figure Rockstar itself previously disclosed: GTA VI is built with over 600,000 unique NPC animations — more than ten times as many as GTA V had. Dursun points to that scale and level of detail as technical backing for his impression, though the 600,000 figure itself is Rockstar’s data, not his own calculation.

Looking for something to compare GTA VI’s crowd tech to, Dursun names Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord, a game with relatively complex NPC-army simulation. But even that comparison he frames cautiously, as the closest thing available rather than an equivalent.

An assessment, not Rockstar’s official position

It’s worth restating plainly: Rockstar Games has not publicly confirmed or disputed Dursun’s remarks. He is not a Rockstar employee, had no access to GTA VI’s internal documentation, and is forming his conclusion from the same publicly shown material everyone else saw — according to the sources, including crowd footage from Rockstar’s own official videos. So “10 years ahead” is one specialist’s metaphor for his own impression, not a technical specification worth quoting as fact about the game.

What this means for players

For anyone following GTA VI, Dursun’s assessment is more a signal of expectations than a confirmed spec. It lines up with what Rockstar has already shown publicly: our detailed GTA 6 NPC behavior guide covers exactly what’s officially known about interacting with the world’s characters, without speculation. And for the series’ broader technical and gameplay progress, see our GTA 6 vs GTA 5 comparison, which lays out what’s changed and what’s still unknown.

For context: GTA VI launches November 19, 2026, exclusively on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, with no PC version at launch.

The short version

• The “10 years ahead of the industry” assessment belongs to Berkay Dursun, an IO Interactive AI programmer, not Rockstar Games.
• Dursun explicitly says he doesn’t work at Rockstar and is analyzing the tech as an independent specialist.
• His argument: most games use looped crowd animations, while GTA VI’s NPCs are simulated individually.
• Rockstar has previously stated GTA VI features over 600,000 unique NPC animations.
• Dursun’s closest equivalent is Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord, and even that comparison he frames cautiously.