GTA: San Andreas once hired a “genuine gang” to voice the game

A former Rockstar Games veteran, Lazlow Jones, has revealed that real-life gang members may have played a role in removing and rewriting dialogue for GTA: San Andreas.

Before departing Rockstar Games to collaborate with co-founder Dan Houser at a new studio, Lazlow Jones was instrumental in the crime game series. You may have heard him quip over GTA game radio stations, but Lazlow has also been a famous screenwriter and audio recording director for several GTA games and Red Dead Redemption 2, giving him to places you might not expect during game development.

In an interview with Kinda Funny Games, Lazlow recalled that if the team “needed a specific tone or language, we would go to those places.” For Red Dead Redemption 2, that meant flying to Santa Fe, New Mexico to record with Native American communities, or traveling to New Orleans to work with Creole people because “that accent you Impossible for New York and LA actors.”

However, this practice can be traced back to 2004’s San Andreas, when Rockstar Games reportedly “recruited” “actual gang members” to provide voices for the game. “We showed them the script,” Lazlow explains, “and they said ‘we won’t say this, we won’t say that, we’ll say this.’” Ultimately, Lazlow tell the voice artists to “say what you’re going to say.”

Binge-playing one of the studio’s games will certainly give the impression that these aren’t simply digital spaces masquerading as real-life locations – but that there’s some real culture to be had. transmitted to each location. “One of the things I’m really proud of is the authenticity we aim for,” Lazlow said.

Lazlow Jones and head writer Dan Houser are no longer part of the giant studio, but Rockstar Games is still busy developing GTA 6, scheduled for release sometime next year, which appears to depict a chaotic Florida. nothing less than real life.