When people argue about what GTA 6 should do with Leonida, the comparison that keeps getting skipped is Mafia III. It is skipped because the game has a mediocre reputation, and that reputation is half-earned. The other half is one of the most confident depictions of a Southern American city any studio has shipped, and GTA 6 is walking into adjacent territory.
Released in October 2016 by Hangar 13 and 2K, Mafia III put players in New Bordeaux, a New Orleans analogue, in 1968. It is worth taking apart carefully, because its successes and its failures are both directly relevant to a game set in a fictional Florida.
Two games set in the humid South
The surface similarities are real. Both are open-world crime games built on a specific, heavily-cultured region of the American South rather than a generic city. Both deal with a place defined by water, heat, tourism and a large informal economy. Both use music as a primary carrier of period and place.
The differences matter just as much:
| Mafia III | GTA 6 | |
|---|---|---|
| Setting | New Bordeaux, 1968 | Leonida, modern day |
| Protagonist | Lincoln Clay, single lead | Jason and Lucia, dual leads |
| Scale | One city and surrounds | A whole state, six major regions |
| Core loop | Racket takeover, district by district | Unannounced |
| Tone | Period revenge drama | Unannounced, series satire expected |
Leonida is a much bigger proposition. Rockstar has confirmed a map roughly 2.4 to 2.7 times the size of GTA V's, six major regions, and 700-plus enterable interiors. New Bordeaux was a single dense city. That difference shapes everything below.
What Mafia III got genuinely right
The place felt lived in and specific. New Bordeaux was not "a city." It had neighbourhoods with distinct racial and economic character, and the game refused to sand that down. Street signage, architecture, the way crowds behaved and who was standing where: it committed. Rockstar's stated ambition for Leonida, framed in its Florida research as building a culturally accurate world, is aiming at something similar and considerably harder across an entire state.
The soundtrack was a design decision, not a licensing exercise. Over a hundred licensed tracks from the period, used with a real understanding of what was playing where in 1968. It did what the best GTA radio does: make the year feel inevitable. With The Album confirmed as 34 original tracks releasing day-and-date, and the radio system still unrevealed, this is the bar.
It wrote about its setting rather than around it. The game's treatment of race and policing in the 1960s South was direct, uncomfortable and central to the fiction rather than background dressing. GTA 6's satire operates differently, but Rockstar North's Rob Nelson has said in reported comments that he wants the satire to hold up over time, which implies specificity rather than generic edge.
Driving felt weighted. Period cars handled like period cars. Our driving mechanics piece covers where GTA 6 reportedly sits between GTA IV's heft and GTA V's accessibility.
What Mafia III got badly wrong
The district takeover loop ate the game. The core structure was: destabilise a racket by breaking its business, kill the enforcer, take the district, assign it to a lieutenant, repeat. Nine or so times. The individual actions were fine. The template was identical every time, and by the third district players could see the whole game.
This is the warning for GTA 6. Rockstar has confirmed no territory, business ownership, property empire or district-control system, despite persistent speculation built on the 700-plus interiors figure. If such a system exists, Mafia III is the case study in how a good idea becomes a checklist. Our properties and businesses piece keeps that distinction clear.
The open world was scenery, not a place to be. The city looked superb and offered almost nothing to do that was not a mission node. Ambient activity was thin. Rockstar's whole reputation rests on the opposite, and the dynamic events and open world activities side of GTA 6 is where the comparison should end rather than continue.
It launched rough. Frame rate caps, bugs, and a technical state that overshadowed the writing for months. GTA 6 has already absorbed two delays partly to avoid this outcome.
The lesson that actually transfers
Mafia III proves that a studio can nail a specific Southern American setting with real cultural texture and still ship a game people stop playing, because setting is not structure. The world was the best thing about it and the loop was the worst, and no amount of atmosphere fixed the loop.
GTA 6 arrives with the inverse strength profile. Rockstar's mission design and ambient world simulation are its established competencies. The question is whether the state of Leonida, at 2.4 to 2.7 times GTA V's size with six distinct regions, can be filled at density rather than just at scale. That tension is covered in our map density versus scale piece.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GTA 6 similar to Mafia III?
Only in setting register. Both are open-world crime games in a distinctive Southern American region. GTA 6's scale, dual protagonists and modern setting make the actual experience very different, and its core gameplay loop has not been announced.
Does GTA 6 have territory or district control like Mafia III?
Not confirmed. Rockstar has announced no territory system, business ownership, racket takeover or property empire mechanic. Speculation to that effect is built on the 700-plus interiors figure, which is not evidence of a system.
Which has the better soundtrack approach?
Different approaches. Mafia III used a large licensed period catalogue. GTA 6 has confirmed The Album, 34 original tracks releasing day-and-date, plus a dynamic score. The in-game radio lineup has not been revealed.
Was Mafia III a failure?
Commercially it sold strongly at launch. Critically it was praised for setting, story and music and criticised for repetitive open-world structure and technical problems. Calling it a failure overstates it; calling it uneven is fair.
The Bottom Line
Mafia III is the most useful cautionary tale available to GTA 6, and almost nobody uses it. It showed that you can build a Southern American city with genuine cultural specificity, score it beautifully, write it seriously, and still lose players to a loop that repeats nine times.
Rockstar is attempting the same cultural specificity across a state rather than a city, with six regions instead of nine districts. The confirmed facts remain narrow: map size, interior count, dual protagonists, 200-plus vehicles, a November 19 launch. The structure holding it together is unannounced. If that structure turns out to be a template repeated across Leonida, Mafia III already showed how that ends. For the other direction, see how GTA 6 stacks up against Red Dead Redemption 2.