Hyper-realistic graphics in new game release trigger debate over violence and realism

As artificial intelligence continues to reshape everyday life, video games for computers and consoles are increasingly becoming a focal point in debates about the benefits and consequences of rapid technological progress. Nowhere is this discussion more visible than in the push toward hyper-realistic graphics, an ambition that promises unprecedented visual fidelity but also raises questions about whether games risk losing their role as escapist entertainment. The looming release of a hugely popular franchise in 2026 is bringing those concerns into sharper focus.

The sixth installment of the Grand Theft Auto series is widely seen as the most anticipated game launch of the year. As with earlier entries, players will once again steal cars, commit crimes and speed through a fictionalized US region, this time the state of Leonida, designed as a highly detailed 4K recreation of Florida. While this leap in realism is hailed as a technical triumph, the BBC's latest article asks whether such lifelike presentation could undermine gaming’s ability to offer relief from real-world anxieties.

That possibility was already foreshadowed years ago, to be more precise, during a 2020 presentation. “Within 10 years, you'll have the option to make video games look completely realistic and live-action!” predicted Strauss Zelnick, the CEO of Take-Two Interactive, under which umbrella the GTA series, as well as other widely-popular games, are being released. While the claim already sounded ambitious at the time, the BBC notes that the industry may have even reached that point far sooner than expected.

Other recent releases illustrate how close games have come to visual realism. Death Stranding 2, released last year, featured environments so detailed that individual blades of grass were visible and sunlight reflected convincingly off rocks. In 2023, Alan Wake 2 presented a moody mountain town rendered with such fidelity that Eurogamer described it as “boundary-breaking,” evoking the sensation of stepping onto the set of Twin Peaks.

Rockstar Games, the British developer behind Grand Theft Auto and a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive, has described the upcoming November release of GTA 6 as set to become the “largest game launch in history,” backed by a reported $1 billion budget. Preview footage suggests the game will push current-generation consoles like the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X to their limits. Among the most talked-about details is Rockstar’s decision to employ a dedicated team of around 20 engineers to ensure that water physics behave exactly like real waves.

“You could argue every element of a new GTA game moves forward in terms of feeling more realistic [than the last],” said former Rockstar designer Ben Hinchcliffe in a recent interview. “And the realism of GTA 6 will blow people away.”

While many players are eager to experience these advances, online discussions increasingly reflect unease about games becoming too realistic and losing their fantasy appeal. On platforms such as Reddit and X, some players argue that when virtual worlds mirror reality too closely, they stop offering a meaningful escape.

The debate also intersects with long-standing concerns, frequently raised by politicians, about whether violent video games contribute to aggression or real-world violence. Although scientific evidence remains inconclusive, the BBC suggests the discussion is likely to intensify as depictions of violence become ever more lifelike.

The article recalls the 2023 instance when the lead developer of an upcoming game named Unrecord, which is a first-person shooter set to boast "photo-realistic" visuals, in which users will play a police officer investigating crimes, had to take to social media to insist the viral preview videos were actually gaming graphics and not leaked body-cam footage from a real-life cop.

Rasheed Abudeideh, a Palestinian developer working on the indie title Dreams on a Pillow, worries that games like GTA 6 risk blurring the line between virtual violence and real-world atrocities. “I think we already live in a very dark and chaotic world, and in that context, it feels even more disturbing to develop games that revolve primarily around realistic acts of killing,” he says.

Abudeideh argues that games should “ultimately [be] about fun, about engaging the player and keeping them in a ‘flow state,’” which he describes as a meditative mindset. That experience, he adds, “can be achieved with very simple, even basic technology. What truly makes the difference is creativity in game design, not visual fidelity. Realism can be a powerful tool to increase immersion, but it's not the goal in itself.”

Industry trends appear to support this view. In recent years, players have shown growing appreciation for stylized, lo-fi aesthetics, while major studios such as Electronic Arts have faced layoffs and development delays. GTA 6 itself arrives 14 years after its predecessor, with the difference in graphics seen in the pictures below. By contrast, independent studios have flourished, producing innovative titles that draw inspiration from the 8- and 16-bit eras rather than photorealism.

The BBC also points to the Nintendo Switch as the decade’s best-selling console. Its fairytale-like visuals and relatively modest graphical power, closer to a PlayStation 3 than a PlayStation 5, suggest that realism is far from essential for success.

Another example highlighted by the publication is Tiny Bookshop, a 2025 release from Neoludic Games. The hand-drawn title, part of the growing “cosy gaming” sub-genre, lets players run a bookshop in a sunny seaside town filled with whimsical characters. 

David Zapfe-Wildemann from the developer's studio says “realistic graphics alone aren't a major selling point for players anymore. It's the experience, the fantasy, the promise of the game that will draw you in.” He adds that players increasingly value a sense of "Fernweh" (a German term describing a longing to be elsewhere) shaped by pandemic-era desires. Hyper-realism, he cautions, can backfire, because “you can end up with games that look very real in a purely cosmetic visual sense, but need to compensate for this with contrived level design, so the players don't get lost or overwhelmed.”

By Nazrin Sadigova