Former Rockstar Dev Reveals GTA Series Nearly Left America

5 days ago 7

Scott Baird is a contributor with over a decade's experience writing about video games, along with board games and tabletop RPGs. Scott has previously worked for Dexerto, Cracked, Dorkly, and Gamepur.

A former developer at Rockstar North has revealed that the Grand Theft Auto series nearly left the United States of America in the PS2/PS3 era, but the project fizzled out before it could begin.

The majority of Grand Theft Auto games have taken place in a fictional version of the USA, with locations that are thinly veiled parodies of real places, such as Liberty City, a take on New York City. There was an expansion for the first game on the PS1, called Grand Theft Auto: London 1969, but that’s the only time the series explored other countries.

Grand Theft Auto VI Screenshot With Bikers on the Road

The Grand Theft Auto series almost visited a different continent, as revealed by former Rockstar North technical director Obbe Vermeij told GamesHub that there was almost an entry set in Tokyo.

Grand Theft Auto: Tokyo Almost Happened

According to Vermeij, Grand Theft Auto: Tokyo was in the works, to the point that another studio in Japan was set to make it, but the project never came to fruition.

We had ideas about GTA games in Rio de Janeiro, Moscow and Istanbul. Tokyo almost actually happened. Another studio in Japan were going to do it, take our code and do GTA: Tokyo. But then that didn’t happen in the end.

This game would have come after the PS2 trilogy, when the franchise was already massive. Vermeij explained that Grand Theft Auto hasn’t left the USA since the PS1 because American cities are so recognizable in culture, and projects have become too big to risk a new setting.

It’s a shame that the Grand Theft Auto series hasn’t explored other countries, as it’s long overdue. Vermeij makes an excellent point about the cost, considering how long Grand Theft Auto 6 has spent in production. It’s easy to see why Take-Two and Rockstar don’t want to take risks when there’s so much cash on the line.