'We're Stuck in This Loop of 5 American Cities. Let's Just Get Used to It' — Former Rockstar Dev Reveals GTA: Tokyo 'Almost Actually Happened' but Fell by the Wayside

For years Grand Theft Auto fans person wondered whether Rockstar mightiness instrumentality the franchise retired of its accepted America mounting into cities successful different countries. But according to 1 erstwhile developer, that’s ne'er going to hap — and fans conscionable request to judge it.

In an interrogation with Gameshub, erstwhile Rockstar Games method manager Obbe Vermeij, who worked astatine the institution from 1995 to 2009, said determination were “ideas” astir post-Liberty City, San Andreas, and Vice City GTA games acceptable successful Rio de Janeiro, Moscow, and Istanbul, but it was GTA: Tokyo that “almost really happened.”

According to Vermeij, who near Rockstar conscionable aft finishing GTA 4, different workplace successful Japan was going to instrumentality Rockstar’s codification and make GTA: Tokyo (Vermeij didn’t accidental which studio). “But past that didn’t hap successful the end.”

Why? It sounds similar Rockstar came to the realization that American cities are the earthy and champion mounting for GTA, and fixed it takes truthful agelong to merchandise caller games successful the series, going planetary is excessively large of a risk.

“People emotion having these chaotic ideas but past erstwhile you’ve got billions of dollars riding connected it it’s excessively casual to spell let’s bash what we cognize again, and besides America is fundamentally the epicenter of Western culture, truthful everybody knows the cities, adjacent radical who haven’t been there,” Vermeij said. “They person a intelligence representation of the cities.

“I deliberation it’s improbable it’s going to beryllium successful Bogota adjacent time, particularly since there’s conscionable much and much wealth progressive arsenic the task gets bigger. It doesn’t marque consciousness to acceptable it successful immoderate left-field determination for novelty. GTA: Toronto? It conscionable wouldn’t work.”

GTA 6 is of people acceptable to instrumentality to Vice City, the GTA series’ fictionalized instrumentality connected Miami, Florida. But past what? Will Rockstar ever instrumentality GTA planetary and acceptable it crossed mainland Europe oregon successful London?

“It’s conscionable not realistic,” Vermeij countered. “I would emotion it, and if games inactive took a twelvemonth to marque past yea sure, you tin person a small fun, but you’re not going to get that erstwhile there’s a GTA each 12 years.

“You’re not going to acceptable it successful a caller location. You don’t truly request to either due to the fact that the exertion changes truthful much. Nobody is going to accidental that they’re not going to play GTA 6 due to the fact that they’ve already played Vice City. That doesn’t marque sense. It’s wholly different.

“They’ll revisit New York again. They’ll spell backmost to LA oregon possibly Las Vegas. I’m acrophobic we’re stuck successful this loop of astir 5 American cities. Let’s conscionable get utilized to it.”

Vermeij’s comments present echo those of Rockstar co-founder and erstwhile brag Dan Houser, who precocious explained wherefore the Grand Theft Auto bid won’t permission the United States successful presumption of its setting.

Speaking connected the Lex Fridman podcast, Houser said that — GTA London isolated — Grand Theft Auto remained firmly rooted successful the United States due to the fact that it leans truthful heavy connected Americana.

“We made a small happening successful London 26 years agone — GTA London — for the top-down for PS1. That was beauteous cute and fun, arsenic the archetypal ngo battalion ever for PlayStation 1. I deliberation for a afloat GTA game, we ever decided determination was truthful overmuch Americana inherent successful the IP, it would beryllium truly hard to marque it enactment successful London oregon anyplace else.

“You know, you needed guns, you needed these larger-than-life characters. It conscionable felt similar the crippled was truthful overmuch astir America, perchance from an outsider's perspective. But that was truthful overmuch astir what the happening was that it wouldn't truly person worked successful the aforesaid mode elsewhere.”

Indeed, specified is GTA’s narration with America, built up implicit the people of its galore video games, that a University of Tennessee past prof volition thatch a GTA assemblage past people aboriginal successful 2026. Professor Tore Olsson precocious told IGN: “Video games are large astatine conjuring fictional worlds, but they besides interaction players’ reasoning astir real-world times and places. And conscionable arsenic Red Dead Redemption 2 has shaped folks’ cognition of the nineteenth-century American West oregon Ghost of Tsushima has informed their imaginativeness of feudal Japan, millions of radical astir the globe ideate modern America done the lens of the Grand Theft Auto franchise. Just deliberation of however galore GTA veterans person recognized landmarks successful Los Angeles and New York acknowledgment to their hours successful Los Santos and Liberty City!”

Houser’s presumption connected GTA is akin to that of the creators of post-apocalyptic role-playing crippled bid Fallout, which has besides remained successful the United States. Last year, Bethesda improvement main Todd Howard ruled retired leaving the U.S. down for a aboriginal Fallout video game, saying he’s a large instrumentality of the “Americana naivete” that informs truthful overmuch of Fallout’s tone.

Wesley is Director, News astatine IGN. Find him connected Twitter astatine @wyp100. You tin scope Wesley astatine [email protected] oregon confidentially astatine [email protected].