A key former member of the Grand Theft Auto group has stated Rockstar toyed with concepts for a lot of non-American settings for the sequence, together with the cities Tokyo, Rio, Moscow and Istanbul.
Of them, Tokyo apparently got here the closest to being realised. “We had concepts about GTA video games in Rio de Janeiro, Moscow and Istanbul. Tokyo nearly truly occurred,” Obbe Vermeij, former technical director at Rockstar North, who labored on GTA 3, Vice Metropolis, San Andreas and GTA 5, informed GamesHub. “One other studio in Japan had been going to do it, take our code and do GTA: Tokyo. However then that did not occur in the long run.
“Individuals love having these wild concepts,” Vermeij added, “however then once you’ve acquired billions of {dollars} driving on it it is too simple to go let’s do what we all know once more, and in addition America is principally the epicenter of Western tradition, so everyone is aware of the cities, even individuals who have not been there. They’ve a psychological picture of the cities.
“I feel it is unlikely it will be in Bogota subsequent time, particularly since there’s simply increasingly cash concerned because the challenge will get greater. It would not make sense to set it in some leftfield location for novelty. GTA: Toronto? It simply would not work.”
I’m wondering if the Torontonians and Bogotanos know they dwell in leftfield cities…?
Jokes apart, GTA has hardly ever, if ever, been set exterior of US-adjacent cities, with many of the video games primarily based in and round Los Santos (loosely Los Angeles), Liberty Metropolis (loosely New York), and Vice Metropolis (loosely Miami). There was as soon as a London-themed enlargement for Grand Theft Auto 1, set within the yr 1969, however that is as shut because it acquired.
“I am afraid we’re caught on this loop of about 5 American cities. Let’s simply get used to it”
Rockstar co-founder and former GTA lead author Dan Houser lately defined that the sequence stored coming again to cities like Miami and New York and Los Angeles as a result of they’re melting pots of exercise, the place excessive wealth rubs in opposition to excessive poverty, and the place glitz, glamour and organised crime can all be discovered. Different main cities may need that, however do in addition they have one different key ingredient – weapons?
“You wanted weapons,” Houser stated, “you wanted these larger-than-life characters. It simply felt like the sport was a lot about America, presumably from an outsider’s perspective, however that was a lot about what the factor was that it would not have actually labored in the identical approach elsewhere.”
When pushed on whether or not the sequence may ever be set in Europe, Obbe Vermeij answered, “It’s simply not practical. I’d like it, and if video games nonetheless took a yr to make then yeah positive, you may have just a little enjoyable, however you are not going to get that when there is a GTA each 12 years.
“You are not going to set it in a brand new location. You do not actually need to both as a result of the expertise modifications a lot. No one goes to say that they don’t seem to be going to play GTA 6 as a result of they’ve already performed Vice Metropolis. That does not make sense. It is fully completely different.
“They’re going to revisit New York once more. They’re going to return to LA or perhaps Las Vegas,” Vermeij added. “I am afraid we’re caught on this loop of about 5 American cities. Let’s simply get used to it.”
Grand Theft Auto 6 will take us again to fictional Miami, or Vice Metropolis because it’s known as, however within the current day moderately than the 80s, as in Grand Theft Auto: Vice Metropolis. GTA 6 will inform a narrative primarily based round twin protagonists Lucia Caminos and Jason Duval, marking the primary time a GTA recreation has had a playable feminine lead. GTA 6 can be launched in November subsequent yr.
