A key former member of the Grand Theft Auto team has revealed that Rockstar has been toying with ideas for many of the series' non-US locations, including the cities of Tokyo, Rio, Moscow and Istanbul.
Of these, Tokyo was apparently closest to implementation. “We had ideas about GTA games in Rio de Janeiro, Moscow and Istanbul. Tokyo practically happened,” Obbe Vermeij, former technical director of the company Rockstar Northworked on GTA 3, Vice City, San Andreas and GTA 5said GamesHub. “Another studio in Japan was going to do this, take our code and make GTA: Tokyo. But in the end this did not happen.
“People love these wild ideas,” Vermeil added, “but when there are billions of dollars tied up in them, it’s too easy to go and let’s do what we know again, and besides, America is essentially the epicenter of Western culture, so everyone knows the cities, even those who haven’t been there. They have a mental image of cities.
“I think it’s unlikely he’ll be in Bogotá next time, especially since as the project gets bigger, more and more money is involved. There is no point in placing it in some left place for the sake of novelty. GTA: Toronto? It just won't work.”
I wonder if the people of Toronto and Bogotano know that they live in leftist cities…?
Jokes aside, GTA has rarely, if ever, taken place outside of cities contiguous to the United States, with most games based in and around Los Santos (presumably Los Angeles), Liberty City (presumably New York), and Vice City (presumably Miami). Grand Theft Auto 1 once had a London-themed expansion set in 1969, but this is as close as it gets.
“I'm afraid we're stuck in this loop of about five American cities. Let's just get used to it.”
Rockstar co-founder and former GTA lead writer Dan Houser recently explained: that the series keeps returning to cities like Miami, New York and Los Angeles because they are melting pots of activity, where extreme wealth juxtaposes extreme poverty and where glitz, glamor and organized crime can be found. Other major cities may have this, but do they have another key ingredient – guns?
“You needed weapons,” Houser said, “you needed these larger-than-life characters. It just seemed like the game was so focused on America, maybe from an outsider's perspective, but it was so important to what it was about that it wouldn't really work in the same way anywhere else.”
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When asked if the series would ever take place in Europe, Obbe Vermeil replied: “It’s just not realistic. I'd love it, and if games still took a year to make, then yes, sure, you can have some fun, but you don't get that when GTA comes out every 12 years.
“You’re not going to install it in a new location. There's really no need for this because technology changes a lot. No one will say that they won't play GTA 6 because they already played Vice City. This doesn't make sense. This is completely different.
“They will visit New York again. They'll go back to Los Angeles or maybe Las Vegas,” Vermeij added. “I'm afraid we're stuck in this loop of about five American cities. Let's just get used to it.”
Grand Theft Auto 6 will take us back to the fictional Miamior Vice City, as it is called, but in modern times, and not in the 80s, as in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. GTA 6 will tell a story based on two main characters – Lucia Caminos and Jason Duvall. This will be the first time a GTA game has a female lead. GTA 6 will be released in November next year.
