GTA Tokyo 'almost happened,' Rockstar had ideas for Rio de Janeiro, Moscow, Istanbul

Former Rockstar North technical director says that the studio had ideas to set Grand Theft Auto in other countries, and that GTA Tokyo was almost greenlit.

GTA Tokyo 'almost happened,' Rockstar had ideas for Rio de Janeiro, Moscow, Istanbul
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Senior Gaming Editor
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TL;DR: In the mid-2000s, Rockstar Games considered expanding Grand Theft Auto to international cities like Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro, Moscow, and Istanbul. However, due to cultural sensitivities and financial risks, the series remained U.S.-based, focusing on iconic American cities known worldwide for their cultural impact and familiarity.

Back in the mid-2000s, Rockstar Games almost took Grand Theft Auto globetrotting with multiple worldwide locations and settings for the series.

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It's been decided for years now that GTA will stay in the United States--after all, there are so many opportunities for deep satirization with locales like Liberty City (New York), Los Santos (L.A.) and Vice City (Miami). But this wasn't always the case, and in the mid-2000s, Rockstar floated the idea of a mainline game set in other countries.

In a new interview with GamesHub, former Rockstar Games technical director Obbe Vermeij laid out some of the other cities that could've shown up in a GTA game. According to Vermeij, GTA Tokyo almost happened.

We've included the full Q&A snippet below for full transparency on the topic. One thing that isn't discussed is the sensitivities of other cultures regarding deep satire--for example, the Japanese have very strict social customs centered around proper respect, and Istanbul is a city set in a primarily Muslim nation.

(Question) Was there ever any talk within the development teams about where to take Grand Theft Auto next after Liberty City, San Andreas and Vice City, perhaps going beyond the USA and to a more international setting?

(Obbe Vermeij) There were desires, yeah, but it's like talking about alternative projects at Rockstar when you really start thinking about it.

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

People love having these wild ideas but then when you've got billions of dollars riding on [the line], it's too easy to go 'let's do what we know again.'

And also America is basically the epicenter of Western culture, so everybody knows the cities, even people who haven't been there. They have a mental image of the cities.

I think it's unlikely it's going to be in Bogota next time, especially since there's just more and more money involved as the project gets bigger. It doesn't make sense to set it in some left-field location for novelty. GTA: Toronto? It just wouldn't work.