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PC Gamer
PC Gamer
Rick Lane

Grand Theft Auto could have been a globetrotting series like Assassin's Creed, according to former Rockstar technical director: 'We had ideas about GTA games in Rio de Janeiro, Moscow and Istanbul' while 'Tokyo almost actually happened'

Rockstar GTA Obbe Vermeij Tokyo Moscow Istanbul Rio de Janeiro Rockstar North Japan
Protagonists Jason and Lucia in Grand Theft Auto 6.

Outside of a trip to London in 1997, Grand Theft Auto has always stuck to fictional analogues of American cities for its settings. But there is a reality where Rockstar's hugely successful crime epic is as globetrotting as Assassin's Creed. According to Rockstar North's former technical director Obbe Vermeij, the company toyed with numerous international locations at various moments in its history. And at one point, we very nearly had a Grand Theft Auto set in Japan.

"We had ideas about GTA games in Rio de Janeiro, Moscow and Istanbul." Vermeij said in an interview with GamesHub (via Eurogamer). Vermeij joined Rockstar North in 1995 when it was still named DMA Design, and worked both on GTA 3 and GTA 4 as well as Vice City and San Andreas.

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