Rockstar developer reveals the truth about GTA Tokyo that was leaked in the GTA 5 files
A former Rockstar developer revealed the truth about GTA Tokyo and how Rockstar was planning to move the series to the Japanese capital before backing out of the idea.
Rockstar at one point considered setting the next GTA 3 in Tokyo, but backed out and stuck with Vice City and San Andreas.
According to a report published on the TimeExtension website, which hosted a former Rockstar employee to talk about the truth of the title “GTA Tokyo” that was discovered in the leaked version of the source code for GTA 5 last December. This unnamed developer confirmed that Rockstar was indeed considering moving the next part of GTA to take place in Tokyo, especially with Sam Houser visiting Japan during the promotional campaign for GTA 3.
The developer added that during several visits by a Rockstar team to Japan to promote GTA 3, they expressed their admiration for what they saw in Tokyo, which prompted the team to study the possibility of making a part of the series that takes place in Japan.
At first, the idea of GTA Tokyo was acceptable according to the website's statements, but after a specialized team was sent to take some pictures and obtain historical information about the culture of the community and how it could be applied in a satirical way that suits the style of Grand Theft Auto games, it turned out in the end that the matter seemed complicated and impractical, which prompted Rockstar to stick in the end with the cities they were accustomed to in the series.
Grand Theft Auto 3 was the first installment in the series to move from 2D to 3D. The game was released on PlayStation 2 in 2001 and achieved unprecedented success on Sony's platform. As for sales, GTA 3 achieved a huge number at the time, selling more than 14.5 million copies by 2008.
The game did not stop there, as it was re-released on several platforms, the last of which was within the GTA The Trilogy: The Definitive Edition trilogy, which was re-released in an improved version in 2021 on current and previous generation devices, PC, and Nintendo Switch.
Do you think moving the series to embody the city of Tokyo and Japanese culture would be a good idea that fits with the series' orientation, which is used to focusing on American society with its customs and traditions?
