Grand Theft Auto has become synonymous with North America, with GTA 6 all set for a return to Florida, though at one point it was possible GTA could have gone global according to a former director. Think of the possibilities of GTA Tokyo or Rio de Janeiro. Obbe Vermeij who worked as a technical director for GTA III, Vice City, and San Andreas said these ideas were at one time in the works.


Speaking with GamesHub Vermij said that “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 then that didn’t happen in the end.”

Is GTA Forever Stuck in the USA?

Vermij did go on to say that he believes those times have passed and that if GTA were to move to another continent now after GTA 6 it might not work out, 

“People love having these wild ideas, but then when you’ve got billions of dollars riding on it, it’s too easy to go let’s do what we know again, and also America is basically the epicentre 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.”

Fans might be too optimistic hoping GTA 6 expands down into the Caribbean or further South in potential DLC another idea that Vermij said that while he is a fan of something like that he does not believe it makes enough sense for Rockstar to explore.


Do you think Rockstar should reopen discussions about GTA outside of North America? Let us know where you want GTA to go next in The GamerzTheory Discord.