“For most of development, GTA 3 was in a sorry state”: Rockstar veteran reflects ahead of GTA 6
Rockstar veteran Obbe Vermeij says Grand Theft Auto 3 spent much of development in a poor state, despite becoming a landmark game. Reflecting on 25 years of the series ahead of GTA 6, he described how difficult it was to judge the project’s eventual success while it was still taking shape.
Vermeij also said he does not remember much crunch during development. His recollections offer a behind-the-scenes view of the uncertainty around making GTA 3, whose release helped establish the open-world direction that shaped later Grand Theft Auto games.
In short
- GTA 3 was in a poor state for much of development.
- Obbe Vermeij recalls little crunch.
- The veteran reflected on the game ahead of GTA 6.
Explained simply
Grand Theft Auto is a series of action games in which players explore large fictional cities and take part in missions. GTA 3, released in 2001, moved the series into a fully three-dimensional world, helping establish the open-world style used by later entries.
Obbe Vermeij is a former Rockstar North technical director who worked on GTA 3. Making a large, detailed game involved building new technology and systems, so its eventual quality and reception were difficult to predict while development was under way.
GTA 6 is the next major entry in the series, making the history of earlier games relevant to readers following its development. Accounts from people who worked on GTA 3 offer one perspective on how a game that later became influential took shape.