‘You needed guns’: There was never a 3D GTA set in London because the series is inherently American, Dan Houser says
The only London GTAs were the mission packs released for the top-down original
Former Rockstar writer Dan Houser says there’s never been a 3D Grand Theft Auto game set in London because American culture is what defines the series.
When the original Grand Theft Auto was released on PS1 and PC in 1997, it was followed by a mission pack called Grand Theft Auto: London 1969, as well as a shorter, free PC-only one called London 1961.
Since then, fans have frequently asked for a full 3D open-world iteration in the Grand Theft Auto series to be set in London, much like Sony‘s PS2 game The Getaway.
In an interview with Lex Fridman, Houser – who left Rockstar in 2020 and announced his new company Absurd Ventures last year – was discussing his views on the upcoming Grand Theft Auto 6 when the topic of a London-based GTA came up.
Discussing the series’ return to Vice City, Fridman told Houser he felt that Miami was the ideal city for the level of US satire the Grand Theft Auto series is known for because it “has this duality of a glossy surface and a dark underworld”.
He asked: “It has the influencers, the crypto bros, the yachts, bikinis, plastic surgery, sports cars, drugs, cartel cash, luxury, super rich people and the desperately poor, just the whole of it. Would it be the perfect city to explore the full cast of characters that are possible, that human nature can generate?”
“I think it’s one of them”, Houser replied. You know, there’s a reason why GTA kept coming back to Miami, New York, Los Angeles. I think they’re all very good for exactly what you laid out. You could move it to any of those and it would work, you know?
“There’s a melting pot aspect to [cities like] LA. There’s glitz, glamour, underbelly, immigrants, enormous wealth in all of them. I think those are what are really fun for not even just GTA, but for anything where you want a slice of life.
“It’s almost like a psychotic version of a Dickens book. He did it with London, you know, this psychotic version of all these kinds of characters in a melting pot. Any of these global cities work well for that.”
With London entering the discussion, Fridman then asked Houser – whose career at Rockstar started as producer and writer of the Grand Theft Auto: London 1969 mission pack back in 1999 – was asked if there was ever any attempt by Rockstar to make a full 3D open-world Grand Theft Auto game in London.
Houser replied that while numerous global cities are suitable potential melting pots, the Grand Theft Auto series has American culture at its core, meaning there were never really any plans to set an instalment in London.
We made a little thing in London 26 years ago, GTA London, for the top-down game for the PS1,” Houser said. “That was pretty cute and fun, as the first mission pack ever for PlayStation.
“I think for a full GTA game, we always decided there was so much Americana inherent in the IP, it would be really hard to make it work in London or anywhere else. You know, you needed guns, you needed these larger-than-life characters.
“It just felt like the game was so much about America, possibly from an outsider’s perspective. That was so much about what the thing was that it wouldn’t really have worked in the same way elsewhere.”
