GTA 6 is already breaking records despite being at least a year away from release.
22.11.2023 - 23:53 / eurogamer.net / Rockstar Games / Leslie Benzies / Obbe Vermeij / Ios
The world has been given a tiny glimpse into the uber-secretive world of Grand Theft Auto developer Rockstar North thanks to a fascinating new blog from former technical director Obbe Vermeij, who, in just a few short weeks, has shed light on the studio's cancelled spy game Agent, discussed a zombie game abandoned by the company after it was deemed to be too «depressing», and more.
Vermeij served as technical director at Rockstar North from 1995 (when the studio was still known as DMA Design) to 2009, meaning his time at the company spanned the creation of Grand Theft Auto as a series right through to Grand Theft Auto 4 and its DLC.
Since launching his blog earlier this month, Vermeij has been sharing anecdotes covering a number of Rockstar games, touching on everything from the company's streaming tech for Grand Theft Auto 3 — which struggled enough that the art team was forced to shove a building in the middle of a long stretch of Portland road to ensure players wouldn't run out of city while loading continued — to early efforts at implementing multiplayer in GTA 3.
In the latter case, Rockstar is said to have experimented with a «basic death match» that would let players drag each other out of cars and kill to earn points — a mode that «worked but [was] glitchy», eventually being abandoned as the team was «running out of time».
Perhaps the most interesting anecdotes shared so far, however, relate to the games that might have been; one of these includes Rockstar's notorious Agent, a spy game set during the Cold War in the late 70s that was formally announced as a PS3-exclusive in 2009 and then, after years of silence, simply fizzled out into obscurity, its web pages and trademarks abandoned.
According to Vermeij's account, Agent started life as a demo — featuring a «hang glider and a car turning into a submarine or something» — built by Rockstar North to encourage other studios in the company to use the GTA Engine. That demo would eventually evolve into full production, at the encouragement of Rockstar president Leslie Benzies, with half of Rockstar North working on Agent (internally known as «Jimmy», because what else would a Scottish studio call a James Bond inspired game?) while the other half developed GTA 4's DLC and GTA 5.
According to Vermeij, Agent would be a more linear experience compared to GTA, and would take place across a number of classic spy movie locations, including a French Mediterranean city, a Swiss ski resort, and Cairo, the story culminating in a «big shootout with lasers in space». Rockstar is said to have worked on Agent «for over a year» — a downhill skiing chase scene with guns was developed, for instance — but «the game wasn't progressing as well as we'd hoped.»
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GTA 6 is already breaking records despite being at least a year away from release.
The recently-released trailer for Grand Theft Auto 6 was officially released following a leak, prompting developer Rockstar Games to release the trailer earlier than it had planned. Soon after the dust had settled with the trailer’s release, however, several developers from the studio have voiced their disappointment about the trailer being leaked.
In the first day since its release, the reveal trailer for the hotly-anticipated Grand Theft Auto 6 has proven to be quite popular. At the time of publishing the trailer has now been seen more than 96 million times. The trailer, released yesterday, is the first bit of Grand Theft Auto 6 that has been shown off to the world.
The Grand Theft Auto 6 trailer is finally out! After nearly a decade of waiting, Rockstar Games has finally released the GTA 6 trailer albeit in a manner it wouldn't have liked. On November 8, the Take-Two Interactive-owned publisher announced that the GTA 6 trailer would be released in early December. And just a few days ago, Rockstar Games set the GTA 6 trailer release date as December 5, 6:00 AM PT. To the company's dismay, the trailer was leaked online before Rockstar could release it. Now, we have a proper first glimpse into the world of GTA 6 (officially called GTA VI), and it confirms what leaks have suggested before.
This week on the Eurogamer Newscast, we discuss the first ever trailer for GTA 6 which was finally released following a tease from Rockstar, after the trailer leaked online ahead of schedule.
Doom scrolling social media looks to have replaced the age-old pasttime of watching TV in GTA 6, which has prompted feelings of alternating despair and increasing irrelevance in me this morning. I barely understand how TikTok works in real-life, let alone a video game pastiche of it, and oh god, how did I get so old and craggy? I'm just here for the nice-looking flamingos, Rockstar, not a 24/7 twerk stream I can access from the palm of my hand. Of course, TV watching may yet have been preserved beyond what we've seen so far in the first trailer for GTA 6, but even if it's been consigned to the bin of modern history, there might yet be one light in the TikTok-esque darkness to make GTA 6's in-game social media network worthwhile.
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The first trailer for Grand Theft Auto VI is here, finally taking the covers off of Rockstar Games' ambitious open world title. After years of leaks, rumours and speculation, we now finally have concrete official details about GTA 6, its world, characters, and tone. The trailer itself was published hastily ahead of schedule after it was leaked on X on Tuesday. Instead of waiting and putting out the reveal Wednesday at 9am ET (7:30pm IST) — as Rockstar initially planned, the studio released the trailer early Wednesday morning. “Our trailer has leaked so please watch the real thing on YouTube,” the publisher said in its post on X.
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