A former Rockstar Games director believes the Grand Theft Auto developers are “stuck” in a loop of making games set in American cities.
Over the last three decades, the Grand Theft Auto series has stuck to one part of the world – the United States. We’ve seen New York, Miami, Las Vegas, San Francisco, and Los Angeles all used in the digital world – with a few Rockstar twists, of course.
When Grand Theft Auto 6 finally releases in November 2026, it will mark GTA’s return to Vice City – Rockstar’s take on Miami. However, this time, parts of the wider state of Florida – known in-game as Leonida – will be available to explore as well.
There have long been calls for Rockstar to venture outside of the United States, with London, parts of Colombia, and South America being tipped to make up new locations.
Ex-GTA dev admits it’s not “realistic” to move series outside USA
However, according to Obbe Vermeij, the former technical director at Rockstar North, Rockstar is “stuck” in a cycle of American cities.
“It’s just not realistic,” Vermeij told GamesHub when asked about a potential European setting for Grand Theft Auto.
“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 epicenter of Western culture, so everybody knows the cities, even people who haven’t been there. They have a mental image of the cities.
“They’ll revisit New York again. They’ll go back to LA or maybe Las Vegas. I’m afraid we’re stuck in this loop of about five American cities. Let’s just get used to it.”
Vermeij did note that a GTA: Tokyo had been on the cards in the past, with a studio in Japan set to take Rockstar’s code to make it. However, that didn’t come to fruition.
He also admitted that there had been ideas floated for games set in Rio de Janeiro, Moscow, and Istanbul too. However, it’s all been America-centric.
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