Rockstar Games reportedly considered creating a sequel to Grand Theft Auto 3 set in Tokyo, Japan, but ultimately chose to stick with familiar locations like Vice City and San Andreas.
According to TimeExtension, the idea emerged after Sam Houser, Rockstar’s co-founder, visited Japan during the promotional period for GTA 3.
The potential for a Tokyo-based game came to light when data miners discovered references to “GTA Tokyo” in the leaked source code of GTA 5 in December 2023. The unnamed former Rockstar employee confirmed that the team had seriously considered the idea. However, the challenges of mapping Tokyo accurately and ensuring the game’s cultural satire would resonate properly posed significant difficulties.
“He had just released GTA 3 back then and they were doing a lot of travel to Tokyo to promote the game,” the source explained. “It seemed like a cool, interesting city to do it in, but at the end of the day, it just came down to logistics.” The source added that developing content that matched the narrative style of the Grand Theft Auto series proved too challenging, which led them to focus on the cities already featured in earlier games.
Despite this, the speculation around “what could have been” continues to intrigue fans, particularly with the success of games like the Yakuza series that showcase open-world gameplay in Japan.
