After decades of reinventing the U.S. through locations like Liberty City, San Andreas, and Vice City, Grand Theft Auto has become so closely tied to North America that moving elsewhere feels unlikely.
As recalled by former Rockstar North technical director Obbe Vermeij, the idea of a Tokyo-set GTA went beyond fan speculation and was the most developed non-US concept the studio explored.
According to Vermeij, a veteran of GTA III, Vice City, San Andreas, and beyond, Rockstar frequently discussed locations outside the US such as Rio de Janeiro, Moscow, and Istanbul, with Tokyo being the only idea that nearly moved into active development.
What Was the Actual Plan for “GTA: Tokyo”?
The plan, as he describes it, wasn’t necessarily Rockstar North building the entire game in-house; instead, another studio in Japan was reportedly positioned to take Rockstar’s existing codebase and create a Tokyo-based spin on the GTA formula.
That detail transforms the “what if” into something believable, indicating a genuine development path that stopped short of becoming a finished project.
Why Was Tokyo Ultimately Scrapped?
Vermeij suggests that Tokyo wasn’t abandoned because it couldn’t work, but because GTA had become too big to safely take a chance on new ground.
As GTA’s budgets, timelines, and expectations ballooned (especially after GTA V) the risk calculus changed.
With billions of dollars at stake, he argues that studios are far more likely to stick with proven formulas than gamble on untested ideas.
He suggests that the U.S. functions as a shared cultural shorthand for Western audiences, where media-driven images of cities like Miami or Los Angeles make GTA’s world immediately legible.
That sense of familiarity is a powerful asset for both storytelling and marketing, which helps explain why Rockstar repeatedly returns to places like Vice City rather than venturing somewhere more unexpected.
Could Future GTA Games Ever Go Global?
Vermeij also pushes back on the idea that future entries (GTA 6 included) will suddenly become globe-trotting crime epics, suggesting that even rumors of expansions into South America or the Caribbean are unlikely to become reality because they demand a huge amount of extra work for uncertain payoff.
He doesn’t dismiss the concept itself, noting that he once pushed for region-based smuggling or drug-running mechanics and would still enjoy them, but argues they don’t align with the realities of modern AAA production.
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