The question never dies, so a Grand Theft Auto VI lead developer took it on directly. Asked whether Rockstar Games could ever set a Grand Theft Auto game outside the United States, Rob Nelson, surprisingly enough, did not actually slam the door. He did not swing it open either.
Nelson's answer was a careful "never say never, but there's still so much to do in America." It is also a reminder that the studio sees years of American stories left to tell. For now though, GTA VI and its vision of Florida is the priority.
The comment came in a Guardian interview with Nelson and senior exec Jennifer Kolbe, published this week. Nelson, a lead at Rockstar North, runs design, narrative and animation on the game, so his position and thoughts definitely carry a certain amount of weight. He also made a point about why America suits Rockstar so well, that the team are "all outsiders to this version of America" and that "no one experiences the America that we're portraying here in its fullness."
Fans forget that GTA has already left America once. The original 1997 game spawned two expansion packs, Grand Theft Auto: London, 1969 and Grand Theft Auto: London, 1961, that moved the action to England. No mainline entry has gone abroad since. Every numbered game from Grand Theft Auto III to GTA VI has stayed inside a fictionalized United States and Rockstar co-founder, Dan Houser, already explained why that is the case.
Every mainline Grand Theft Auto setting
Game | Setting | Based on |
|---|---|---|
Grand Theft Auto III | Liberty City | New York |
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City | Vice City | Miami |
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas | San Andreas | California and Nevada |
Grand Theft Auto IV | Liberty City | New York |
Grand Theft Auto V | Los Santos | Los Angeles |
Grand Theft Auto VI | Leonida | Florida |
Only the 1969 London expansion has ever left the United States.
The reason America keeps winning is the one Nelson describes. Rockstar builds its worlds by living in the real place first. It has spent over a decade mapping the real locations behind Vice City and Leonida. A London or a Tokyo could require substantial new research, given the obsession we've tracked from the map down to the smallest street detail, but Nelson's answer does not identify the setting of the next GTA.
So the door is ajar, not open. Nelson is not teasing a GTA London reboot, or a GTA set in any other place for that matter. Rather, he is leaving the possibility open while stressing how much there is still to do in America.
The Guardian has a bigger feature on the making of GTA VI due this weekend, so there may be more to come. Until then, Rockstar's answer to the oldest question in the series is a polite maybe, with an emphasis on the "later."