It is hard to picture now, with Grand Theft Auto VI sitting as the most anticipated game on the planet, but there was a moment when almost nobody at the industry's biggest trade show wanted to look at a Grand Theft Auto game let alone expect to play it. Obbe Vermeij, the Rockstar North technical director who spent 1995 to 2009 helping build the series, just posted a reminder of exactly that on X.
The photo shows three Rockstar Games staffers from the New York office at E3 2001, the sprawling Los Angeles expo that served as the must-go event in gaming for the better part of the past three decades. It was taken about five months before Grand Theft Auto III shipped, and by Vermeij's account, the game's success was "far from certain."
It's easy to forget that GTA started with humble beginnings. In the 90s, it was barely a blip on the radar, and while the first game got a sequel, Grand Theft Auto 2 had landed with no more than shrug in 1999. GTA 3 was a gamble on a brand-new idea that Microsoft even once passed up on. The concept was basically to drag the little-known then two-game series out of its old top-down view, where you watched the action from above like a street map, and into a full 3D city you actually walked and drove through.
This leap would go on to define open-world gaming. However, at the time, it was an unproven and risky bet from a small Scottish studio.
At E3, that bet did not even look like it would pay off. Vermeij says GTA III drew little attention, with the crowd and press far more interested in another Rockstar-published title, the riot simulator State of Emergency. What little attention was left on the show floor went to giants like Halo and Metal Gear Solid 2. Some of the people who did try GTA III walked away thinking it was too violent. Jeremy Pope, one of the three New Yorkers in the photo, would later recall the doubt of watching players crowd around State of Emergency at the next kiosk while GTA III sat largely ignored. The developers who actually made the thing were not even in the building. The North team was back in Scotland, heads down, fixing bugs.
Rockstar in 2001 versus 2026
Measure | 2001, before GTA III | 2026, before GTA 6 |
|---|---|---|
Company standing | The underdog, unproven in 3D | Take-Two's crown jewel and the industry's biggest draw |
Previous game | Grand Theft Auto 2 (1999) underwhelmed | Grand Theft Auto V, more than 230 million sold |
The big showcase | Ignored at E3, upstaged by State of Emergency | A global Netflix premiere on August 27 |
Pre-release buzz | Little press interest, success "far from certain" | Pre-orders reportedly beating Take-Two's own forecasts |
Main worry | Some players called it too violent | Leaked footage, though demand held firm |
The North team | In Scotland fixing bugs, skipped the show | Reportedly finishing the game, back in the office five days a week |
The bet | A top-down series leaping into 3D | The follow-up to the second best-selling game ever |
How far the studio behind Grand Theft Auto has grown and evolved between two console-defining launches.
Fast forward twenty-five years and it is the same company living in an inverted universe. Grand Theft Auto V has sold more than 230 million copies, trailing only Minecraft. GTA 6 pre-orders have reportedly blown past Take-Two's projections, an industry-first Netflix showcase will take place on August 27, and the closest thing to a threat is a batch of leaked footage that Vermeij himself waved off as a "nothing burger". Take-Two Interactive is not the underdog anymore. It is the house whose goal is to go beyond the gaming industry.
Yet, all these years later, some things haven't changed. The same studio is reportedly finishing GTA 6 with staff pulled back into the office five days a week and its reveal partly hijacked by the leaks. The spotlight swung from ignoring Rockstar to obsessing over it, but the grind looks just about the same.
As for the three men in the photo, none of them are still at Rockstar, and none had a hand in GTA 6.
The three Rockstar New York staffers in the photo
Name | Role in the early GTA era | Where they are now |
|---|---|---|
Lance Williams | Senior lead QA analyst, from GTA III through the Red Dead Redemption era | Left Rockstar around 2010; later worked at Avalanche Studios and others |
Adam Davidson | Lead QA analyst on GTA III, then associate producer | Left early; production roles at other studios, including the Just Cause series |
Jeremy Pope | Associate producer on GTA III, Vice City, and Max Payne | Left around 2003; later founded studios making non-violent and mobile games |
Who represented Rockstar Games at E3 2001, and where each are. None are still with the studio.
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Vermeij's snapshot is a useful gut-check heading into the Extended Look. Rockstar has stood at the edge of an uncertain launch before and walked away having rewritten the industry. The difference this time is that the whole world is already watching, and it has over 460 million reasons to assume it knows how the story ends.