Houser suggests GTAV not so concrete

By Tom Bramwell Published 16 November, 2009

"We'll think of a city first, then characters."

While rumours swirl that Grand Theft Auto V is already in development and Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick cries if anyone mentions it, a new interview with Rockstar's Dan Houser suggests it's still a way off.

"We'll think of a city first, then the characters," Houser told The Times in an interview published on Friday (thanks Kotaku).

The author of the article says that the script will be 1000 pages, but it's not clear whether Houser himself said that.

There's also a bit more in there about the anonymous man behind the games, who founded Rockstar with his older brother Sam. For instance, The Times pointed out that some people reckon the keeping-quiet thing is about cultivating an image.

"I've read that about myself, but it's a myth. I often speak to people like yourself," Houser replied. (You never speak to us, Dan. Sniff.) "But me, Sam and Leslie [Benzies, producer] are very aware of the fact that we as a triumvirate do not make the games; 200, 300, 700 people make the games. It's easy for people to focus on individuals because that's an easier story to tell, but it's not relevant to what we do."

"We've got, you know, 100 plus people, at least 80 per cent of whom are far more intelligent than me, and to start saying it's me or Sam or the pair of us because we're such crazy brothers just seems stupid. And it's not fair or appropriate," he added.

Houser's most recent work is showcased in Episodes From Liberty City for Xbox 360, which consists of The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (42) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • sadakos_fury #1 2 years ago

    GTA World please. Start in Butlins then fly over to the Antarctic to shoot a polar bear in the face.

  • el_pollo_diablo #2 2 years ago

    I like the way that they keep a low profile. I think it's rather classy of them.

  • DUFFMAN5 #3 2 years ago

    1970's London, loads of Fords, birds and booze, oh yer "shut it you slagggggg"

  • Altrezia #4 2 years ago

    Anywhere NON USA would be nice. I feel fairly done with americans in GTA.

  • Antaios #5 2 years ago

    Still, I would be surprised if they weren't already working on V. And I agree with Altrezia: non USA this time would be a treat.

  • Chazmeister #6 2 years ago

    Yeah the Mediterranean would be nice, cruising about in a big yacht in the Costa Del Crime and then popping over to Monaco once you've made your self filthy rich with dirty money.

  • floppylobster #7 2 years ago

    GTA Cape Town.
    GTA Tokyo.
    GTA Sydney 1980s.
    GTA London 1970s.
    The only other thing I'd be interested in would be GTA Blade Runner.
    Or if you got to play as a cop infiltrating one of the crime ring stories from previous games.

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #8 2 years ago

    They should set the next GTA in a fictionalised Amsterdam.

    Dyke City...?

  • Tomo #9 2 years ago

    Think Dan needs to do an office headcount.

  • KujiGhost #10 2 years ago

    GTA Edinburgh where you can go to the Rockstar North offices and write your own DLC!

    #head explodes#

  • funkateer #11 2 years ago

    "The only other thing I'd be interested in would be GTA Blade Runner. "

    Absolutely. I always thought the GTA engine would suit an open ended Blade Runner game extremely well.

  • jade2001 #12 2 years ago

    I would love for the next one to go back to Vice City - with todays graphics, they could make it look amazing.
    If they're going to go abroad then Tokyo or Hong Kong would be fantastic. I wouldn't want it to be set in London - that'd be boring.

  • Meho #13 2 years ago

    I like the man's style. Unlike some game creators, he understands what teamwork is about.

  • the_mtfr #14 2 years ago

    Well that's a load of common sense Dan is saying, makes me think of the dick Peter Molyneux. In bad terms.
    Edited by 1 at 16/11/09 @ 12:04

  • bad09 #15 2 years ago

    Seeing as Sony canned the getaway I'd love a GTA London, but the GTA whore in me wants to go back to 80's Vice City so I guess "Miami" would be my hope for the next city! :)

  • Mkwone #16 2 years ago

    What i liked about GTA 3, VC and IV is that it was like a real city in terms of size and facitilites.

    The thing i hated about SA was that they used places like san fran and vegas but the city was equivilient to a couple of blocks, it never rearlly felt like a bustling city.

    I don't really have a preference for which city, i'm sure which ever one/s they choose will be outstanding, i just want it to feel like a real city.

  • mkreku #17 2 years ago

    I just hope that the game world won't be just one big city again (as in GTAIV). It made the few races there were too repetitive. San Andreas was so much fun with its depiction of small villages and the countryside between the cities.

  • potatoes #18 2 years ago

    GTA without America is akin to omelette without eggs

  • sifujames #19 2 years ago

    As a few have mentioned already, I'd like to see GTA in Tokyo, Hong Kong or Rio (tearing through the favelas FTW), and add Moscow to the mix.I know GTA4 had the whole eastern Europe/Russian thing going on, but I'd quite like the chance to drive around and cause chaos in Red Square, before having to scarper when the FSB arrive

  • peterfll #20 2 years ago

    Well I think the next one should be set in Peckham.

  • jefranklin18 #21 2 years ago

    What about GTA UK with the major cities mapped out in relatively high detail and procedurally generated linking towns. As for the time period, I have no real concerns as long as there is a decent choice of music.

    EDIT: typos.
    Edited by 1 at 16/11/09 @ 13:43

  • humble #22 2 years ago

    About time they redesigned the series and let you enter all buildings, no?

  • stevetuck #23 2 years ago

    GTA London, Tokyo or some crazy arse south american country would be awesome imo and i dont even like GTA games heh :D

  • VandelayIndustries #24 2 years ago

    bad09: "Seeing as Sony canned the getaway I'd love a GTA London, but the GTA whore in me wants to go back to 80's Vice City so I guess "Miami" would be my hope for the next city! :)"

    Vice City in the 80's with Cuba as the third island!
    Edited by 1 at 16/11/09 @ 14:08

  • JJrabbit #25 2 years ago

    GTA: Vatican City. Done.

  • keano #26 2 years ago

    "GTA: Vatican City"

    Let he who is without sin, kick the first ass!

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #27 2 years ago

    About time they redesigned the series and let you enter all buildings

    Oh, yeah, it's definitely about time we were able to enter every one of several tens of thousands of identical apartments in all the buildings of a city.

  • Sunyavadin #28 2 years ago

    GTA Delhi would be good.
    Achievements for not hitting any cows, for managing to drive a mile in under an hour, fitting more than five people on a motorbike, etc...

    But I don't think they can manage the poly counts it'd need yet.

  • IMD1_Pk #29 2 years ago

    This guy is Humble.

  • JJrabbit #30 2 years ago

    Mentalist(air), the sarcasm detector is off the charts!!

  • comissars_handgun #31 2 years ago

    San Andreas 2 please.

  • YourMessageHere #32 2 years ago

    Please let's stay outside the USA for once; much though I like GTA games from a gameplay perspective, having already played through pseudo-NY in GTA I, III and LCS, and only belatedly finding that the place itself was pretty crap overall compared to SA and VC, I have some difficulty convincing myself it's worth bothering to buy GTA IV. I'll wait for a Steam deal or something.

    While Tokyo is my favourite city on earth, on consideration my biggest +1 is for GTA Hong Kong. For a GTA game you need a city that has a larger than life identity thanks to its connection with films, and while I think Tokyo has a really strong identity of its own, it isn't that well known a film setting, at least in the west. Hong Kong, being the setting for a million martial arts films, has that larger than life identity. GTA Hong Kong, in which you play either a Jackie Chan-esque kung fu cop or a Chow Yun Fat-style blood opera cop (or hell, why not both?), and stay good or go bad...I'd be all over that like a mook on a grenade.

    Don't know how I feel about GTA London. I have no fondness or indeed sense of grounded reality for US cities, or indeed HK, so they seem fair game, a sort of unreal neutral setting. But I genuinely love Tokyo, so of course if they cocked up GTA Tokyo into some sort of revolting stereotype, it would break my fucking heart. London by contrast seems to actually enjoy making itself into a stereotype (notably, Tokyo doesn't really do this). But I hate London, so making it into a stereotype isn't a problem for me. Making me want to go there, however, even in a game, is. I don't think I can even be bothered to play it to blow it up.

  • Lamb #33 2 years ago

    How about GTA Mexico City. Its huge and has lots of interesting people plus lots of folklore from the Aztecs, Spaniards, Westerns, Cartels. Plus if they can do it as authentic as possible it would be a great place to explore. Desperado movie theme stuff as well guns in guitars, Mariachi music, maybe even Salma Hayek.

    Do it. Do it now!

  • keano #34 2 years ago

    i think hong kong would be a brilliant step...such a diverse and contrasting city....plus it s a logic step from chinatown wars lol

  • makeamazing #35 2 years ago

    I think Hong Kong would be perfect actually :)

  • BabyJesus #36 2 years ago

    Excellent comments by Mr Houser on praising his staff and keeping a low profile, Mr Kotick could take a lesson from that.

    Very classy of him as someone above me stated.

  • jambo74 #37 2 years ago

    GTA Japan. With Triads and a Kill Bill Story Line

  • Zomoniac #38 2 years ago

    Much as a new locale would be interesting, surely a large part of GTA's appeal comes from the way it so brilliantly takes the piss out of all things related to American culture in a way that would be incredibly difficult to do for anywhere else. Sure, exploring GTA Moscow or Tokyo would be fun, but does the rest of the world really know enough about Russian or Japanese culture, patriotism, right-wing politics and sensationalist news channels to be able to get anywhere near the same level of contextual humour in?

  • YourMessageHere #39 2 years ago

    @ Zomoniac

    That's what I mean. That's why Hong Kong works, in my view - look at Vice City. They took a bit of a punt on setting the game in not-quite-Miami, in my view, and I enjoyed the game despite never having seen any original Miami Vice in my life and loathing Scarface. Pretty much anyone who's going to play GTA will have seen at least a couple of HK action films.

  • Cherub007 #40 2 years ago

    Zomoniac is completely on the money. GTA in the US is about taking the piss out of the its silly side as much as paying tribute to the great stuff. I know we've all seen the odd kung fu flick but it's nothing compared to the cultural universe available from the US. But let me add my voice to the growing clamour for GTA Bladerunner. Imagine nicking flying cars and throwing the occupants out into thin air, and jetpacks would actually make sense!

  • metallicorphan #41 2 years ago

    HAHA...loved that last part,when Houser is praising all his staff and saying its all about them....then you guys go ahead and say

    'Houser's most recent work is showcased in Episodes From Liberty City for Xbox 360'

  • metalangel #42 2 years ago

    @Mkwone: What? All three of the cities in San Andreas were HUGE, what are you on about? To everyone who wants London: go play the Getaway. London is a dull, flat, boring place. Hong Kong is a good suggestion, we need a city with hills and stuff to jump over!