Grand Theft Auto has always been inspired by real-life cities across the US, and it seems it’ll stay that way. Dan Houser has explained that really, it wouldn’t work anywhere else, as the series leans heavily onto Americana.
Speaking to Lex Friedman, Houser says it would be hard to take out the Americana because it was largely ingrained in the series from the on-set. Now, Rockstar did make GTA London, a mission pack for the OG top-down entry on the PS1, which he described as “cute and fun.” Overall, though, larger-than-life characters are a must and it would hard to not return to America when considering the setting of its next entry.
“We made a little thing in London 26 years ago — GTA London — for the top-down for PS1. That was pretty cute and fun, as the first mission pack ever for PlayStation 1. I think for a full GTA game, we always decided there was so much Americana inherent in the IP, it would be really hard to make it work in London or anywhere else.
“You know, you needed guns, you needed these larger-than-life characters. It just felt like the game was so much about America, possibly from an outsider’s perspective. But that was so much about what the thing was that it wouldn’t really have worked in the same way elsewhere.”
