Grand Theft Auto V was a historic launch for Take-Two Interactive and Rockstar Games, but some GTA series creators weren’t exactly optimistic about its future.
in an interview with BBC 5GTA 2 producer Colin Macdonald had the least favorable outlook during his early days working at DMA Design (now Rockstar North) and the first game of GTA in 1997. Said to be working on a project, a survey of DMA staff revealed which games the studio was most and least successful with.
“The vote most likely not to succeed was Grand Theft Auto,” McDonald said. “That’s because the direction of the game wasn’t clear in the middle of development. It was buggy and didn’t crash for more than a few minutes of playing. At the grassroots level, I certainly wasn’t very confident.”
Macdonald explained that the troubled GTA was “underappreciated for most of its time in production”, and repeated it many times. It started with an experimental project of walking around as. DMA then added cars to the game and changed its focus.
From GTA’s messy 90s rise to its current success, it’s chronicled in a seven-part podcast series for BBC 5. Bugsy Malone’s greatest gameMcDonald’s and the recording as a whole describe a GTA team that was far from today’s vision but still knew it had “something special”.
Despite early signs of failure, GTA was a historic success for Take-Two Interactive and the gaming industry at large. In 2013, GTA 5 achieved a record-breaking record. $1 billion in retail sales in the first three days It has become the fastest entertainment property to reach that milestone. And earlier this month, Take-Two announced that GTA has sold over 385 million units of his franchise as a franchise, 170 million of which are GTA 5.
Fans are eagerly anticipating the next Grand Theft Auto game, which Rockstar has confirmed is currently in development, but the game has been affected by a high-profile leak.
Andrea Shearon is a freelance contributor for IGN covering games and entertainment. She’s worn several hats during her seven-year career in the games industry, including Fanbyte, USA Today’s FTW, TheGamer, VG247, and her RPG byline on her site. Find her on her Twitter (@ Majora) or the Materia Possessions podcast to chat about series including FFXIV, RPGs, and giant robots.
