GTA Vice City Initially Started Development As GTA 3 Expansion

Expert Verified By

Game Was Transformed After GTA 3 Succeeded!

Story Highlights
  • GTA Vice City was released one year after GTA 3 and instantly became a massive hit.
  • A developer revealed it was merely an expansion for GTA 3 at first.
  • This game’s setting was an iconic part of its popularity, and Rockstar is revisiting it in GTA 6.

Rockstar released GTA Vice City in 2002. Considered one of the best games from the studio, Vice City itself has become an iconic part of the Grand Theft Auto franchise.

As an extremely memorable and well-designed city, Vice City provided hours of enjoyment to millions of gamers worldwide. However, a Rockstar developer has recently revealed an interesting fact about this location and game.

GTA Vice City was initially planned as a mission pack for GTA 3.

Why it matters: This example is not an isolated one and highlights the changing nature of games. Quite a few projects are completely transformed by the time they are released.

GTA Vice City

Rockstar North technical director Obbe Vermeij revealed this information in a recent blog post. He stated:

“Originally, it was supposed to be a mission pack to GTA 3.”

However, this decision was changed once GTA 3 showed its potential to the world 22 years ago. Following the incredible success of this entry, Rockstar planned to pursue the project as a standalone game with more content.

Furthermore, GTA Vice City initially reused the code from its predecessor until programmers could work on new code. This meant that it was almost a miracle the project turned out as good as it did.

Thus, GTA Vice City was born as a separate release. The developer further described that it was very difficult for the team to work on the project as the expectations of fans became much higher after GTA 3.

 

He explained that GTA Vice City became harder as a project because of this success. However, the team was able to pull through because:

“Everybody just powered through on adrenaline.”

According to leaks from last year, Rockstar is gearing up to revisit Vice City in GTA 6. As a much more modern game, its world will be significantly larger, but fans can expect to visit iconic locations from this 2002 entry.

GTA 6 is days away from an official reveal, with Rockstar confirming a trailer for December. Therefore, fans will finally see this city again, highlighting its significance after it was planned as nothing more than a DLC pack in 2001.

Was our article helpful? 👨‍💻

Thank you! Please share your positive feedback. 🔋

How could we improve this post? Please Help us. 😔

Gear Up For Latest News

Get exclusive gaming & tech news before it drops. Sign up today!

Join Our Community

Still having issues? Join the Tech4Gamers Forum for expert help and community support!

Latest News

Join Our Community

104,000FansLike
32,122FollowersFollow

Trending

Black Ops 7 Beta Struggles on Steam – Player Count Nearly 5x Lower Than Battlefield 6 Beta

According to SteamDB, Black Ops 7 beta player count only topped at about 100K players, compared to Battlefield 6 beta's over 500K.

Activision Claims 97% Of Black Ops 7 Cheaters Are Banned Within 30 Minutes

97% of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 cheaters were banned within 30 minutes of signing in, while only 1% made it into the game.

Silent Hill 3 Remake Reportedly Coming in 2028 as Bloober Team Works on Resident Evil-Inspired New IP

Bloober Team is rumored to be working on a Silent Hill 3 remake and a new Resident Evil-inspired IP, with releases expected in 2026 and 2028.

Battlefield 6: EA Promises 120 FPS Performance on Consoles and Free DLC Support

Battlefield 6 to support 120FPS, and alongside, EA to give out a free DLC titled 'Covert Operations' during Season 1.

Microsoft Reportedly Scrapped Its Xbox Handheld After AMD’s Shocking Demands

A new report reveals that the first-party Xbox handheld was cancelled because AMD demanded 10 million sales to develop a custom SoC.