The first GTA was released in 1997 and 25 years later, it is one of the most famous licenses and having sold the most copiesand this, while the last opus, GTA Vwas released in 2013 (but re-released on new generations thereafter). GTA VIrecently made official, even if no image has been shown, will therefore be released more than ten years after the fifth major episode, which could have lost the enthusiasm around Grand Theft Auto, but it is quite the opposite that is happening. product, especially because the Online mode keeps part of the community alive.
Nevertheless, the experience of GTA as we know it could have been much differentas explained by Colin Macdonald, developer of the first episode, on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the license in an interview with the BBC. As is often the case when developing a new intellectual property, several steps follow one another, and certain things are not kept, and this was the case here. At first, the game’s programmer (Mike Dailly) wanted to make a game in which we would see 3D buildings in a big city, which would be explored by a dinosaur, capable of destroying everything in its path.
In this game users are offered a city to explore, and by explore I mean you are a dinosaur that can roam and destroy buildings.
But seeing this, Mike Dailly had the idea to incorporate cars to make the whole thing livelier, before the idea went further, by controlling these cars and no longer a dinosaur. This experience was called “Race ‘n’ Chase”, before another person suggested being able to get out of the car to do other actions and give players some freedom.
Someone realized that it was necessary to let the player get out of the car, run and jump into other cars… It was only then that the series turned into Grand Theft Auto.
After 25 years, eleven games and four major expansions, GTA has definitely entered the video game industry, which perhaps would not have been the case if the initial project had not evolved.