Grand Theft Auto could have been a globetrotting series like Assassin's Creed, according to former Rockstar technical director: 'We had ideas about GTA games in Rio de Janeiro, Moscow and Istanbul' while 'Tokyo almost actually happened'

Outside of a trip to London in 1997, Grand Theft Auto has always stuck to fictional analogues of American cities for its settings. But there is a reality where Rockstar's hugely successful crime epic is as globetrotting as Assassin's Creed. According to Rockstar North's former technical director Obbe Vermeij, the company toyed with numerous international locations at various moments in its history. And at one point, we very nearly had a Grand Theft Auto set in Japan.

"We had ideas about GTA games in Rio de Janeiro, Moscow and Istanbul.