GTA: We could have had GTA Online over 20 years ago, but there was a catch

Gaming News GTA: We could have had GTA Online over 20 years ago, but there was a catch

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GTA Online could have been born much earlier

While fans of the franchise Rockstar Games are just waiting for one thing, news about the fugitive Grand Theft Auto VIthe community has found a “good” pastime. As you probably already know if you witnessed the huge leak that rocked the internet in September 2022, the GTA license is very sensitive to leaks and hackers are not shy when it comes to sharing sensitive information. In the absence of something to commit to GTA 6Documents from the early 2000s recently surfaced GTA Forums.

The relevant elements also deal with Grand Theft Auto: Vice City from what Grand Theft Auto: San Andreasbut above all Grand Theft Auto III and the first sketch of GTA Onlinewhich was already in development in 2001, 12 years before its official release. The project in question was already very similar to the project that coincided with the launch of Grand Theft Auto Vallowing you to play online with multiple people in a world perfectly anchored in the universe of the Rockstar license. An ambitious idea for the time, especially since the documents mention functionalities that are not necessarily included GTA Online from today.

A project that was too ambitious for the time

At the time of writing, documents have been shared on GTA Forums are no longer available, but you can find a summary of the features provided GTA 3 Online below. Although most of these features are actually included GTA Onlinesome of these have never been implemented and are only possible through the use of mods in games RPFor example.

• Playable factions: Ability to join groups such as the police, mafia, yakuza, gangs or bikers, with unique meeting points and a reputation system for each faction.
• Justice system: Arrested players would have been entitled to a trial, with the option to plead guilty or not. Depending on your legal skills, there is a possibility of winning (or not).
• Hospital system: Injured criminals could be taken to hospital by ambulance. However, they would then be sent to prison with the opportunity to escape.
• Skill system: Ability to develop skills such as Charisma, Chemistry, Strength, Intelligence and Hacking.
• Detailed interior: Ability to enter places such as banks, jewelry stores, shops (liquor or other) and villas with detailed interiors.
• Character Customization: Access to personalization of clothing and appearance.
• Communication: Integration of voice and text chat.
• Real estate ownership: Possibility of purchasing apartments and garages.
• Emotes: Ability to perform actions such as head movements, frowning, smoking, or even laughing.
• Inventory: Possibility of trading with other players.

This list of features may seem trivial today, but they are ideas that emerged more than 20 years ago, at a time when technology was much more limited than it is today. This is also due to the limitations of the PlayStation 2 and the Xbox What GTA 3 Online never saw the light of day and benefited from several years of additional development to be able to take advantage of the capabilities of future consoles and thus become the GTA Online Everyone knows that these days.