Grand Theft Auto 3 was almost an Xbox exclusive

[Kane99]

I swear I heard about this around the time the original Xbox came out. It sounds true. But I guess the story is, Rockstar wanted to make GTA 3 exclusive to the Xbox, but Microsoft rejected it instead. This news comes from that new documentary about the birth and history of Xbox from the past 20 years. It would have been interested to see Xbox have the GTA series.  

Do you think GTA would have been as successful if it was an Xbox exclusive? Makes you wonder if it would have resulted in GTA online today. 

You can read about this here - https://screenrant.com/gta-3-xbox-exclusive-microsoft-grand-theft-auto/

[Techno]

Honestly, GTA 3 being an Xbox exclusive wouldn't have been as cool as we think it would be. GTA probably would be forced by Xbox to be less risqué.

[m76]

I think if that were the case Rockstar would be still an obscure little company today, like say Remedy, who did make their game an XBOX exclusive

[Kane99]

33 minutes ago, Techno said:

Honestly, GTA 3 being an Xbox exclusive wouldn't have been as cool as we think it would be. GTA probably would be forced by Xbox to be less risqué.

Or it could have gone the way where all future GTA titles released on Xbox consoles. But I'm glad that didn't happen, because I would not have been able to play the classics on the PS2. Kinda good that Microsoft rejected it. It's their loss. 

11 minutes ago, m76 said:

I think if that were the case Rockstar would be still an obscure little company today, like say Remedy, who did make their game an XBOX exclusive

Idk, I think they'd still be regarded as one of the best in the industry, and it would also help sell the consoles. But, if it happened, than I could see PlayStation making their own open world game similar to it, and who knows we may have had another sandbox competitor to GTA on top of all the others already out there. 

 

[m76]

1 hour ago, Kane99 said:

Idk, I think they'd still be regarded as one of the best in the industry, and it would also help sell the consoles. But, if it happened, than I could see PlayStation making their own open world game similar to it, and who knows we may have had another sandbox competitor to GTA on top of all the others already out there.

GTA1 and GTA2 were obscure little games with a bit of controversy attached to them. But it was GTA3 that made rockstar and vice city that cemented their position as one of the biggest names. I believe they'd be a shadow of what they are now had they done that, so if the story is true they owe a  debt of gratitude to mictosoft for rejecting their offer.

I think going for any exclusivity as an independent developer hurts your long term chances of making it big, but helps them in the short term. No developer should sign any kind of exclusivity unless it is life or death for the company. 

If you make a game that becomes big on one platform, remember that it could've been three times as big had you put it on all three major platforms.

 

[Kane99]

20 hours ago, m76 said:

GTA1 and GTA2 were obscure little games with a bit of controversy attached to them. But it was GTA3 that made rockstar and vice city that cemented their position as one of the biggest names. I believe they'd be a shadow of what they are now had they done that, so if the story is true they owe a  debt of gratitude to mictosoft for rejecting their offer.

I think going for any exclusivity as an independent developer hurts your long term chances of making it big, but helps them in the short term. No developer should sign any kind of exclusivity unless it is life or death for the company. 

If you make a game that becomes big on one platform, remember that it could've been three times as big had you put it on all three major platforms.

 

Oh for sure. it wasn't until they started doing 3D worlds that they blew up. The first top down games were popular, but not on the level of GTA 3 and the sequels to follow. 

I think GTA would have survived on Xbox, if anything it would have pushed Xbox ahead. But, it's very likely that Rockstar still would have dropped Microsoft and go multi-platform later. These days studios are leaving exclusivity deals and doing multiplatform or are outright getting bought up by studios. So Rockstar probably would have done just fine. 

[m76]

4 hours ago, Kane99 said:

Oh for sure. it wasn't until they started doing 3D worlds that they blew up. The first top down games were popular, but not on the level of GTA 3 and the sequels to follow. 

I think GTA would have survived on Xbox, if anything it would have pushed Xbox ahead. But, it's very likely that Rockstar still would have dropped Microsoft and go multi-platform later. These days studios are leaving exclusivity deals and doing multiplatform or are outright getting bought up by studios. So Rockstar probably would have done just fine. 

I think they'd either ended up subservient to MS, or pingponging between who they actually sell their actual project to. Either way both the GTA franchise and rockstar would have less significance in the industry.

[Darth]

Would be interesting to know what kind of things would have happened if this became a reality. Would GTA be the same game that it is now? Would the franchise have failed? I guess we will never know. I also wonder if thats why Rockstar has always worked with Sony a bit more for certain GTA promotions and events.

[StormyFire]

It's crazy to think about this since the GTA games were some of the flagship titles on the PlayStation 2 to my understanding. Didn't the original Xbox underperform the PS2 quite significantly?