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GTA 3 multiplayer was in the works, but creating the open-world blueprint for the next 20 years meant there 'was too much to be done'

Rockstar Games planned multiplayer for Grand Theft Auto 3 but canceled it due to time constraints, adding it to later GTA titles like GTA 4 and the wildly popular GTA Online.

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Rockstar Games' former technical director has revealed that the studio, at one point, was developing multiplayer for its three-dimensional debut Grand Theft Auto 3.

In response to a player who wondered why the series gave up multiplayer offerings for a while after GTA 2, former technical director Obbe Vermeij tweeted that he did in fact code multiplayer for GTA 3, it just never crossed the finish line to release. "Since GTA 1 & 2 had [multiplayer] we thought GTA 3 should have it as well," Vermeij explains.

Adding in multiplayer functionality while accidentally creating the open-world blueprint for the next two decades of mainstream games was seemingly too much, however. "The basic gameplay was working but there was too much to be done and we canceled it," Vermeij continues. "We tried again for [GTA Vice City] and failed. When [GTA San Andreas] came around we thought it was too late in the console cycle and settled for the co-op mode. It was only for GTA 4 that we assigned enough coders and level designers to make it happen."

GTA Online is now the juggernaut multiplayer experience that almost every other live service is gunning for, but the studio's older catalog is still being supported by dedicated fan communities. For instance, the Multi Theft Auto mod extends multiplayer functionality to all three PS2-era GTA games, and Vermeij himself said it was "great to see the communities are still so active" for the unofficial online projects.

Elsewhere in the series' crime-ridden streets, GTA 6 is officially launching in fall 2025 and aims to "create an experience that no one has seen before." Rockstar Games' reveal doesn't shed light on what that never-before-seen experience could be - shinier graphics? HD jetpacks? actually sexy sex scenes in a game!? - but GTA theorists reckon we'll hear more about the blockbuster game soon. 

*For now, check out everything we know about GTA 6 so far. *