Former Rockstar Dev Reveals San Andreas Secret On Game’s Anniversary

Obbe Vermeij, former Rockstar developer and sharer of secrets, has revealed an intriguing tidbit about Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas on the game’s 20th anniversary. The developer – who still works in the industry today – is known far and wide across social media for his insights and behind-the-scenes glimpses at the development of many Grand Theft Auto games.

His latest factoid about San Andreas is pretty interesting, and it comes as the game celebrates a major milestone.

20 Years as the GOAT

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is considered one of the best games of all time. It’s a memorable, expansive adventure that took players across a series of cities that made up ‘San Andreas’. It was one of the games that defined a generation, and for Rockstar, it was a dizzying success that served as a benchmark for things to come.

Recently, Obbe Vermeij, who worked on GTA 3, GTA Vice City, San Andreas, and GTA IV, took to social media to reflect on twenty years of San Andreas history.

He wrote that the original plan was to have the game map split up into three separate portions, only reachable by inter-city travel made up of trains and planes. This would enable the team to circumvent ‘tight’ memory restrictions, and it would be easier to differentiate between separate assets needed to make each city feel unique.

In the end, an executive meeting at Rockstar North changed the path of history and settled on one huge map that was tougher to develop but much more impressive overall.

Vermeij then went on to reminisce about midnight launches and how impressive it was that San Andreas pulled in such massive crowds before the internet and social media allowed developers and publishers to generate much of a buzz.

Back then, it would have been a couple of TV spots, a trailer or two, and perhaps an article here and there in a magazine or one of the few websites around at the time:

The internet was crap and apart from a couple of trailers, gamers didn’t know too much about the game.

I went to the biggest store near the R*North offices, which was HMV on Princess Street, Edinburgh. Even though it was a drizzly night, the line meandered all through the store and spilled out onto the street.

It was mind-blowing to see all those people so excited, going home to play the game all through the night.

GTA: San Andreas was my first ‘launch day game’ back in 2004, and I poured thousands of hours into it over the years that followed. It’s a masterpiece, and it’ll always have a place in my heart.

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