What would you think would have happened if GTA III was cancelled after the 9/11 attacks?

[Eriahslon]

The title says it all peeps.

[god speed]

Then this site wouldn't exist either. Another game like Mafia would get the glory for popularizing the genre.

Or the Driver series.

Edited December 26, 2019 by perennial

[Algonquin Assassin]

17 hours ago, perennial said:

Then this site wouldn't exist either. Another game like Mafia would get the glory for popularizing the genre.

I'm not entirely sure. Mafia is a very niche series. It may have been more well known not being shadowed by the GTA series, but I don't think it would've popularised the genre very much.

 

If anything at all I think the Driver series would've picked up the ball since it done the whole 3D open world thing before GTA III and it was still in the limelight in 2000/2001. Who knows this may have become the Driver forums and we might be talking about Driver: Havana Nights or something on the PS5/XBSEX if things had went differently.

[god speed]

3 minutes ago, SonOfLiberty said:

I'm not entirely sure. Mafia is a very niche series. It may have been more well known not being shadowed by the GTA series, but I don't think it would've popularised the genre very much.

Yeah, I doubt Mafia or The Getaway would have had the same impact as GTA III, but some sandbox crime game sooner or later probably would have filled the void and be held as the gold standard of the genre.

Driv3r wasn't really good but who knows, maybe the franchise would still be alive and kicking.

[Algonquin Assassin]

1 minute ago, perennial said:

Yeah, I doubt Mafia or The Getaway would have had the same impact as GTA III, but some sandbox crime game sooner or later probably would have filled the void and be held as the gold standard of the genre.

Driv3r wasn't really good but who knows, maybe the franchise would still be alive and kicking.

The reason I say Driver is they were already experimenting with a GTA esque type game with Driver 2 when they let the player walk around the open world. Sure it didn't have shooting and whatnot, but I have no doubt further games would've improved on it.

 

I agree Driv3r wasn't that good, but I think that was a consequence of trying to compete with the GTA series. The thing with Mafia and even The Getaway is they were really specific with their target audiences in mind and didn't seem like they had wide spread appeal. The Driver series is probably the only series at that time that had a similar essence to GTA when you consider its core foundation.

[Max.pain]

wasn’t gta vice city planned already when this came out? maybe they’d go for it instead

Edited December 26, 2019 by Max.pain
spelling

[gts.]

This site wouldn't exist. And probably the "Driver" series would have got all the glory. Even more with Driver 2 back then. Since GTA/GTA1 and GTA2 are too different from Driver 2 as top down view, not a really 3D world, etc.

[god speed]

Yeah, "Driver" had the most brand recognition and foundations at the time already and Driv3r's development mightn't been as misdirected with Atari forcing its premature release in the competitive market. Furthermore Mafia was limited to the PC gaming audience in its release year in addition to being maybe a less accessible title.

Another possibility is that Rockstar could have moved on to develop and release GTA Vice City with whatever smaller budget they had without GTA III's success, that means no spectacular soundtrack licenses.

Edited December 26, 2019 by perennial

[JayKed20]

On 2019年12月25日 at 6:06 PM, perennial said:

Then this site wouldn't exist either. Another game like Mafia would get the glory for popularizing the genre.

Or the Driver series.

Or maybe Saints Row (Or Bling Bling, if it was released earlier in this alternative timeline) would've picked up where GTA left off and popularized the genre, although that might be too late in this timeline, it probably wouldn't of went over the top wacky either.

 

Of course this is all presuming Saints Row would've even existed without GTA.

Edited December 28, 2019 by JayKed20

[gts.]

7 hours ago, JayKed20 said:

Or maybe Saints Row (Or Bling Bling, if it was released earlier in this alternative timeline) would've picked up where GTA left off and popularized the genre, although that might be too late in this timeline, it probably wouldn't of went over the top wacky either.

 

Of course this is all presuming Saints Row would've even existed without GTA.

Obviously not. We're talking about a realistic timeline, where GTA3 got cancelled just short after 9/11. So, Driver is the one that would have got all the attention. Excluding Driver 3, that one was pretty bad. Saints Row came out in 2006, probably based on the assumptions posted here, Vice City would have came out or some other GTA with other title, whatever. But Saints Row with all the hype? That's pretty unlikely in my opinion.

 

__

In real life San Andreas kicked Saints Row's ass, and even when SR was a new gen game as Xbox 360 and SA an old gen game as the PS2. Funny but true.

[LyricMode]

I think they push forward with Vice City but don’t get the credit of revolutionizing the 3D Open-World Genre. And I suffer due to lack of Chatterbox. 

[god speed]

GTA Vice City, in whatever form, might to some extent still make up for the loss of GTA III and be considered a revolutionary title. Lazlow could still be the chat station host maybe.

I looked at Driver: You Are The Wheelman's sales figures, 6+ million copies sold on PlayStation. The sales numbers of Mafia, The Getaway or True Crime: Streets of LA don't compare favorably. I think it is quite safe to say the Driver series would have still kept most of the attention without a new GTA.

 

Saints Row possibly wouldn't even be a thing without the influence of early 3D GTAs. If Volition still got the idea for the game, the gang color of the Saints would be green, like SA's Grove Street Families, instead of purple.

Edited December 28, 2019 by perennial

[JayKed20]

Vice Cities soundtrack probably wouldn't be as expensive either.

[Evil empire]

This forum probably wouldn't exist.

[AlexGRFan97]

I highly doubt they would have scrapped the whole game.

Worst case scenario, they'd spend a few weeks/months retexturing everything to make Liberty City less like New York. Stuff like recoloring the blue/white police cars into LA-styled black/white ones.

Oh wait...

[MSX98FMDnB]

My guess is that if they did cancel GTA III they would end up releasing it probably sometime in 2002.

[Lioshenka]

On 7/2/2020 at 4:57 AM, MSX98FMDnB said:

My guess is that if they did cancel GTA III they would end up releasing it probably sometime in 2002.

Was going to say the same. GTA III team would probably have released another game a few years later.

[gtafaninwest]

Then I wouldn't have known that the GTA franchise existed and I'd probably would be continuing watching cartoons (at least up till I reached a certain age). GTA III sure cured me of my cartoon addiction, not that there's anything wrong with cartoons.

[DJ-Jelly-Doughnut]

Didn't the release actually get pushed back a little ways anyways? I remember a rumor back in the day about how the two construction sites on Staunton Island were originally buildings. Not sure if that ever held any truth.. were talking 20 years ago here.