Thirty years after a small Scottish team stumbled into a satire of American excess, two of its original makers now stand outside the gates of its successor, holding nothing but a pre-order like everyone else. The story they tell is one of happy accidents: constraints that bred invention, a controversy partly manufactured for attention, and a world built so carefully that it outlived the people who made it. As the largest release in the medium's history approaches, their quiet distance from it reminds us that the work eventually leaves its authors behind, and that the question now is whether th
Even GTA's Original Creators Are Waiting to Play Grand Theft Auto 6
Even the people who built GTA are waiting in line like everyone else.
Mark
Why does it matter that the original creators haven't played it?
Mimi
It shows how tightly Rockstar is holding this. Dave Jones and Brian Baglow helped start the series, and they're waiting like everyone else. Baglow just has a pre-order.
Luke
Worth noting that's what they said in one interview. It tells us about access, not about the game's quality.
Mark
The original was a slow seller at first, right?
Mimi
Compared with Lemmings, yes. Jones said you had to play it to get it, and Baglow said word of mouth kept it selling all year.
Luke
And the ban-the-game uproar was partly staged. The source says much of it was generated by the publisher, BMG Interactive, as a viral stunt. Jones says the team never thought about controversy.
Mark
What gave it its identity?
Mimi
Satire, and necessity. With a small budget and costly licences, they invented brand names and fake radio stations. Baglow says that world-building is still what makes a game feel like GTA.
Luke
The claim that it's the biggest release ever is an expectation, not a result. The pre-order records are platform statements, and the 212GB size may inflate them, since people pre-order to pre-load.
Mark
So what are we watching for?
Mimi
Whether it lives up to all of this. MacDonald says the industry wants a shot in the arm.
Luke
Nobody outside Rockstar knows yet what the game is like.
The Pulse
- Two original creators have not seen the game they helped inspire, and the secrecy surrounding GTA 6 runs right down to its founders.
- A 13-year wait, two delays and several leaks have built a pressure that Rockstar is holding tightly closed.
- Record pre-orders on PlayStation and Xbox, paired with a 212GB download, have fans queuing to pre-load before the doors open.
- Billboards in Miami and a Vice City pop-up in London show the hype spilling into city streets, while the industry waits to see if the game can deliver.
Thirty years after a small Scottish team stumbled into a satire of American excess, two of its original makers now stand outside the gates of its successor, holding nothing but a pre-order like everyone else. The story they tell is one of happy accidents: constraints that bred invention, a controversy partly manufactured for attention, and a world built so carefully that it outlived the people who made it. As the largest release in the medium's history approaches, their quiet distance from it reminds us that the work eventually leaves its authors behind, and that the question now is whether the industry can meet the wonder it has helped to create.
Dave Jones helped create Grand Theft Auto, and he has not played the new one. Neither has Brian Baglow, the original's writer and publicist. When asked whether they had early access to GTA 6, Baglow shook his head, and he was not complaining. He has a pre-order, like everyone else. The launch arrives after a 13-year wait, two delays and a string of leaks, and Rockstar has guarded it so closely that even the people who laid the series' foundations are waiting in the dark. "We're all waiting to see what they've done," Jones said.
The 1997 original came from DMA Design, a small team in Dundee that had just found success with Lemmings. Their first idea was a racing game, but they wanted something new, and the answer was getting out of the car: driving, stealing vehicles and running on foot in one world. They imagined playing as a criminal or a police officer, but Jones dropped the police role because it meant playing by the rules, and playing the bad guy was far more fun. Sales built slowly, helped by word of mouth, and the controversy that followed was later revealed to be partly a marketing stunt by its publisher. The developers, Jones said, never asked whether something was controversial. They simply made what they enjoyed.
The game looked basic, with its top-down view and arcade graphics, yet it set the template for the series' satire. Limited budgets pushed the team to invent cheeky brand names and fake radio stations, and Baglow still considers the world they built his proudest achievement. The series then grew into a cultural force, with GTA V earning $1bn in three days, and Jones now sees films where a character warns someone not to "go all GTA on me." Its appeal, he suggests, lies in something simple: a city and a car are enough.
GTA 6 is expected to outdo its predecessor, and PlayStation and Xbox both describe it as their most pre-ordered title ever. The industry hopes it will give the whole sector a lift. Jones and Baglow say they do not envy the developers now at work, since people eventually move on to other things. Baglow describes watching the world love their game for 29 years as a joy. The finished game's reception will show whether the expectations built around it can be met.
Dave Jones helped create Grand Theft Auto, and he has not played the new one. Neither has Brian Baglow, the original game's writer and publicist. Asked whether either had been given early access to Grand Theft Auto 6, Baglow shook his head. He wasn't complaining, he said: he has the pre-order, like everyone else.
The launch comes after a 13-year wait, two delays and several high-profile leaks. Rockstar Games has kept its biggest release yet tightly under wraps, and that secrecy extends even to the people who built the series' foundations. "We're all waiting to see what they've done," Jones said, sitting beside Baglow in a computer lab at Abertay University in Dundee.
The original game came out in 1997 from DMA Design, a team that looks small by the standards of later GTA projects. After its success with the puzzle game Lemmings, the studio had been toying with a racing game called Race'n'Chase. Jones said the developers still felt they had to bring something new. Part of the answer was a premise players now take for granted: getting out of the car. Being able to drive, switch and steal vehicles, and run around on foot, produced what Jones described as an interesting mix of gaming. The team also imagined letting players act as either a criminal or a police officer. Jones dropped the police role because it would have required playing by the book. Playing the bad guy, he said, was far more fun.
Sales were a slow burn compared with Lemmings, partly because you had to play it to get it, Jones said. Baglow recalled that the game kept selling throughout the year it was released, which the team put down to word of mouth. The game's violence and criminal themes also drew controversy, including debates in the UK Parliament and calls for a ban. It later emerged that much of that stir was generated by its publisher, BMG Interactive, as a viral marketing stunt. Jones said the developers never asked themselves whether something was controversial; they simply did what they found fun.
The original was basic in appearance, with a top-down 2D view and arcade-style graphics, but it set the template for the series' satire. Guardian video games editor Keza MacDonald said that although the game was set in an exaggerated version of American cities, its Scottishness showed in its humour and outsider perspective. She called it a deeply satirical game that takes aim at the hyper-individualist, hyper-capitalist nature of the US. Some of its signature touches grew from constraints: with a low budget and real-world licences costing money, the team invented cheeky brand names and fake radio stations to play while driving. Baglow said the world-building is what he is proudest of, from the business names to the DJs and lyrics, all of which make the setting feel like a cohesive whole.
The series later became a cultural reference point. When GTA V launched in 2013, it made $1bn (£760m) in three days, faster than any entertainment product had managed at the time. Jones said he has seen films where a character says "don't go all GTA on me," which he found surreal. MacDonald argued that while early GTAs took a lot from cinema, films may now be more influenced by GTA than the reverse. Jones put its appeal down to being based on real life: players need to know nothing beyond a city and driving.
GTA 6 is expected to surpass its predecessor in scale, scope and revenue. PlayStation and Xbox, the two platforms it launches on first, have both said it is the most pre-ordered title in their digital stores' history. Its 212GB size may be part of the reason, as many people pre-order so they can pre-load and play at launch. The hype has reached the real world: London's Selfridges has become a Vice City-themed pop-up, and fictional GTA brands have appeared on billboards in Miami, the city that inspired the game. MacDonald said the industry hopes for a shot in the arm, and that players want to see what Rockstar has been doing all this time.
Jones and Baglow say they don't envy the current developers. Jones said people love their time on one, two or three versions, but eventually want to do other things. Baglow called watching the world fall in love with the game over 29 years joyful. How the finished game is received will be the real test of the expectations now built around it.
Notable Quotes
We're all waiting to see what they've done.— Dave Jones, GTA co-creator
Watching the rest of the world fall in love with the game over the last 29 years has just been joyful.— Brian Baglow, original GTA writer and publicist
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