According to Journal du Geek, the developers of the first GTA at DMA Design say the open world came from not wanting to build a menu interface.
Sources journaldugeek.com
I drive a bus through a city that does not exist yet, and I never asked why GTA games happen in an open city. Journal du Geek has the answer, and it is less noble than you would think.
According to Journal du Geek, several members of the first Grand Theft Auto team, then at DMA Design (Rockstar's name until 2002, says the site), joined a round table at the Scottish Game Developers Association's Games Day 2026 in Dundee. Creative director Gary Penn said the concept "was not part of the game" at first: "the experience was very linear and you chose missions from the menu".
Lead programmer Keith Hamilton gives the rest: the idea came from the fact that "we did not want to have to create an interface", he explains. You start a level and carry on. Penn admits the studio was "very messy" at the time.
To replace the menu, the game rang phone booths, and you picked up missions in any order. Penn sums up the effect: missions fit naturally into the space and "suddenly the game changes completely". Per Journal du Geek, the inspiration was Die Hard with a Vengeance, though nobody seems to remember why thirty years later.
Read also GTA 6 built without generative AI: on PC, modders will have the last word
The link is direct: freedom is what people expect most from Vice City. Rockstar says hundreds of interiors will be explorable, and Rob Nelson wants Leonida to be replayed. From the 1997 phone booth to the Leonida map, the logic holds: drop the player in a place and let them choose.
Nothing concrete for November 19, and I will not pretend otherwise. But it puts things in perspective: GTA's freedom started as a workaround, a "we do not want to make a menu". To me that is good news for anyone who prefers getting lost in a car with the radio on, a topic we follow on the radio page.
Sources journaldugeek.com
By Gabriel Janvier · GTAVIFRANCE newsroom
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