According to Eurogamer.net, Rockstar Games co-founder Dan Houser has definitively explained why Grand Theft Auto will never return to London as a setting, citing the series’ dependence on American gun culture and larger-than-life characters. In a recent interview, Houser revealed that while a 1997 expansion pack for the original GTA briefly transported players to 1969 London, the full series has become too characterized by Americana to work elsewhere. He specifically noted that London lacks the readily available firearms that GTA games depend upon, and that the series’ exaggerated characters work best in American settings. Houser, who left Rockstar in 2020 after completing Red Dead Redemption 2, also discussed the immense pressure during development of major titles, including GTA 4’s near-implosion following the Hot Coffee scandal and Red Dead 2’s budget and schedule issues.
Sponsored content — provided for informational and promotional purposes.
The America Simulation Problem
What Houser’s comments reveal is that Grand Theft Auto isn’t just set in America – it’s fundamentally about America. The series has evolved from simple crime games into sophisticated satires of American culture, politics, and society. A London setting would fundamentally break the core premise that has made GTA culturally relevant for decades. The satire works because it’s targeting specific American archetypes: the Miami vice aesthetic, Los Angeles celebrity culture, New York ambition. Transplanting these mechanics to London would create a dissonance that goes beyond mere setting changes – it would undermine the entire satirical framework that gives the series its distinctive voice and cultural impact.
The Gun Culture Dilemma
The firearms issue Houser mentions is more significant than it initially appears. In the UK’s strict gun control environment, the weapon-heavy gameplay that defines modern GTA titles would feel completely implausible. While Houser’s interview touches on this, the deeper implication is that GTA’s entire combat and progression systems are built around American-style weapon availability. From ammo drops to weapon shops to police response mechanics, every system assumes an American context. Retooling these systems for a UK setting would require fundamentally redesigning core gameplay loops that have been refined over two decades, creating essentially a different game wearing GTA’s branding.
What London Loses
For UK gamers and developers, this represents a significant cultural exclusion. The decision effectively says that British urban culture, crime narratives, and social satire aren’t compatible with one of gaming’s most successful franchises. This creates a creative vacuum where the most prominent open-world crime series will always depict American experiences while ignoring equally rich British criminal mythology from everything from London’s gangland history to Manchester’s rave culture. The decision also impacts UK game developers who might aspire to work on culturally relevant local settings within major franchises, instead finding themselves perpetually recreating American cities and scenarios.
The Franchise Trap
Houser’s comments highlight a broader industry problem: successful franchises become trapped by their own formulas. When a series reaches GTA’s level of success, radical setting changes become commercially risky. The American focus isn’t just creative preference – it’s business strategy. Rockstar has perfected a formula that reliably sells tens of millions of copies, and moving to London would jeopardize that predictability. This creates a paradox where the most successful game developers have the least creative freedom to explore new settings and cultural contexts, ultimately limiting the medium’s diversity and global perspective.
Beyond GTA: London’s Future
The silver lining is that Houser’s definitive statement clears the way for other developers to fill the London open-world void. With GTA officially out of the UK picture, there’s market space for new franchises that can authentically capture British urban culture without being constrained by American expectations. The success of games like Watch Dogs: Legion’s London setting demonstrates there’s appetite for UK-based open worlds, even if they approach the concept differently. Houser’s departure from Rockstar and move to new projects at Absurd Ventures might ironically create the conditions where someone finally cracks the code for a truly British answer to GTA – just not from the company that once briefly visited London in 1997.
