It can surely only be a matter of time before GTA VI is announced by Rockstar. Despite some iffy critical acclaim (mostly centred on the under-cooked online element that promised much more than it delivered) GTA V was a bona-fide video game behemoth, making an astronomical amount of money. And that spells further sequels. But would the franchise have got this far if Rockstar had followed through on some of their initial plans? A lot of changes are fairly well known such as the infamous cutting of the grenade launcher, or the dropped online multiplayer that should have been in GTA III and San Andreas and others just weren't all that evolutionary like the planned presence of sharks in the water of GTA San Andreas, the use of the pool cue as a weapon in GTA IV, or the presence of the skateboard as a vehicle in San Andreas. Some of the changes to the franchise were retconned with GTA V, like the proposed bus rides that were initially planned as part of GTA IV, complete with a schedule, will be part of GTA V. Quite why that has been included remains to be seen, but presumably Rockstar are keen to capture the Bus Anorak dollar as well as their usual audience. But the most intriguing changes are those that almost completely altered the GTA franchise elements that would have meant a different tone, or a different trajectory entirely and it is those which will come into focus in this article.
Honourable Mention
Australia Hates Sexual Violence If you were living in the merry old land of Oz around 2003, your experience of playing Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto III might well have been different to that of a European, or American or in fact, anyone else around the world. Because thanks to Australia's notoriously strict Censorship Board, the game suffered some somewhat rare cuts, as the ACB decided that killing prostitutes after hiring them for some leisure time was sexual violence. That infamous element was subsequently cut from GTA III, and also Vice City, robbing Rockstar of one of their more colourful and off-kilter marketing techniques. So an actual change that temporarily changed the history of GTA, at least in Australia though not one that would have lost fans, or at least not the type of fans you'd actually want to play your game anyway...