20 Mind-Blowing Things You Didn't Know About Grand Theft Auto 3
14. Online Multiplayer Was Planned And Cut Before Release
Back in the early 2000s, online multiplayer was the new, cool kid on the block. It was starting to assert its dominance in the gaming marketplace, but it wouldn't be until several years later thar the online multiplayer we know nowadays would be easily accessible to all.
During Grand Theft Auto III's early development, discussions were had, and initial programming began for a potential multiplayer mode for the game. There still exists certain files within the game's code which reference the multiplayer that never was.
Jamie King, a former manager at Rockstar, said the following about the multiplayer side of GTA 3:
"The studio were very aware of multiplayer. Sam Houser is very smart, very clever, and has a great vision for the future. MMOs and multiplayer games were flourishing at the time, but online was still very young. It was Call of Duty on Xbox that was really starting to grow online on consoles from a technical player perspective on consoles. But it was technically very difficult to get GTA to work on consoles, especially on PlayStation 2."