Shocking! Rockstar Games shuts down former developer's blog on GTA development!

Former Rockstar developer Obbe Vermeij's blog, where he shared insights into the development of early GTA games, has been shut down by Rockstar Games.

The GTA blog, run by former Rockstar Games developer Obbe Vermeij, has been shut down. (Rockstar Games)

Rockstar Games has been one of the world's most popular gaming companies in the last few decades. A major part of its success is particularly attributed to Grand Theft Auto or GTA, its open-world action-adventure video game. There have been many entries into the series to date, and fans are patiently waiting for the release of the next GTA game which is ubiquitously known as GTA 6. However, apart from the confirmation of the GTA 6 trailer release date, there has been no information so far, with Rockstar Games keeping tight-lipped about the game. And it seems like it doesn't want its employees (or even former workers) to talk about other GTA 6 as well. 

Rockstar Games recently shut down a blog run by former Rockstar North developer Obbe Vermeij who worked as a technical director on the early 3D Grand Theft Auto trilogy. Earlier this month, Vermeij started publishing inside stories during his time at Rockstar North amidst the ongoing development of the three GTA games - GTA 3, GTA: Vice City, and GTA: San Andreas. However, it seems like Rockstar didn't like what Vermeij was talking about, and the blog has now been shut down.

Rockstar Games shuts down blog

According to a Kotaku report, the former Rockstar developer revealed insight into the development of early GTA games such as how GTA 3 was prototyped on Dreamcast, and the difficulties faced by Rockstar to make GTA and GTA 2 run on the PS1. Vermeij also revealed how Rockstar dealt with a staggering 70000 bugs on GTA: San Andreas. This insight into Rockstar's development of these games was fascinating for gamers around the world, but not so much for Rockstar Games.

On November 22, Vermeij posted on his blog how he received an email from Rockstar North, and consequently, he's shutting down the blog. You can read the full blog post below.

Today (22 Nov 2023) I got an email from R*North.

Apparently some of the OG's there are upset by my blog. I genuinely didn't think anyone would mind me talking about 20 year old games but I was wrong. 

Anyway,

This blog isn't important enough to me to piss off my former colleagues in Edinburgh so I'm winding it down.

I would love for Rockstar to open up about development of the trilogy themselves, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen anytime soon.

Maybe I'll try again in a decade or two.

Till then, Obbe.

With his last remark, there is hope that Vemeij returns one day, offering more behind-the-scenes information on the development of GTA games which have entertained gamers for decades.