Skip to main content
News

Grand Theft Auto London wouldn't work today because there's "so much Americana inherent in the IP"

Rockstar's co-founder Dan Houser talks about why the series sticks to a United States setting.
Ben Lyons Senior Editor 3 November 2025

For the most part, Grand Theft Auto games have been set in the United States of America. There have been occasional forays into other territory, but for the most part, the series has stuck to American shores, and there's a reason for that.

Speaking with Lex Friedman, Rockstar's co-founder Dan Houser has spoken about why the series hasn't taken a leaf out of the past and returned to London or another different major city outside of the US.

"We made a little thing in London 26 years ago, GTA London, for the top-down one for the PS1. That was pretty cute and fun. There was so much Americana inherent in the IP, it would be really hard to make it work in London or anywhere else. You needed guns, you needed these larger-than-life characters. The game was so much about America, possibly from an outsider's perspective. That was so much about what the series was that it wouldn't really have worked in the same way elsewhere."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3gbXDjNWyI

Do you think GTA has the potential to be set elsewhere, and if so, which city/region would make a great location for a Grand Theft Auto game?

Senior Editor Ben was a Senior Editor at Gamereactor UK. When he wasn’t writing, editing or filming for Gamereactor, he could usually be found playing an FPS or getting lost in a sprawling RPG.
Full profile Gamereactor author since October 2020 · 18,577 published articles
Why trust Gamereactor
23 Editions Each with its own newsroom and its own scores.
1998 Publishing since Independently owned for the whole of it.
100% Hands-on Written from time with the game, never press material.
1–10 Network Score Every edition’s score, averaged and shown.