GTA Tokyo Plans Confirmed, And Now GTA 6 Means Nothing To Me

Grand Theft Auto 6 might actually (hopefully) release in 2026, even after multiple delays and what feels like a million rumors. It once again has a concrete release date (for now), and has given us a bit to look at thanks to two trailers and an updated website. But news of a planned GTA Tokyo game has gotten me even more hyped. There’s just one small catch.

It appears GTA Tokyo “almost actually happened” and was in the planning stages at Rockstar Games. Over on GamesRadar, it was reported that former Rockstar technical director Obbe Vermeij said, “Tokyo almost actually happened. Another studio in Japan were going to do it, take our code and do GTA: Tokyo.”

GTA Tokyo Was Being Planned At One Stage

That news, of course, comes with the caveat of past tense. It was planned. “That didn’t happen in the end,” explained Vermeij. “It doesn’t make sense to set it in some left-field location for novelty.” Essentially, Rockstar probably just didn’t want to risk trying something new when it has tried and true settings already.

“It’s just not realistic,” said Vermeij. “I would love it, and if games still took a year to make, then yeah, sure, you can have a little fun, but you’re not going to get that when there’s a GTA every 12 years.” Sadly, that means all plans for GTA Tokyo seem to have been scrapped, and the chances of it happening now seem next to none.

It Feels Like We Were Robbed

Lucia and Jason with pistols robbing a store in GTA 6.

I get it. Vice City was awesome, and I’m just as excited as the next person to see what GTA 6 has to offer. But getting to explore a new city and international locations just sounds too good to ignore. It feels like we were robbed, which is slightly ironic considering it’s from a franchise where you can, you know, literally rob people.

Rockstar playing it safe theoretically makes sense. It’s that “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” mentality. But if we’ve learned nothing from countless movie reboots and franchises, it’s that a lack of innovation can lead to stagnation. At some points, fans just get tired of seeing the same old things, no matter how much they may have loved them before.

The explanation behind why GTA Tokyo never happened makes sense, but it’s still disappointing. Retreading the same locales is safe, and it’s probably what most people want, but there’s always room for innovation. While I’m excited to return to Vice City in Grand Theft Auto 6, I’m also hopeful the installment after it will take us someplace completely new — and Tokyo does sound really cool.