Grand Theft Auto not 'necessarily' limited to modern America

Grand Theft Auto has always been a quintessentially American series. It parodies America in faux-American cities, and tends to star born-and-raised American protagonists. Grand Theft Auto V is no exception, set in a fictionalized version of the Los Angeles area. But Rockstar's Dan Houser says he doesn't consider the series tied to our country, or even our time period.

"At the moment it feels like [Grand Theft Auto's] D.N.A. is contemporary-ish, America-ish, English-speaking-ish, because that's what it has been," Houser told Polygon. "But that doesn't necessarily limit it to those, that's just what we've done so far. Everything else is discussed. We might not do it, but we always discuss it. We discuss anything. Many outlandish ideas have been discussed and have been rejected, or they could turn into another game, or they could inspire something else."

He jokes that wild ideas like a game surrounding a caveman might not be fun because they don't have the wheel. It makes sense that their brainstorming sessions would inspire similar ideas outside of the GTA franchise, as both Bully and Red Dead Redemption seem clearly spawned from the same open world formula.

Houser also said that right now the studio is squarely focused on Grand Theft Auto Online, but soon enough they'll have to start looking into the future. "I do not know what the future of anything is aside from the next few days and then Oct. 1," he said. "At some point in the next weeks and months, [lead producer Leslie Benzies and artist Aaron Garbut and co-founder Sam Houser] and myself will have to actually think about what we're doing next, and if we're going to do anything."