“GTA III changed my perspective of what makes games fun. To mark the groundbreaking game’s big 20-year milestone, we reached out to creators from PlayStation Studios and top third-party developers to reflect on GTA III’s megaton launch.Īll screenshots in this article from Grand Theft Auto III - Definitive Edition, out November 11. GTA III’s launch sent ripple effects across the entire gaming industry, captivating players and inspiring game developers to take a different approach to game design.

I remember being blown away by Liberty City itself: a sprawling cityscape packed with cars, colorful characters, challenging side-missions, and ever-present cops.

And it all began with GTA III, a bold shift from top-down action to a fully 3D open world epic, interwoven with unprecedented interactivity. Twenty years later, it’s virtually impossible to overstate the impact of Rockstar Games’ open-world crime saga on the gaming medium. Following a hearty recommendation from the store manager, I bought the game and took it home. Where were you when Grand Theft Auto III launched in October 2001? I was standing in a GameStop, perusing the new PS2 releases, when it caught my eye.

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