Rockstar Games Co-Founder Says GTA Games Won't Work if Set Outside the US

Grand Theft Auto games have always been set in the US, barring the 1999 London expansions for the first GTA. With the exception of Grand Theft Auto 2, which explored a futuristic American city as its setting, all GTA games have been set in fictional US cities based on actual US cities. Rockstar Games co-founder, Dan Houser, has explained the importance of the American setting for the franchise — and why a GTA game may never be set outside the US — in a new interview.

Appearing on the popular Lex Fridman podcast, Houser talked about Grand Theft Auto, the upcoming GTA 6, Red Dead Redemption, Rockstar Games, among other things in a wide-ranging chat. The Rockstar co-founder, who led writing and creative input on several GTA games, Red Dead Redemption, and Red Dead Redemption 2, said that the GTA series took heavy inspiration from Americana and it would be hard to make a GTA game set outside of the US. And of course, the series leans heavily on guns — a more common sight in America than anywhere else in the world.

“We made a little thing in London 26 years ago, GTA London, for the top-down, for the PS1. That was pretty cute and fun, as the first mission pack ever for PlayStation 1,” Houser, who is British, said in response to a question about GTA settings. “I think for a full GTA game, we always decided that there was so much Americana inherent in the IP, it would be really hard to make it work in London or anywhere else.

“You know, you needed guns, you needed these larger-than-life characters. It just felt like the game was so much about America, possibly from an outsider's perspective. But you know, that was so much about what the thing was that it wouldn't really have worked in the same way elsewhere.”

All Grand Theft Auto games, barring GTA 2 and the GTA: London expansions, are set in either one or several cities that include Liberty City (based on New York City), Vice City (Miami), Los Santos, San Fierro, and Las Venturas (based on Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Las Vegas). GTA 6 will return to the Vice City setting within the larger state of Leonia, inspired by American state of Florida.

Dan Houser on GTA 6

In the interview, Houser also talked about the anticipation for GTA 6 and said that the series had stayed relevant and popular over the years due to constant innovation.

“Because they don't come out that regularly,” Houser said when asked about the popularity of GTA games. “And I think we did a really good job of constantly innovating within what the IP was. The games always felt different. People have very strong feelings: “I like this one. I didn't like that one as much,” because they are pretty different.”

Houser said that Rockstar kept evolving the GTA IP, which created excitement and anticipation before each GTA release. “And we were good at marketing them as well,” he added.

Houser co-founded Rockstar with his brother, Sam, who now leads the studio. He left Rockstar games in 2020 after working on Red Dead Redemption 2. Houser is not involved in the making of Grand Theft Auto 6.

GTA 6 is set to launch on PS5 and Xbox Series S/X on May 26. 2026.