Grand Theft Auto followers have recognized for a while that Rockstar Video games labored on a single-player DLC for GTA 5 that may have seen Trevor assume the position of a undercover agent.
Final yr, voice actor Steven Ogg stated Rockstar initially deliberate to make a narrative enlargement targeted on his character, Trevor, with it thought to have fallen by the wayside because the developer targeted on the money cow that was GTA On-line.
Ogg was joined by Michael actor Ned Luke and Franklin actor Shawn Fonteno in a Questions and Solutions session with Streamily. The trio make clear what they claimed was scrapped downloadable content material for GTA 5 that starred Trevor as a Federal Investigation Bureau agent.
“Initially they have been gonna do persevering with tales of Michael, Franklin, and Trevor,” Luke stated, and Ogg expanded on his model. “We additionally had that basically cool s**t of — and I overlook if it was DLC, I don’t know — however the place Trevor was gonna be undercover, he works for the FEDs,” Ogg stated. “And we did shoot a few of that stuff with James Bond Trevor. He is nonetheless form of a f**ok up however he is doing his greatest. And we shot some stuff after which it simply disappeared and so they by no means adopted up on it.”
Additionally final yr, Joe Robino, who was a senior digital camera artist and digital cinematographer working at Rockstar’s New York workplace from 2010 to 2016, spoke to the SanInPlay YouTube channel about why the GTA 5 story DLC was canceled.
“A variety of the workforce went to do Crimson Useless Redemption 2 immediately and I took on this different venture that was a standalone DLC for GTA that by no means got here out and it was kick ass,” Robino revealed.
“That was my factor. I used to be one of many primary editors, digital camera artists, and on-stage stuff. We cut up our groups into two. I stayed on GTA On-line after which this DLC, which Steven Ogg [the actor who played Trevor Philips] was a vital a part of.
“After which a number of the workforce overlapped and went to RDR2 early on, after which we simply form of did this [flipped motion], as a result of when that recreation bought shelved, we spent a lot cash… loads of that stuff although did find yourself making it I imagine into later iterations of GTA On-line, I feel. So it’s not like they wasted it.
“It was actually actually good. However when GTA On-line got here out it was a lot of a money cow and folks have been loving it a lot that it was laborious to make an argument {that a} standalone DLC would outcompete that. I feel trying again now you may most likely do each. However that was a enterprise resolution they made. I used to be just a little upset about that.
“That really was loads of the rationale for me being just a little bitter at the moment. As a result of I used to be like yo, WTF guys? This s**t’s superior. Let’s hold going. Let’s end this s**t.”
Followers have had snippets of details about GTA 5’s fabled story DLC through the years. GTA dataminers have additionally found a reference to Trevor with a jetpack, which suggests story mode DLC was repurposed into GTA On-line, as Robino stated. In 2018, Rockstar lastly unveiled GTA On-line’s Doomsday Heist missions alongside the Thruster jetpack.
Now, talking on the Lex Fridman podcast, Rockstar Video games co-founder and former lead author Dan Houser has addressed this DLC for the primary time, insisting that if the developer had continued with it, it wouldn’t have been in a position to make 2018’s Crimson Useless Redemption 2.
“The web is aware of we made a DLC… single-player DLC for GTA 5 that by no means got here out,” Houser stated.
“It was one whenever you performed as Trevor, however he was a undercover agent. It was cute. It by no means fairly got here collectively, and it was by no means completed. It was about half carried out when it bought deserted. However I feel if that had come out, we most likely wouldn’t have gotten to make Crimson Useless 2. So, there are all the time compromises.”
It’s the primary time Houser has addressed the canceled GTA 5 story DLC, however it turns on the market’s one other venture he would have liked to have made whereas he was on the studio: GTA Zombies. “I favored the concept of it, it was a GTA zombie recreation,” he stated. “That might have been humorous. I feel that would have been fairly enjoyable.”
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GTA followers typically lament the lack of single-player story DLC for GTA 5 after it did so effectively for earlier GTA video games. Houser stated he stays an enormous fan of single-player DLC, and is hoping to make some as a part of his new firm, Absurd Ventures.
“I like making the tales,” he stated. “For me, I like the mannequin of GTA 4 whenever you had the additional tales coming afterwards, or Crimson Useless 1 whenever you had the zombie pack coming afterwards. I like simply doing these further issues. So, I’d personally prefer to have carried out extra of that in that firm. And with stuff we’re doing sooner or later, we’re going to try to provide you with worlds the place we will add extra tales.
“I like single-player DLC. I simply assume the viewers loves it, and it’s actually enjoyable to make.”
What strategy will Rockstar take with subsequent yr’s GTA 6? Will it return to story DLC, or give attention to no matter new model of GTA On-line it has up its sleeve?
And what of Steven Ogg, whose world-famous online game character, Trevor, was the main focus of the canceled DLC? In September, he stated he felt “completely nothing” inside for GTA 6 as a result of he’s by no means been a fan of video video games.
There are a selection of revelations in Lex Fridman’s Dan Houser interview, together with the destiny of canceled PS3 unique Agent, and Houser’s ideas on why GTA gained’t go away the US when it comes to setting.
Wesley is Director, Information at IGN. Discover him on Twitter at @wyp100. You may attain Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
