Rockstar Games’ name is synonymous Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption. The company’s other franchises are not even close to those two established brands. But, in the earlier days of Grand Theft Auto, when RDR stood for Red Dead Revolver, Rockstar didn’t just think of making a zombie game – they actually tried to make one.
This was the most intriguing out of a number of revelations just made by Obbe Vermeij. The former Rockstar North technical director revealed many things, including details about Agent and why it never came to fruition. Yet, as those who read through the entirety of his now-deleted blog post will tell you, it’s the “canceled” zombie game that’s causing quite the chatter.
Apparently, Rockstar greenlit the development of a zombie game following the successful release of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, only to cancel it midway.
According to Vermeij, the team over at Rockstar North wanted nothing to do with GTA for a while, probably because it’s all they’d made at that point (well, there was that one time they made a more controversial game – Manhunt). Because of this, the group decided to try their hands on a zombie survival game, because, why not?
Vermeij explains how the studio “pursued” this title, which is based on San Andreas’ code, to the point that they already had a setting in mind (a “windswept foggy Scottish island” is how he put it) and an idea to have zombies constantly be a nuisance to players. Other features would’ve been vehicles and acquiring fuel, which sounds a lot like two open-world zombie games you made know: DayZ and Days Gone.
Vermeij wasn’t sure how long Z stayed in development, saying that the team spent “several months” on it. Eventually, a lot of the developers found the idea “depressing” and it “ran out of steam.” Afterwards, they proceeded to work on GTA IV, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Rockstar North remains exclusively a Grand Theft Auto studio. On the other hand, Rockstar San Diego handles the work on the Red Dead Redemption franchise. It remains unclear what came of the earlier assets they developed for the game, but it might have inspired Undead Nightmare, the award-winning zombie-themed standalone expansion for Red Dead Redemption.
Obbe Vermeij left Rockstar North in 2009 after serving various roles within the studio since 1995. Afterward, he founded GabberGames and LearniaInc in 2013 and 2018, respectively. He probably would’ve loved spending his days writing on his blog, except Rockstar has effectively told him to keep a lid on it, or so to speak.
It’s a shame, because it appears that he wanted to share more illuminating details about one of the most secretive developers in the industry. But, hey, at least we’re getting the first teaser for Grand Theft Auto 6 in early December, so Rockstar isn’t all bad, right?
