Open-world spy game from Grand Theft Auto dev never happened because Rockstar couldn’t get it right
By (Image credit: Rockstar Games)
In 2009, GTA 6 creator Rockstar Games unveiled a completely new franchise to the audience: Agent, an open-world stealth adventure set during the Cold War of the 1970s that was intended to be exclusive to the PS3. Agent never materialized, but Rockstar co-founder Dan Houser mentions it wasn’t for a lack of effort.
Following years of persistent rumors and hints, Agent was officially introduced to the public at E3 2009. The renowned developer never properly declared the project’s cancellation, but it ultimately relinquished the trademark and silently moved forward.
“We attempted with two or three distinct teams to develop an open-world espionage game and couldn’t get it right, so it never came to fruition,” Houser reflects in an interview with IGN (below). “We concluded it was not a game we were ever going to be able to figure out how to create. Others can give it a shot, but personally, I believe it’s challenging.”
GTA Co-Creator Dan Houser on How 9/11 and a ‘Kick Me’ Sticker Changed Rockstar Games Forever – YouTube
According to Houser, a recurring issue with Agent was how the espionage genre conflicted with Rockstar’s legendary open-world structure. Spy adventures depend on a sense of immediacy and globe-trotting environments, which are more difficult to achieve in a Rockstar sandbox.
“I think the tension of a spy narrative propels you forward in time, while you want games to be somewhat more expansive. And part of the excitement of a spy film is that you transition from location A to a significantly distant location B, and that is not an experience in an open-world game that functions effectively. So we explored numerous concepts, but we didn’t quite get it right, and there were fantastic elements we attempted, but it never fully panned out,” Houser elaborates.
As far as we know, Rockstar has not sought to revisit the concept since. However, to be fair, the studio’s enormous titles – like Red Dead Redemption 2 and GTA 6 – leave little room for entirely new endeavors.
