The N-Zone is a Nintendo specialized video clip game magazine of Computer Media. She treats topics such as previews, tests and equipment to existing Nintendo game consoles. Hans Impish, previous editor-in-chief of the publication, is now a business supervisor. The editorial workplace includes Katharina Pace (Head), Lukas Schmidt, Johannes Gearing, Matthias Scoffed as well as complimentary co-workers. The exact same editorial office is also in charge of the magazine PLAY ⁵.

The GTA series is known today for its hit success. The fifth part of the series is currently enjoying great popularity, while fans are waiting for the official announcement of the successor. GTA Online is a continuous burner and three classics — including GTA 3 — recently released in a Remastered Trilogy. From a current point of view, it is more than amazing that the title was first rejected by Microsoft for the first Xbox. But that was the case. We’ll tell you more about it.

GTA 3 rejected for the Xbox

That’s why it’s time: Xbox recently published a six-part Roku series over the console’s genesis. Under the name Power On — The Story of Xbox you can learn a lot of interesting facts about the time from the original Xbox to Series X / S for different providers, including YouTube. In the third episode, former employees tell an interesting story:

GTA 3 was initially rejected as a title for the first Xbox. The decision was made from a group of executives at that time. Why this happened, we can hardly imagine today because the GTA concept is now stored as a recipe for success in our heads. The then decision-makers but obviously did not believe it at that time.

What was the problem? The Xbox team was at this time looking for good titles for the new console and rock star pitched with GTA 3 the jump from 2D to the 3D title. Drew Angel off, Former Program Manager for Tools and Middleware, reports that a team of Xbox executives did not believe that the game manages to make this change. Kevin Bacchus, at that time head for the Third Party Relations told:

They thought it was complicated. You did not really understand the user interface. They thought it is based on a game that was not so successful. It was rejected to my surprise.

More from the GTA universe:

GTA Trilogy: Retail version breaks with Rock star tradition and leaves fans disappointed back
GTA Online gets completely new radio station and heaps of new songs

Sony sack Deal

The laughing third in this story was Sony. The company could solder a deal, with the GTA 3 times occurred on the PS2. The Xbox executives who had rejected the game should have bitten in their torture. As Bacchus continues told, GTA 3 was the top seller in 2001 and would have been again in 2002, if the competition had not been through its own successor.

It is exciting to hear that there are also companies like Rock star, whose success we consider as a matter of course, not always succeeded in selling their concept — or vice versa that sometimes misalignment of this dimension are sometimes delivered in large companies.

What do you think of this story?