Rockstar Planned to Release a Zombie Game at Some Point

We know how influential games from Rockstar were during the early 2000s. Three open-world games of the Grand Theft Auto series, back to back, caught the succession of Rockstar we know today. But what if, they also planned another game during those years and it never came to be? There is already a known, yet under-the-radar knowledge of Rockstar's unreleased video games, one of them being a cut Austin Powers game that was eventually replaced by Grand Theft Auto III.

Taking a look at Rockstar’s portfolio, they are now specialized in bringing open-world games that are action and story-driven, though there were some outliers like their ping pong game or Smuggler’s Run, a point-to-point racing game. However, there would have been another game along those lists if Rockstar had not turned their attention to somewhere else. During the development of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Rockstar North came up with an idea, a zombie game that takes place on a Scottish island.

 

The info comes from a former technical director who worked at the company between 1995-2009. Obbe Vermeij has created his own blog to share some of the past events that occurred in Rockstar and one of the recent posts talks about the emergence of a game that is not a GTA. He states that Rockstar North wanted to come up with something original, and artists decided on a zombie game that used Scottish islands and highlands as a set theme. It would have used Vice City’s engine, RAGE, and would have been based on gathering fuel for the vehicles. Vehicles later would help you get away from the zombie infection.

Sadly, nothing came from it and the project was canned, Rockstar later focused the team on creating San Andreas, which became a worldwide hit. So far, Obbe Vermeij’s blog does not mention anything about the other canceled games like Agent or any speculations that Bully 2 might have been considered. Still, hearing about Rockstar planning to release a zombie game is intriguing enough, not that they haven’t done it before. Red Dead Redemption’s Undead Nightmare is based around zombies, but with a Wild West theme, so it both fits and does not fit the ideal zombie game.

Atilla Turan (@burningarrow)
Editor, NoobFeed