Rockstar reflects on the journey from GTA 3 to Red Dead 2: "20 years doesn't seem like enough"

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"I can’t wait to see where we get to in another 20 years"

GTA Trilogy
(Image credit: Rockstar Games)

Now that GTA 3 is officially two decades old, Rockstar Games is taking some time to look back - and is a little surprised that it's only been that long.

Rockstar North's Aaron Garbut spoke with our own Joe Donnelly about how GTA 3 took shape within the studio. Garbut was credited as the art director on GTA 3, and is now co-studio head and head of development at the flagship Rockstar studio. He  discussed how GTA 3 helped set Rockstar on a course for the open-world fundamentals that still guide the GTA series (and now Red Dead Redemption) today.

While that GTA 3 foundation has remained, Garbut finds it hard to believe the studio's made such advancements in just two decades.

"The reality is that some of it feels like yesterday, but when I take a step back and think about our journey, about how far we have come from GTA 3 to Red Dead Redemption 2 and beyond that, 20 years doesn’t seem like enough," Garbut says. "The complexity, the ambition, the detail, and scope has exploded - with each game being a chance for us to push where we go so much further. I can’t wait to see where we get to in another 20 years."

While we're waiting, you can check out the new GTA Trilogy trailer and see how it updates the games while holding on to their classic vibes.

Connor Sheridan
Connor Sheridan

I got a BA in journalism from Central Michigan University - though the best education I received there was from CM Life, its student-run newspaper. Long before that, I started pursuing my degree in video games by bugging my older brother to let me play Zelda on the Super Nintendo. I've previously been a news intern for GameSpot, a news writer for CVG, and was formerly a staff writer at GamesRadar.