The iconic GTA 3 box art was changed at the last minute because of 9/11, former Rockstar leader Dan Houser revealed.

Dan Houser, a Rockstar co-founder who left the GTA 6 studio in 2020, gave a new in-depth interview to IGN covering topics including the torture-themed production of Bully, changes made to the Grand Theft Auto 3 artwork after 9/11, the reaction to Red Dead Redemption, and why Red Dead Redemption ended. Read more

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GTA 3's iconic box art was changed at the last minute due to 9/11, former Rockstar boss Dan Houser revealed: "He did it in about two nights."

Rockstar co-founder Dan Houser, who left the GTA 6 studio in 2020, has given a wide-ranging new interview with IGN, covering topics including the torturous production of Bully, the changes made to Grand Theft Auto 3's artwork after 9/11, the reaction to Red Dead Redemption, and why Red Dead Redemption ended.

What's most interesting to me is how the GTA 3 icon box - the format used for every game since it was recently chosen for the cover of GTA 6 - was put together at the last minute.

"What's funny is the cover art that became GTA's iconic cover art," Houser revealed to IGN. Stephen Bliss did it in about two nights because the old cover art was probably too offensive for a post-9/11 release because it featured burning buildings. So, if it wasn't just 9/11, it would be nice. So this appearance of the shards, the squares that became so iconic, only appeared because of 9/11.

GTA 3 takes place in Liberty City - a thinly veiled imitation of the real-world New York City, where, of course, the 9/11 disaster occurred. So there was a sensitivity about the display of destruction and death in the months and years that followed. This is something Rockstar had to consider carefully as they were launching the game after the event.

"There were a few bits of content that were good, but right after 9/11, maybe a little too much," Houser explained. "So we had to get them out and the team got together and took them out and edited out a few lines of dialogue and did some quick content and thought it was good. And then the game came out in October 2001. It was gradual until Christmas 2001 to early 2002, and it just didn't stop selling massively every week. It roared."

The art he's referring to (above) is, of course, equally iconic in GTA 3's newly opened world gameplay. Houser points out, reflecting, "GTA has become part of the larger cultural fabric. I mean, you kind of saw it in YouTube clips and everything else that had a HUD on it, and people using the logo and things like that. When you go to any big tourist resort, you're going to have some kind of t-shirt inspired by GTA art. So you started seeing that.

This isn't the first time we've heard from Dan Houser in the past few months. Back in July, the co-founder of Rockstar Games joined longtime GTA writer Lazlow Jones to back some comments on the ongoing physical games debate. "I don't know. I don't care," he said when asked if Sony plans to do away with physical discs. From January 20 to 28, "but if people want it, the companies have to provide it. I think the ability to update games — as much as people care about digital versions — the ability to update and fix problems in games has been very beneficial to the quality of games."

Elsewhere, Houser is working on an "open-world action-adventure" with his company Absurd Ventures. This is our first look at "just a few characters," a "story-driven action-comedy adventure game set in the Absurdaverse."