A former Rockstar Games developer has revealed why Claude from 'GTA III' ('Grand Theft Auto III') was a silent protagonist.
A former Rockstar Games developer revealed why Claude from GTA III was a silent protagonist
The 2001 action-adventure game was the first title in the GTA franchise to do away with the top down view in favour of a third-person perspective, as well as being the first to feature voice acting.
However, Claude never spoke a word, which Obbe Vermeji, who worked for Rockstar Games from 1995 to 2009, explained was simply done to save the studio money.
Responding to a fan on X (formally Twitter) he said: "At least part of it was that we had to cut corners. The audio dept were busy as it was."
Although Rockstar Games was seemingly having to cut costs where they could, that is no longer an issue. Their highly-anticipated 'GTA VI', which is due to release in 2025, is estimated to have a whopping $2 billion budget, which includes marketing, making it most expensive game development of all time.
With the colossal sum of money that is being pumped into the title, Rockstar have promised that it will be their "most immersive experience yet", with it being revealed that every non-player character (NPC) will react appropriately to the player's actions.
In a statement, the company said: "When you steal a car, the NPC you steal from will process that stolen car as genuine loss. That’s not just a car, that was a gift given to them on their twenty-first birthday by their father who recently passed away. When you shoot someone or run them over, they will feel that pain as real as any actual person would.”