Development of the title began shortly after the release of Super Mario 64, a technical marvel for its time. With titles like The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and Red Dead Redemption 2, it seems like the open world genre has reached a point of near saturation - taking us from the bottom of the sea to the depths of deep space.īut there was a time 20 years ago, before selling 14.5 million copies, winning nearly every Game of the Year, and launching its franchise into the stratosphere, when GTA III was an enormous risk for a studio to take. Today is 20th anniversary of Grand Theft Auto III, one of the most innovative and beloved games in history.īefore its rerelease within Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - The Definitive Edition on consoles, mobile, and PC later this year, we’ve been thinking about the state of open world games since these titles first hit the scene two decades ago.
