Welcome to 30 Ridiculous Retro Rumors, a brand new series that will run daily between November 26 and December 25, 2015. This is a series where we debunk some of the craziest rumors and predictions of all time. Today we're taking a look at the future of Grand Theft Auto. After seeing the success of Vice City, it was clear Rockstar Games was going to churn out as many sequels as they could get away with. But Electronic Gaming Monthly had some funky ideas about what that future looked like. See for yourself in the fifth episode of 30 Ridiculous Retro Rumors.


This is a real rumor taken directly from the February 2004 issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly ...

What a difference a few years makes. As an overhead 2D action game, most critics viewed Grand Theft Auto as a novelty. However, once Grand Theft Auto III became the biggest selling game of 2001, everybody wanted to know where Rockstar Games would take the series next.

After mining 1980s nostalgia for gold with Vice City, you can understand why Electronic Gaming Monthly might predict the series would go even further back in time. Of course, we already know that didn't happen. San Andreas came out later that year and skewered the 1990s. It saw the hero claw his way out of Los Santos, find refuge in San Fierro and do a little gambling in Las Venturas. EGM managed to come close when predicting a Las Vegas setting, but Sin City is a little too on the nose.

Speaking of which, the theory that Rockstar was done numbering their Grand Theft Auto sequels was short-lived. Sure, San Andreas was sold as a standalone installment, but a few years later came Grand Theft Auto IV and V. In fact, since 2004, only Grand Theft Auto spin-offs and expansion packs have been released without a number. And worst of all, none of them have taken place in the 1970s. That's an injustice that has to end.