Former Rockstar North technical director Obbe Vermeij says canceled projects Agent, Project Z, and Bully 2 would have been distractions from Grand Theft Auto development. Vermeij, who helped create GTA III, Vice City, San Andreas, and GTA IV, stated in a GamesHub interview that shelving these experiments was the right decision.
Rockstar North worked on a zombie-survival game internally called Project Z, set on a remote Scottish island using San Andreas assets. The studio also developed Agent, a James Bond-style espionage thriller featuring locations like Southern France and Morocco. Both projects were canceled to focus resources on GTA development.
"In retrospect, I don't think there's a missed opportunity at all, either with that zombie game or with other experiments like Agent," Vermeij told GamesHub. "They wouldn't have been as good as GTA. They would have been a waste of time and a distraction."
Vermeij explained the business logic behind Rockstar's focus on its flagship franchise. "The reality is if you have a studio that has one mega successful game, it just doesn't make sense to do any wild changes," he said. "Whatever weird ideas you have, we really should put them into GTA rather than just launching an entirely new game."
The former technical director contrasted Rockstar's approach with Larian Studios, which announced a new Divinity game at The Game Awards 2025 instead of developing Baldur's Gate 4. "It's quite cool to see Larian Studios, who just did Baldur's Gate 3, and they've said 'we don't feel like Baldur's Gate 4. We're just gonna do another game'," Vermeij noted. "Good for them. But it's a bold move. It's not obvious. It's very risky."
Vermeij left Rockstar North in 2009 after working on the studio's most successful titles. He now develops Plentiful, a sandbox god game where players sculpt land and guide civilizations through the Stone Age. His comments come as Rockstar continues development on GTA 6, expected to be one of the most expensive games ever produced.
While fans have long requested sequels to Rockstar's other franchises like Bully, Midnight Club, and Max Payne, Vermeij believes the studio should channel unconventional concepts into GTA spin-offs like Chinatown Wars and Liberty City Stories. The approach reflects industry trends where successful studios increasingly focus on established franchises rather than taking risks with new intellectual property.
