Despite not making its way into the series until 7 years later, Grand Theft Auto 3 was originally planned to be the first implementation of multiplayer in the series. While it would have been a far cry from GTA Online's current state, former technical director Obbe Vermeij outlined the original plans for the multiplayer mode.
Reported by GamesRadar, the former Rockstar developer goes into detail about what the original mode would have looked like in its early stages. Between both Grand Theft Auto 3 and Grand Theft Auto Vice City there were several attempts to implement the mode over the years, before taking a break during Grand Theft Auto Vice City's development.
In the statements by Vermeij, Rockstar "North and NY had wanted to make this happen since the GTA 3 days", long before its eventual implementation into Grand Theft Auto 4. Compared to the more fleshed-out and standalone multiplayer offered by the franchise today, the original Grand Theft Auto 3 would have offered more simplistic modes where "Players could kill each other, drag each other from cars, and respawn around the city."
"Players could kill each other, drag each other from cars, and respawn around the city."
While...
