Former Rockstar Games technical director Obbe Vermeij says he would’ve liked Grand Theft Auto 4 to be a bit less “serious.”
GTA 4 is a bit of an outlier when you look at the series in the grand scheme. GTA is typically quite silly, with even the more harsh scenes being undercut by Rockstar’s comedic chops, but 4 is a far more dreary affair compared to anything that came before or has come since (which is one game, mind you). This is mostly thanks to a more grounded protagonist in Niko Bellic, who is an immigrant to the country having to come to terms that the “American dream” isn’t so good.
Then, six months later, Saints Row 2 appeared on the scene and brought that classic GTA comedy back to the genre, with the sequel being far more over the top than its diet GTA predecessor.
I didn’t actually play it. It came out just as we were making a turn for the ‘serious’ with gta4 and Saints Row continued with over-the-top fun. In some ways I would have liked gta4 to be a bit more like SR2.July 27, 2025
Former Rockstar Games technical director Obbe Vermeij – who worked on the GTA series throughout the PS2 era until GTA 4 – was asked about the GTA competitor after speaking about Mindseye. Vermeij admits, “I didn’t actually play it.” However, he did discuss the game in comparison to GTA 4. “It came out just as we were making a turn for the ‘serious’ with GTA 4,” Vermeij states, adding that “Saints Row continued with over-the-top fun.”
And while GTA 4 remains pretty acclaimed by fans due to its tone, Vermeij says, “In some ways, I would have liked GTA 4 to be a bit more like SR2.” However, he still thinks “It’s a great game” and that it “should be remastered” nonetheless.
