If you’ve ever played the legendary Rockstar title that was Grand Theft Auto 3, you may have wondered why exactly the protagonist – Claude – was silent. He never uttered a word, he just went about his duty in solemn silence, causing havoc in Liberty City and never so much as grunting or muttering to himself mid-combat. But why?
Well, that was a topic touched upon by a former Rockstar developer who recently ran a blog dedicated to providing insider knowledge. He has since closed that blog down after revealing some juicy information, but recently, in response to a question posted on Twitter, this developer confirmed why Claude was silent in GTA 3.
The Quiet Man
Obbe Vermeij worked for Rockstar North from 1995 to 2009, working on the likes of GTA 3, Vice City, San Andreas, and GTA IV. He has spilt the beans on a lot of internal decisions, long-lost secrets, and otherwise unknown stories from his time as a designer, developer, and director inside one of Rockstar’s most prolific studios.
In a post on Twitter, one user asked, quite plainly, why exactly Claude was silent throughout GTA 3, and lo and behold, Obbe Vermeij surfaced to answer that question, writing:
At least part of it was that we had to cut corners. The audio dept were busy as it was.
So, there we have it – that’s why GTA 3’s main character was silent the entire time. It was to cut corners, save time and money, and avoid overworking the game’s audio department. It might seem bizarre years later that something as important as a protagonist’s voice would be missed, but many games have succeeded without the main character having any dialogue. It allows the player to ‘voice them’ internally, in a way.
And let’s face it, GTA 3 was kind of successful, right?
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