‘Grand Theft Auto VI’ won’t take place in Tokyo due to ‘cultural differences’

This Sept. 10, 2013 file photo shows the “Grand Theft Auto V ” billboard at Figueroa Hotel in Los Angeles. Target Australia said Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2014, it is removing “Grand Theft Auto V” from store shelves after an online petition signed by more than 40,000 individuals asked the retailer to stop selling the video game because they said it encourages players to murder women for entertainment. AP

Much to the dismay of Asian gamers all over the globe, Rockstar’s highly successful Grand Theft Auto (GTA) franchise will not feature the neon-clad metropolis of Tokyo, Japan, in its sixth installment.

Citing a report from Urban culture website Hypebeast.com, GTA’s game developers went as far as traveling to Japan’s largest city for location scouting and atmospheric research.

The team also interviewed locals and visited famous landmarks—which has been a fixture during the success of their earlier releases.

Despite being considered as the primary location for the violently-clad classic, developers ultimately decided to forego the idea upon experiencing major cultural problems which could translate into the game’s production.

Ultimately, the game’s gory nature was deemed as ‘unfit’ with the Asian environment and its conservative beliefs.

It also didn’t help that Japanese road systems are quite complex to navigate, which would have been terrible, especially for a game that heavily relies on an open-world action format.

Meanwhile, the first GTA video game was first released in 1997 and has spawned a total of nine sequels which featured the bright lights of New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Miami.

Rockstar has yet to determine the game’s new location. –Khris Ibarrola