DMA Design developers reveal Grand Theft Auto's open world avoided menu creation

During a panel at the Games Day 2026 event in Dundee, Scotland, former DMA Design developers revealed that the open-world structure of the original Grand Theft Auto was born out of a desire to avoid creating a complex mission selection menu.

Creative director Gary Penn noted that the project was initially intended to be a linear game where players selected missions from a list. However, lead programmer Keith Hamilton explained that the team transitioned to an open world because they did not want to build a front-end menu system. This shift led to missions being integrated directly into the game world, such as receiving mission calls via in-game telephones, a concept inspired by the film ‘Die Hard with a Vengeance’.

Other development details shared include the origin of the game's radio stations, which evolved from various 30-second musical demos, and the implementation of police simulations where vehicles would travel from the nearest station to the player's location. The developers also mentioned feeling relief when Nintendo declined to publish the game, as they were uncertain how to implement radio functionality without CD-based music.