Ex-Rockstar North President secures $41 million in funding for his potential GTA rival game "Everywhere"

The GTA franchise has long been hailed as the industry juggernaut and pinnacle of games in its class. Rockstar Games has managed to make itself synonymous with excellence in AAA gaming on the back of successful franchises like GTA.

It will be a long time before GTA lets go of the AAA throne it currently sits on, and it will take a massively successful game to unseat the incumbent. For years, there have been rumblings of a game called "Everywhere," an open-world title that aims to compete with the GTA franchise.

What makes it even more interesting is that the studio behind the project, "Build a Rocket Boy Games," is headed by ex-Rockstar North employees – Leslie Benzies, Matthew Smith, and Colin Entwistle.

Leslie Benzies previously held the position of President at Rockstar North and reportedly sued Rockstar's parent company, Take-Two Interactive, for $150 million for unpaid royalties. The case was settled out of court for a confidential sum.

However, reports from the Telegraph now confirm that his upcoming game "Everywhere" has managed to secure a massive funding.

Everywhere, potential GTA rival secures funding of $41 million

(image credits: everywhere game, Facebook page)

As reported by the Telegraph, Leslie Benzies has managed to bolster the studio's efforts with Everywhere and secured an absolutely massive funding. This is great news for gaming fans across the globe, as GTA and Rockstar could do well with some competition.

As it stands, there are several alternatives to GTA in the market, as they all attempt to have their own spin on the genre and not follow after the franchise.

"Everywhere" could potentially be the title, if given the proper time and care in development, to rival GTA in the future. In an interview with Polygon, Benzies explained that Everywhere would be very different from GTA, especially with its tone.

Leslie Benzies has produced all GTA games since GTA III

#LeslieBenzies it was great to work with ya bro. Much luck in future hopefully we chop it up again #Talent pic.twitter.com/FsAuSonPxT

— Ned Luke (@ned_luke) January 13, 2016

The studio's top executive Leslie Benzies is no stranger to big AAA games as he has been the lead producer for Rockstar from GTA III through GTA V.

Therefore, he carries with himself a bunch of experience and expertise in the field of AAA game development.

So far, there hasn't been much in the way of information regarding "Everywhere," except for the game looks to allow players to create their own character as well as a co-op multiplayer element.

Everywhere is being developed on the Amazon Lumberyard engine from studios based in Edinburgh, Budapest, and Los Angeles, to offer a less restrictive experience than that of other games.