5 things that fans might not know about Rockstar Games and the GTA series

There are plenty of facts that some players might not know about Rockstar Games and the GTA series.

The GTA series is a huge game franchise, with every title having secrets that are worthy of an article like this one. Hence, this won't be the most comprehensive listicle.

Note: This article reflects the writer’s personal views.

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5 lesser-known facts about Rockstar Games and the GTA series

#5 - Rockstar Games are publishers, not developers

Rockstar Games aren't the people directly responsible for the core gameplay of a title (Image via Shawn Sepehry)

Technically speaking, Rockstar Games are not directly responsible for the development of its video games. Instead, they publish games made by their subsidiary studios, like Rockstar North, Rockstar Canada, etc. These smaller studios are the developers, and Rockstar Games are the main publisher of those titles.

Video game publishing companies handle different aspects of a game's developmental cycle compared to video game developers. Publishers tend to fund developers and handle the business side of things for a video game.

Hence, Rockstar Games aren't the people directly responsible for the core gameplay of a title like GTA Online. That responsibility falls under one of their subsidiary studios.

#4 - Three highest-rated GTA titles according to Metacritic scores

GTA 5 is not the highest-rated GTA title on Metacritic (Image via Metacritic)

Despite all of the hype that GTA 5 has had in recent years, it's only tied for second place for the highest-rated GTA title on Metacritic (when sorted by critic scores). Ranked with a score of 97/100, GTA 5 is just a single point behind GTA 4's score of 98/100. Tied with GTA 5 is GTA 3, which is also 97/100.

It is interesting that the best GTA games all have a number in their title. GTA 3's score might surprise some modern fans, but it was revolutionary for its time and helped propel the GTA series to new heights.

The only other Rockstar game that comes close to these three titles is Red Dead Redemption, which was also rated as a 97/100. However, Rockstar have several games ranked at 95 and lower.

#3 - GTA 5 hit $1 billion in three days

GTA 5 continues to be massively successful (Image via Rockstar Games)

Back when GTA 5 was released, it was reported that the game hit the $1,000,000,000 threshold in just three days. This was a new record back then, and it's not surprising to see why GTA 5 has made so much money.

This fact can be considered somewhat lesser-known today because GTA 5 has been out for nearly a decade. There's a new generation of gamers who have only started to play GTA 5 recently, so they weren't there when the game was released.

On a side note, the recent pandemic has done wonders for GTA 5 in terms of recent sales, almost paralleling 2013's launch in terms of sheer copies sold.

#2 - CJ's house has some interesting names in the code of GTA San Andreas

CJ's house and things have weird names in the GTA San Andreas code (Image via Real KeV3n (YouTube))

CJ's house has interesting names in the code of GTA San Andreas. For example, CJ's house is referred to as "carlscrap," which would spell out "Carl's Crap."

It isn't just CJ's house that has some interesting names in the code. Even the objects inside his home are named in odd fashion.

In the living room, CJ's couch is named "iwanfucker," and his chair is named "cuntchair." It's a bit random as far as names go, but sometimes video game developers give their objects interesting names as a way to amuse themselves.

#1 - Lance Vance and Ken Rosenberg are the only characters to show up in the endings of two separate GTA games

Lance Vance and Ken Rosenberg from GTA Vice City feature in the endings of two separate GTA titles (Image via Rockstar Games)

While many characters have appeared in multiple GTA titles, Lance Vance and Ken Rosenberg from GTA Vice City are the only characters to show up at the end of two separate GTA games.

Predictably, both Lance and Ken show up at the end of GTA Vice City, where the former is killed and the latter comes out alive.

In GTA Vice City Stories, Lance Vance shows up in the end to help Victor Vance but is too late as the latter has already taken care of his enemies.

Ken Rosenberg does not show up in GTA Vice City Stories. Instead, he appears in GTA San Andreas and is even seen in the final mission, "End of the Line," where he celebrates with CJ's friends in the final cutscenes of the game.