Can a GTA 3 Remake be as successful as the original?

The long-awaited GTA 3 remake is still largely just talk, but delibrating its potential for success is an interesting discussion.

Since there is no confirmation regarding GTA 3 and its possibility for a remake, this article is pure speculation. Still, it's easy to analyze how a possible GTA 3 remake would compare to the original in terms of success.

Rockstar is an absolutely massive company right now compared to when they made GTA 3, so it wouldn't be a surprise if a remake ended up more successful. That said, there are some factors to consider before just blindly labeling it an automatic profit.

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How can a GTA 3 Remake be as successful as the original?

It's a tricky question, as on one hand, a GTA 3 remake would modernize the classic game, which would make it as popular as the original, if not more.

On the other hand, GTA 3 was a revolutionary game that helped propel the GTA series into the mainstream. Even if a GTA 3 remake ends up being more popular among modern audiences, there's still a chance it will never compare to the original in terms of its impact it has had on the GTA series.

Success in terms of profit

GTA 3 was incredibly successful, even by modern metrics (Image via Rockstar Games)

From a purely financial standpoint, it wouldn't be unreasonable to assume that a GTA 3 remake makes as much money as GTA 3 did. Having sold 14.5 million copies by March 2008, GTA 3 is one of the best-selling GTA titles. Naturally, the numbers would be higher now, but it's a good baseline.

GTA 3 sold 8.105 million copies on the PS2 alone, so it is reasonable to assume that a GTA 3 remake can sell equally many copies on the PS5 at some point in its lifetime.

Of course, a GTA 3 remake will cost more money to make than GTA 3 did, given the difference in costs for developing a video game today. So it wouldn't have to sell as many copies to be equal to GTA 3, but it would have to sell substantially more copies to equal the original in terms of a profit.

Success in terms of popularity

GTA 3 still has its fans to this day (Image via punktx30 (DeviantArt))

Some video game companies like to work on projects for creative fulfillment. GTA 3 remake will be seen as a successful project if the game reignited GTA 3's popularity.

The GTA series is insanely popular these days, especially with games like GTA 5 constantly breaking new records. In terms of marketing, it would be easy to branch out a GTA 3 remake to a wide audience.

As long as a GTA 3 remake turns a profit, this metric of success is perfectly serviceable. GTA 3 is not very well-liked by modern GTA fans, so if the game is modernized, fans' opinions could change, thus making it successful in that regard.

The GTA 3 Remake will have to be good for this to work

Of course, none of the above would matter if a GTA 3 remake turned out to be garbage. If it was practically a port with a few new features sprinkled in, then that GTA 3 remake would not be very successful.

A game could be hyped up like crazy, and still end up a colossal failure. Balan Wonderworld is a good example of this.

Likewise, a hyped-up GTA 3 remake would have to live up to some expectations. It wouldn't necessarily have to be as grandiose as GTA 5 in terms of ambition and scope, but it would have to deliver a lot more new features and content to entice modern GTA fans.

What would a GTA 3 Remake have to do to be successful?

GTA 3's graphics would not be acceptable today (Image via Vraki)

Rockstar can't just coast off from the GTA legacy to guarantee that a GTA 3 remake will be as successful as the original. Doing that will net them some money, but the original game was massively successful. Rockstar has been great at marketing as of recent years, so they can apply that philosophy to a potential GTA 3 Remake.

Improving the game's graphics would be the most obvious thing to fix. Other than that, adding modern controls and quality-of-life improvements could fix some of the more frustrating aspects of GTA 3.

Of course, adding new gameplay features to make the game more different also goes a long way in ensuring that a possible GTA 3 remake lives up to the legacy of the original game.

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