In Chapter 1 of Microsoft’s documentary Power On: The Story of Xbox, Microsoft revealed they were once in talks with Rockstar Games to make Grand Theft Auto 3 exclusive to the Xbox console.
According to the documentary, Rockstar Games wanted to make the game a 3d open-world game, but Microsoft wanted the series to stay as a top-down 2D-style game for it’s third entry.
It’s unknown if this was the deal breaker for Rockstar Games, but it is a very interesting what if scenario for gaming. Grand Theft Auto 3 would later be ported over the Xbox along with every mainline title in the franchise since then.
