"It was this thing where we hadn't done it": GTA 4 co-writer Dan Houser explains why he could not kill Niko Bellic at the end

GTA 4 co-writer Dan Houser recently spoke about why he wanted to kill Niko Bellic at the end, but could not. Bellic was the main protagonist in the game, who was a war veteran arriving in Liberty City but getting into various criminal activities. This statement from Houser sparked a lot of discussions on the internet since he never spoke about the title in detail after its release.

In a recent Lex Fridman podcast, Dan Houser talked about how killing a character at the end of a game was a risk that Rockstar Games never took. At the time of writing GTA 4, Houser said that he wanted to kill Niko, but the overall gameplay rule of allowing players to enjoy the game forever did not allow him to do so.

"Well, I would like to have, at the end of GTA IV, killed Niko, but you couldn't do it. You know, the game doesn't work like that. So it was this thing where we hadn't done it, thought about doing it, hadn't done it," Houser said. [1:25:37]

During this section of the podcast, Dan Houser also explained how he wrote stories of all the previous titles, such that the protagonist lives on. He said that it would have been a massive technical risk to kill off the main character and force players to play as someone else. He then added that in Red Dead Redemption 1, he and his team of writers finally took the risk and implemented this angle.

Also Read: "There was so much Americana": Rockstar's co-founder Dan Houser on why GTA was always based in the U.S.A.

---

Dan Houser on why GTA 4 was dark and serious

During the same podcast, Dan Houser also talked about why GTA 4 was so dark and serious when compared to its predecessors.

He revealed that, at the time of writing the game's story, he himself was in New York and was dealing with personal issues. Rockstar Games also went through a controversial period where unreleased and explicit "Hot Coffee" features were found in the GTA San Andreas game files.

Recently, he revisited GTA 4 and suddenly realized that since he himself was stressed and tensed during that period of his life, that emotion and vibe bled into the game itself.

"I was living in New York, had been living in New York for a few years. Wasn't sure if I was happy. I was going through a lot of personal dramas, as usual. I was looking at some of GTA IV again recently, and it's really dark. And I was like, "Ah, that's why." You know, I was a single and miserable, and I wasn't sure I wanted to stay in America. My life was in a lot of flux. And that kind of bled into it [GTA 4]," said Houser [42:04]

GTA 4 has accrued a lot of popularity ever since it was released in 2008, especially since it was the first HD universe title for the series after GTA San Andreas. It also stands out in the IP since it felt darker and more serious than other games.

---

Check out our other content:

• Should GTA 6 have traffic rules as a feature?
• Should GTA 6 have a DLC set outside the U.S.?
• GTA 6 trailer 3 will allegedly arrive next week, according to unverified leaker

Edited by Akshat Kabra