Rockstar's original plans for Grand Theft Auto VI were so ambitious that even Rockstar had to scale them back. Bloomberg's new reporting reveals just how enormous Project Americas was supposed to be, how much the company has grown, and what it took to turn that vision into the game we're finally getting in November.

This week on Save State, Josh Lurie gets into Rockstar's abandoned ambitions, Activision's claim that Call of Duty doesn't get enough credit for its success, and Ubisoft's decision to cut jobs at the studio behind the successful Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced.

Then there's Star Wars: Galactic Racer, whose developers used a homemade board game to figure out whether their roguelike progression system was actually fun. It's a terrific little story about game development that doesn't involve a billion-dollar budget or an executive promising to revolutionize the industry.

Plus, Castlevania: Belmont's Curse, the impending closure of Legacy Games, and the return of Wing Commander III.

Save State is a weekly video game podcast from Vertical Slice Games, hosted by Josh Lurie.

New episodes every Monday.

More from VSG: https://www.verticalslicegames.com

Support the show: https:/members.verticalslicegames.com

Go Play Something Good.

Episode 5 of Save State. This week: Google and Unity want to make game development accessible to almost anyone through AI. That's exciting, but making a playable game and making a good game are two very different things. Josh talks about his own experience with AI, what these tools can actually accomplish, and why Steam's discovery problem could get much worse.

Then we look at Xbox's new XP division, Hollywood's growing interest in gaming, and whether turning games into entertainment franchises could eventually hurt the games themselves. Plus, newly surfaced Perfect Dark footage raises some uncomfortable questions about Microsoft's management of the canceled reboot.

We also cover Sony selling VR patents to Meta, the latest GTA VI leaks, Richard Garriott's efforts to reclaim Ultima, and Star Wars: Galactic Racer. This week's Weird Game is Trash Day, a cooperative adventure about raccoons stealing garbage.

New episodes every Monday.

Don't forget to check out VSG at verticalslicegames.com for video game reviews, news, Checkpoint, and much more. Thank you for your support!

Episode 4 of Save State. This week: Gears of War: E-Day is nearly here, The Coalition appears to have delivered, and we look at why successful game development can still leave teams worried about what comes after launch.

Then we dig into the live-service obsession that reshaped Sony, why ARC Raiders proves that success can create as many problems as failure, and what the shift from physical games to digital licenses really means for players and publishers.

We also ask whether video games are becoming too expensive to make and too expensive to buy at the same time.

Plus: the Steam Autumn Sale, Checkpoint is now live at Vertical Slice Games, and this week’s Weird Game is Wizard Harder Or Get Laid Off.

New episodes every Monday.

Don’t forget to check out VSG at verticalslicegames.com for video game reviews, news, Checkpoint, and much more. Thank you for your support!