Dan Houser: Niko Bellic Was Originally Meant to Die at the End of GTA 4

Rockstar Games co-founder and GTA 4 lead writer Dan Houser revealed that he originally planned to end the game with the death of main protagonist Niko Bellic. Fortunately, the concept of an open world changed everything.

While Arthur Morgan from Red Dead Redemption 2 is now considered one of Rockstar’s most well-developed characters, that title once belonged to GTA 4’s anti-hero Niko Bellic. When the game launched, Niko’s dark and human story stood out among Rockstar’s other projects — and only Red Dead Redemption 2 managed to come close in terms of emotional depth.

Speaking recently on the Lex Fridman Podcast, Houser discussed his time working at Rockstar. He mentioned that he wanted to use a similar approach in GTA 4 — killing off Niko at the end of the game — but ultimately abandoned the idea, as it would have interfered with the open-world gameplay. Rockstar wasn’t ready to take that risk back then, though it worked later with John Marston in Red Dead Redemption.

"Well, I would have liked to at the end of GTA 4 kill Niko, but you couldn't do it. The game doesn't work", — said Houser.

The reason Niko survived was that the developers hadn’t yet figured out how to let players freely explore the world and complete unfinished missions if the main character died. In the Red Dead sequel, that problem was solved by letting players control another character — but Niko came very close to a tragic ending.

It’s also possible that GTA 4 may soon appear on GOG, as players are currently voting to preserve the classic title on CD Projekt’s store platform.