Ancient version of GTA 4 with a cut zombie mode, ferry assets and DJ lines reportedly found at car boot sale
Rock Paper Shotgun • • technology
Key Points:
- An early November 2007 build of Grand Theft Auto IV was reportedly found on an Xbox 360 development kit at a car boot sale near Edinburgh, containing cut content such as a Liberty City river ferry featured in a trailer but removed before the game's release.
- Former Rockstar technical director Obbe Vermeij confirmed that ferries were planned to move like trains but were cut due to technical issues with collisions and AI, and he had no clear memory of a cancelled zombie minigame found in the build.
- The development kit, allegedly purchased for five pounds, has been uploaded to the Internet Archive, prompting the GTA community to discover unused radio lines, beta weapon versions, character model variations, and assets related to the abandoned zombie concept.
- Rockstar has a history of experimenting with zombie themes, including a scrapped zombie island survival game based on GTA: Vice City code, but such ideas did not progress far in GTA IV development.
- The discovery highlights the potential for rare and valuable game development artifacts to appear in unexpected places, sparking interest among fans and collectors alike.
