GTA 4 developer finally explains why there are no ferries

Key insights

When GTA 4 was revealed 17 years ago, the trailer showed a ferry heading to Liberty City.
This feature ultimately didn't make it into the final game and fans have wondered why for years.
Former Rockstar Games veteran Obbe Vermeij has finally explained on Twitter why they were fired.

A former Rockstar Games developer has finally explained why ferries were axed from Grand Theft Auto 4 after appearing in the game's very first trailer.

Even though Rockstar Games creates some of the biggest games of all time like GTA and Red Dead Redemption, the development process remains very secretive. It's very rare that we've ever heard of content cut from its games, or ever learned the truth behind some of its Easter eggs and secrets.

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It's been that way for a long time, but thanks to former Rockstar Games employee Obbe Vermeij, that veil has been lifted in recent years. Vermeij worked as a technical director during his time at Rockstar and was involved in most of the biggest games before GTA 5, meaning he had plenty of insight into suicidal planes, size-changing moons and littered streets.

Rockstar Veterans explains why ferries were removed from GTA 4

Although most of Vermeij's revelations have to do with the classic PS2 trilogy of GTA games, he also revealed some interesting facts and details about GTA 4, which was his last game at Rockstar due to its dark nature. As GamesRadar+ pointed out, Vermeij was recently asked about something that's been bothering GTA fans for 17 years – what happened to GTA 4's ferries?

For those who don't remember, the original GTA 4 reveal trailer showed a ferry pulling into Liberty City's ferry port, hinting that they would be in the final game. However, that's not the case, because even though the ferry station is still in the game, the large boats that are supposed to be used there are nowhere to be seen.

Fans have been speculating why this might be for some time, and Vermeij finally revealed why on Twitter. In response to a fan's question, Vermeij replied that the distance of the ferries had nothing to do with performance, but rather that they caused problems with physics due to the cars sitting on the boat.

It wasn't really about the performance. Rather, they caused other problems with physics (cars sitting on a boat). As well as people standing in line and getting in and out. They were more trouble than they were worth. – Obbe Vermeij

However, that's not all, as Vermeij also said that the large number of people queuing to get on and off the ferry also caused problems for the developers. All in all, the ferries were simply “more trouble than they were worth,” leading to Rockstar removing them from the game and only appearing in that iconic reveal trailer.