GTA: Vice City Easter egg explained after almost 20 years

Sometimes we come across something in a video game that just leaves us scratching our head. However, whether or not the developers will give us the answers we seek is a different question. Luckily for Grand Theft Auto: Vice City fans, Rockstar Games has delivered… over 20 years later.

When travelling around the sights of Vice City back in 2001, you may have noticed a moon hanging over the bustling landscape. As you would do with any virtual moon, you would whip out your sniper rifle and shoot it (for some reason) but this was when players found out that Grand Theft Auto: Vice City’s moon was no ordinary moon.

Check out a remastered Vice City below!

For some reason, shooting the moon would cause it to grow in size and the phenomenon left fans baffled for the past 20 plus years. Fans wondered if this was an Easter egg of some sort or even if it was a puzzle that led to a collectible. However, they never got their answer. Until now.

Former Rockstar developer Obbe Vermeij took to his personal blog to share some interesting and never-seen-before information about the game’s development. Since then, the posts have been deleted but, of course, this is the internet and nothing is ever truly gone.

One interesting snippet was the truth behind the mystery moon that appeared in GTA III, Vice City, and San Andreas. In the blog post titled ‘Why does the moon change size when you snipe it’, Vermeij revealed that it was the result of artists not being able to settle on what size the moon should be.

“The artists gave me a texture for the moon in [GTA III]. I placed the moon in the sky, made sure it was visible at night, and that it was a reasonable size,” Vermeij explained. However, it seems some artists weren’t happy with the size, with some wanting it bigger and cinematic and others wanting it smaller and realistic.

To cater for everybody’s opinion, Vermeij settled on the Easter egg we know and love.

“I suggested to make the size of the moon changeable in the game,” Vermeij said. “This way, they could decide in their own time and let me know the conclusion. Since I was working on the sniper rifle, I made it so that the moon toggled through three sizes (small, medium, large) as the player sniped it.”

So there you have it! No mystery challenge or reference, just the result of a lot of strong-minded developers.