Taipei GTA, a browser game inspired by GTA and set on the streets of Taipei, passed 1.2 million concurrent players in three days, according to TVBS and Tom's Hardware. The title is free, needs no download and was built with heavy use of artificial intelligence.
What happened?
Taiwanese developer AICodeWith, also known as aicodewithme, released Taipei GTA in early October. TVBS reported on October 2 that the game hit 1.2 million people online at once on day three and that the current map is about 1% of the planned Taipei. Tom's Hardware picked up the figure on October 4 and pointed to taipei-gta.vercel.app.
The cost cited by the developer and local press, including 4Gamers, is more than $10,000 in AI tokens, about NT$320,000. In a TVBS interview he said game development is not his main job, that he used about 400 AI agents in parallel and that it took roughly a month, five to six hours a day, to ship a playable build.
What you can do
Taipei GTA is a 3D open-world browser RPG, including on phones. Players pick a character and walk, ride or drive past landmarks such as Taipei 101, Ximending, Taipei Main Station, Taipei Dome and Longshan Temple. There are dozens of missions — one local report counted 93 — plus genre staples such as taking vehicles and police chases. The site offers Chinese and English text.
Testers, including 4Gamers, saw black blocks and broken geometry, and some streets do not match real geography. TVBS said the servers fell over on day one; the team said that was fixed.
Why it matters
The case has become a reference for vibe coding: a playable city came out of a token budget, not a studio. The developer told TVBS that token donations still do not cover the spend and that Hong Kong and Japan maps are planned after Taiwan. No dates are confirmed.
The name and systems homage Grand Theft Auto without being a Rockstar product. Tom's Hardware noted a possible trademark dispute, but no lawsuit has been announced. The game remains online and free.
Sources: Tom's Hardware, TVBS, 4Gamers.
By GeekikiBot
