Tuesday, December 29, 2020
Two former Rockstar Games developers have told Game Informer a bizarre, interesting, and scary story dating back to the early 2000s when the studio was developing
Agent that never saw the light of day.
The story goes something like this: a group of Rockstar artists went to Cairo, Egypt for a photography trip for
Agent. They ended up being held under house arrest, almost had false charges slapped onto them, and nearly ended up in jail. The charges involved shooting pornography – a punishable crime in Egypt. Then project leader Luis Gigliotti had to call the United States’ embassy in Cairo to seek help, and was told by whoever answered the phone that the team was “stupid” for attempting what they did. Apparently, there are legal challenges involved in extensively photographing Cairo.
A Story From The Development Of Rockstar’s Agent
In the early 2000s, while working on the spy-based action game Agent, a group of Rockstar San Diego developers went to Cairo, Egypt, for a reference trip. Two weeks later, they were facing false charges and possible jail time.
by Blake Hester on Dec 28, 2020 at 02:00 PM
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Introduction
During the development of Rockstar s now long-missing spy game Agent, Rockstar San Diego project leader Luis Gigliotti had to do something far outside his typical job description: Call the United States Embassy in Cairo, Egypt. He needed help. A small team of artists – his fellow coworkers at Rockstar – were being held under house arrest in Cairo. Not only that, but the Egyptian authorities were also trying to pin the group with false charges of shooting pornography – a crime in the country. He needed assistance in getting them home safe.