We now have new reason to believe that Rockstar really was going to add zombies to GTA IV.
Dataminers initially found zombie animations, pick up models, and even a bloody hospital bed in the GTA IV beta. However, former Rockstar technical director Obbe Vermeij said he doesn’t remember it being planned or added to the game at all.
Obbe speculated that it could have been one of many experiments Rockstar devs did internally that just didn’t work out. What we have now doesn’t debunk that notion, but it makes it sound like it gotten farther than just being an experiment.
Pilasto posted this in the GTAForums thread about the beta:
So the zombie minigame it was in 2D or 3D? Because some of the latest pickups that were found were in 3D. Unlike the others that are in the files, which are in 2D.
Perhaps they couldn’t decide on the direction of the minigame, and that may be why obbe said he never heard of it and it was just a very early prototype. However it’s only a theory.
Another ResetERA confirmed it was in 3D.