Rockstar Veteran Stephen Bliss Shares A “Surreal” Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Story

Rockstar veteran Stephen Bliss reminisces about Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

Who Was Stephen Bliss Again?

Bliss was the main artist for Rockstar Games from Grand Theft Auto III to Grand Theft Auto V. He made the covers for all the Grand Theft Auto games in between this time, as well as all Red Dead Redemption and all of Rockstar’s other games.

As Rockstar artist, he also made additional promotional art for these games during the golden age of video game magazines. His art made the covers of magazines like PS2 Magazine, Continue, GamesTM, Play, and GamesMaster.

Last month, he finally explained how his wife ended up becoming the cover girl for Grand Theft Auto IV. Along the way, he debunked some misconceptions and misinformation going around about the real life woman who played Lola Del Rio, AKA the Lollipop Girl.

Bliss reacted to the 21 year old anniversary of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. The game launched in the US and PAL territories in October 26, 2004 for the PlayStation 2.

Bliss Tells A Story About San Andreas

On Twitter, Bliss shared this story:

21 years ago I was walking to Rockstar to work on the game after San Andreas, which was…

I lived in the East Village and it was a 20 minute walk. Turning the corner I’d see my art plastered over a lot of walls, or a bus would go by with SA art, then past a magazine stand w loads of different GTA games on the front covers. A surreal experience!

Managed to get this very GTA shot of cops walking past the Scarfface posters.

Why This Scene Seems So Absurd

If you didn’t play Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, you may not realize why Bliss’ picture seems so odd. We imagine that there are Rockstar fans in US law enforcement too. But this is relevant because of what Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is.

In the game, you character CJ returns to Los Santos after serving time. He already had a bad history with law enforcement as it is.

But he also finds out in the events of the game that crooked cops helped drug dealers and rivals gangs ruin his home city. So this picture shows the erstwhile antagonists of the very game.

Of course, we understand not all cops are crooked. One or both of those cops in the picture might have ended up playing the game themselves. That just indicates how deeply Rockstar impacted popular culture, that it reflected back into real life.