A fan digging into the previously leaked source code for Grand Theft Auto V has discovered what appears to be an early version of the main playable character from Rockstar’s infamously canceled PS3-exclusive spy game, Agent.
Over the weekend on the GTA Forums (via BenTech on Twitter), someone posted some character models from the GTA V source code, which leaked back in 2023, and suggested they might be related to Rockstar’s canned Agent. User XanaBax clarified that three of the four models were from GTA V and weren’t related to Agent. However, one model, featuring a man in fatigues, wasn’t a GTA V asset, and so XanaBax did some digging and discovered that this is likely an early version of Agent’s main character.
XanaBax claims this model is located in a folder titled Jimmy, which was allegedly the codename for Agent. The user further explained that it also resides under a hierarchy labeled “Player.” This model also appears to be a remixed version of protagonist Niko Bellic from GTA IV and lines up with a character model seen in some leaked screenshots from over a decade ago. Lastly, this soldier model has never been used in GTA V or GTA Online, so all signs point to this being an early version of the main protagonist in Rockstar’s Agent.
Based on deeper digging into the source code, XanaBax says this player model has a date of 2009, about two years after Agent was first teased by Rockstar Games. The asset’s filename also includes the text “NorthRig” which further confirms Agent was being developed by GTA studio Rockstar North, lining up with everything we’ve heard about Agent in the years since it was likely canned in 2018, the year Take-Two let its trademark expire.
The Agent timeline
At E3 2007, Sony first announced that it was partnering with Rockstar Games on a new project that would be exclusive to PS3. In 2009, Rockstar co-founder Sam Houser officially announced Agent during Sony’s E3 event that year and said it was the game Rockstar had always wanted to make.
Later that same year, Rockstar told fans on its website that Agent could launch as early as 2010. In 2011, some images of Agent got out online after they were posted by a former Rockstar North environmental artist. In 2013, the PS4 was announced, and people assumed Agent was making the leap. But when Shuhei Yoshida, then the boss of Sony Worldwide Studios, was asked about Agent, he told the press he was the wrong person to ask about it.
Years passed, and despite Take-Two renewing the game’s trademark a few times, nothing was ever shown publicly. In 2018, the trademark was finally allowed to expire, and in 2021, Agent‘s official website was taken down. In 2023, a former Rockstar developer explained that GTA V and Agent were being developed by Rockstar North at the same time, but when it became clear GTA V needed more help to ship, resources and people were diverted to it, and the spy game languished for a bit before just being quietly canceled. Agent remains one of the biggest mysteries for Rockstar fans.
