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Free browser-based Taipei GTA clone hits 1.2 million concurrent players in three days — vibe-coded game cost $10,000 in AI tokens to build, is set on the streets of Taipei
Developers AICodeWith have published a browser-based game dubbed Taipei GTA. The game’s name could put the devs in hot water with Rockstar’s legal department, but at the time of writing, it's online, free, and very playable. While it remains online, Taipei, with the not-so-secret ingredient of crime, might be the diversion you’re looking for while you wait for GTA 6. You can try this game, which took $ 10,000 in tokens to create, at https://taipei-gta.vercel.app/, where you can toggle language options in the top right of the window.
The above Taiwan TV news report says that GTA Taipei has attracted 1.2 million concurrent users in just three days since its release (machine translation).
While we've only seen reports about Taipei GTA via media based in Taiwan and Hong Kong (in Chinese), thankfully there’s an English-language wiki about the game in the absence of any official announcement(s).
Taipei GTA was vibe-coded via the AICodeWith platform, which is described as a unified platform for developers. It provides access to DeepSeek, Qwen, Kimi, GLM, and 30+ models and relies on prepaid tokens. AICodeWith also seems to be the developer of this web-based game. It might therefore be safe to assume it is a kind of demo/showcase for the platform. Certainly, not many hobbyists would spend the purported USD$10,000 on coding tokens to make a game like Taipei GTA. This looks like pretty good publicity for the development platform, though.
If you follow the link to play this game, you will notice it is a web app on the Vercel cloud platform. Currently, it has zones based on several famous areas of Taipei such as Ximending, Taipei Main Station, and Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall. Moreover, many features of Taiwan’s capital city life are represented. My quick test run allowed me to experience the busy modern city streets filled with neon signage, motor scooters, convenience stores, cram school ads, night markets, plenty of cops, and more.
Like seminal GTA titles which inspire it, Taipei GTA is a free-roaming experience with the added spice of crime. Starting the game on foot with just the clothes on your back, your fists, and NTD$500 (about USD$16) in your pocket, you can basically do what you want in the city. For a more structured experience, there are currently 93 missions to work through in the game, once you get to grips with controlling your character and so on.
Taipei GTA is still under development/expansion. Media reports say that the devs are asking the community about any development direction they would like to see in updates.
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In my brief runaround, performance in this browser game seemed pretty swift and responsive, even on a PC using integrated graphics. I gave the game a quick spin on my laptop without switching to the discrete GPU, but the action still ran at 100FPS+ on the Radeon 890M. This web app only uses low-poly models with simple lighting, but I felt it had some early-2000s style retrogaming charm. The nearest real GTA comparison might be San Andreas, but Taipei provides a starkly different environment.
Mark Tyson is a news editor at Tom's Hardware. He enjoys covering the full breadth of PC tech; from business and semiconductor design to products approaching the edge of reason.
https://www.tekrevol.com/blogs/mobile-game-development-cost/
Compare it to typical mobile game development costs (slop central long before AI hit the scene), and $10k isn't bad at all.
