AI-built Taipei GTA browser game hits 1.2 million concurrent players in three days

[Isabella_49]

A free browser game called Taipei GTA, built by AI and styled on Grand Theft Auto, reached 1.2 million concurrent players within three days of launch, Tom's Hardware reports. The game is set in Taiwan's capital and was "vibe-coded" using the AICodeWith platform, which offers prepaid token access to "DeepSeek, Qwen, Kimi, GLM, and 30+ models". It reportedly cost "$10,000 in tokens to create". That is a tiny budget for something that has attracted so many players

The game has 93 missions plus free roaming. Players start with "NTD$500 (about USD$16) in your pocket" and can explore real places such as Ximending, Taipei Main Station and Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall. Tom's Hardware describes the setting as "neon signage, motor scooters, convenience stores, cram school ads, night markets, plenty of cops." It is a love letter to the city as much as a game

Technically, it is simple. The game runs on the Vercel cloud platform in a web browser and uses low poly models with basic lighting. In Tom's Hardware's testing it ran at over 100 frames per second on integrated graphics. That simplicity is part of the appeal, since anyone can click a link and play without downloading anything

The timing is striking, with the real GTA 6 arriving next month after years of development and a budget reportedly in the hundreds of millions. A browser game built for ten thousand dollars in AI tokens is obviously not comparable in scale or polish. But its success shows how AI coding tools are changing who can make games and how quickly. It also raises questions for game developers about what happens to their jobs and their industry

Have you tried any AI built games, and were they any good? And is vibe coding a threat to game developers, or just a new tool for hobbyists?

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 Taipeiwww.tomshardware.com