With GTA being as popular and profitable as it is and there being such long periods of time between GTA releases, why do you think other developers and publishers aren't funding more GTA clones? Especially with Rockstar Games not even having the original GTA creators working there anymore, and becoming increasingly snotty toward their customers who want to play on Steam Decks. We could really use some competition here.

There aren't really that many GTA clones I'm aware of, and for the few that exist they are often hugely different from the usual GTA formula such as:

• Sleeping Dogs
  
• Saints Row
  
• Cyberpunk 2077

While games like these exist, there are substantial differences between them and the usual GTA formula to such a degree that I'd be reluctant to call them proper GTA clones.

Sleeping Dogs, for example, is mostly melee combat and takes place in Hong Kong or something... very different from the usual GTA game setting, combat types, story, and GTA themes. Highly-rated and quality game, but doesn't really work as a GTA clone and the publisher declined to make a sequel anyway.

Saints Row is basically garbage compared to GTA, a poor imitation, and no doubt the worst of these three prospective "GTA clones." While the game takes place in fictional western world cities, is third person, involves driving, shooting, and criminal activity; it has a very different soul than GTA. It lacks much of the humorous satire of GTA, it has a very different style from GTA, it's just such a silly and entirely non-serious game... there's a lack of high quality single-player storytelling and a lack of GTA's usual "isn't the world a ♥♥♥♥♥♥ and stupid? lets make fun of it" kind of satire.

And Cyberpunk has obvious differences even just at face value: it's more RPG-like, its FPS, and it's Cyberpunk. As usual for a Cyberpunk game, it has these "isn't the world a really ♥♥♥♥♥♥ and depressing place" kind of vibes, which is really different from the GTA style that sortof acknowledges some of the world's stupidity or ♥♥♥♥♥♥ nature, but mocks it to entertain players with humorous satire.

There aren't really any GTA clones I can think of that are actually of a similar spirit, setting, gameplay-type, and tone as GTA is.