Grand Theft Auto (GTA) is an action-adventure video game series created by David Jones and Mike Dailly. Later titles were developed under the oversight of brothers Dan and Sam Houser, Leslie Benzies and Aaron Garbut. It is primarily developed by British development house Rockstar North (formerly DMA Design), and published by its American parent company, Rockstar Games. The name of the series is a term for motor vehicle theft in the United States.
Gameplay focuses on an open world where the player can complete missions to progress an overall story, as well as engage in various side activities. Most of the gameplay revolves around driving and shooting, with occasional role-playing and stealth elements. The series also has elements of the earlier beat 'em up games from the 16-bit era. The games in the Grand Theft Auto series are set in fictional locales modelled after real-life cities, at various points in time from the early 1960s to the 2010s. The original game's map encompassed three cities—Liberty City (based on New York City), San Andreas (based on San Francisco), and Vice City (based on Miami)—but later titles tend to focus on a single setting and expand upon the original three locales. Each game in the series centres on different protagonists who attempt to rise through the criminal underworld due to various motives, often accompanying themes of betrayal. Several film and music veterans have voiced characters in the games, including Ray Liotta, Dennis Hopper, Samuel L. Jackson, William Fichtner, James Woods, Debbie Harry, Axl Rose, and Peter Fonda, while a few others have appeared as themselves, including Lazlow Jones, Phil Collins, Dr. Dre, and Anderson .Paak.
DMA Design began the series with 1997's Grand Theft Auto. , the series consists of seven standalone titles and four expansion packs. The third main title, Grand Theft Auto III, released in 2001, is considered a landmark game, and brought the series into a three-dimensional environment for the first time. Subsequent titles have followed and built upon the format established by Grand Theft Auto III, receiving significant acclaim. The games influenced other open-world games, and led to the label Grand Theft Auto clone on similar titles.
The series has been critically acclaimed, with all the main 3D entries in the franchise frequently ranked among the greatest and best-selling video games; it has shipped almost 475 million units, making it one of the best-selling video game franchises. In 2006, Grand Theft Auto was featured in a list of British design icons in the Great British Design Quest organised by the BBC and the Design Museum. In 2013, The Telegraph ranked Grand Theft Auto among Britain's most successful exports. The series has also been controversial for its adult nature and violent themes, as well as for cut content. It is also one of the highest-grossing media franchises of all time.
Series history Main series
The Grand Theft Auto series is split into separate fictional universes, named after the primary level of graphics capability used in each era. The original Grand Theft Auto, its expansions and its sequel are considered the "2D universe". Grand Theft Auto III and its sequels are considered the "3D universe". Grand Theft Auto IV, its expansions and Grand Theft Auto V are considered the "HD universe". Each universe is considered separate with only brands, place names and background characters shared between them.
Grand Theft Auto, the first game in the series, was released for MS-DOS and Windows in November 1997, ported to the PlayStation in 1998 and the Game Boy Color in 1999. Grand Theft Auto 2 was released in 1999 for Windows, later receiving ports on the PlayStation, Dreamcast and Game Boy Color. The PlayStation 2 featured three main Grand Theft Auto instalments released as timed exclusives under a deal between Take-Two Interactive and Sony Computer Entertainment, before being ported to Windows and Xbox. The 2001 title Grand Theft Auto III moved away from the two-dimension (2D) graphics used in the first two games to three-dimension (3D) computer graphics Grand Theft Auto: Vice City was published in 2002, and was the first to feature a speaking protagonist, voiced by Ray Liotta. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, released in 2004, introduced various new elements, including character customisation and a large map encompassing three cities and surrounding rural area.
Two main instalments were published for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The 2008 title Grand Theft Auto IV focused on realism and detail, removing various customisation features, while adding an online multiplayer mode. Grand Theft Auto V, published in 2013, featured three playable protagonists. It was released to massive financial success, breaking multiple records. It was later re-released with various enhancements, in 2014 for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and in 2015 for Windows; versions for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S were released in 2022.
On 4 February 2022, Rockstar confirmed that development of a new entry in the series was "well underway". In-development footage of the game leaked in September 2022; Rockstar noted that it was "extremely disappointed" by the manner in which the game was first demonstrated, but that it did not anticipate long-term effects on development. In December 2023, the game was officially announced as Grand Theft Auto VI, with a projected release date of 2025 for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S. It was later delayed to 19 November 2026.
Other games Grand Theft Auto has spawned numerous additional games and expansion packs. In 1999, the original game received two expansion packs: Grand Theft Auto: London 1969 and Grand Theft Auto: London 1961, which, as their names suggest, featured a different setting – a fictional version of London – and new missions and characters. Grand Theft Auto Advance, released in 2004 exclusively for the Game Boy Advance, featured a top-down perspective, similarly to the first two main games in the series, and the same setting as Grand Theft Auto III, to which it served as a prequel. Three games were released for the PlayStation Portable: Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories in 2005, which is also a prequel to Grand Theft Auto III; Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories in 2006, which is a prequel to Vice City; and Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars in 2009, which features the same setting as Grand Theft Auto IV, but the two games are otherwise unrelated. Both Liberty City Stories and Vice City Stories were later ported to the PlayStation 2, while Chinatown Wars was originally released for the Nintendo DS and later ported to PlayStation Portable.
In 2009, The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony were released for the Xbox 360 as expansion packs to Grand Theft Auto IV; a "strategic alliance" between Rockstar and Microsoft resulted in the timed exclusivity. The expansions focus on characters who played a relatively minor role in the main game, and whose stories take place simultaneously with Grand Theft Auto IVs. Both were later released for the PlayStation 3 and Windows as part of a compilation, titled Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City, also available on Xbox 360.
Numerous titles in the series have received ports to mobile devices. Chinatown Wars was released for iOS in 2010 and for Android and Fire OS in 2014. For their tenth anniversaries, Grand Theft Auto III and Vice City were both re-released for iOS and Android in 2011 and 2012, respectively. In 2013, San Andreas was ported to iOS, Android and Windows Phone and RT; the mobile port was later re-released for Xbox 360 in 2014, the year of the game's tenth anniversary, and the following year for PlayStation 3. In 2015, Liberty City Stories was ported to iOS, Android and Fire OS.
Compilations Grand Theft Auto Double Pack was released in 2003 for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox, and includes both Grand Theft Auto III and Vice City. Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy is a compilation of III, Vice City, and San Andreas, and was first released in 2005 for the Xbox. It was later re-released for the PlayStation 2, Windows, Mac OS X, and PlayStation 4. The Trilogy also served as the revised package for San Andreas, which had to be pulled from shelves due to the controversial Hot Coffee mod. A report in August 2021 suggested that Rockstar Dundee was leading development on a remastered version of the trilogy, using Unreal Engine; following some leaks, Rockstar officially announced Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition on 8 October 2021. The game features graphical and gameplay upgrades, and replaced existing versions on digital retailers. It was released for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on 11 November 2021, and for Android and iOS on 14 December 2023.
Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City is a standalone compilation of the two episodes for Grand Theft Auto IV. It contains both The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony on one disc. It was released on 29 October 2009 for the Xbox 360 and on 13 April 2010 for PlayStation 3 and Windows. Microsoft added Episodes from Liberty City to its backwards compatibility list for Xbox One platforms in February 2017. The standalone release of Episodes from Liberty City for Windows was discontinued and replaced by a single-player-only version of Grand Theft Auto IV: Complete Edition in 2020.
List of games Year Title Developer Platform(s) Universe Home console Computer Handheld Mobile Main series 1997 Grand Theft Auto DMA Design PS1 GBC 2D 1999Grand Theft Auto 2 Windows GBC 2001Grand Theft Auto III 3D 2002Grand Theft Auto: Vice CityRockstar North 2004Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas 2008Grand Theft Auto IV Windows HD 2013Grand Theft Auto V Windows 2026Grand Theft Auto VI Rockstar Games Expansion packs 1999 Grand Theft Auto: London 1969 Rockstar Canada PS1 2D Grand Theft Auto: London 1961 2009 Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned Rockstar North Windows HDGrand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony Windows Handheld games 2004Grand Theft Auto AdvanceDigital EclipseGBA 3D 2005Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City StoriesRockstar Leeds PS2PSP 2006Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories PS2 PSP 2009 Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars HD Compilations and remasters 1999Grand Theft Auto: Director's Cut Rockstar Canada 2D 2003Grand Theft Auto: The Classics Collection Grand Theft Auto: Double PackRockstar North 3D 2005Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy 2009Grand Theft Auto: Double PackRockstar Leeds PSPGrand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty CityRockstar North Windows HD 2010Grand Theft Auto IV: Complete Edition Windows 2021Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition Games / Deluxe Windows Switch 3DNotes:
Related media The series has been expanded into various other formats. Jacked: The Outlaw Story of Grand Theft Auto, a book written by David Kushner chronicling the development of the series, was published in 2012. In March 2015, BBC Two announced The Gamechangers, a 90-minute docudrama based on the creation of Grand Theft Auto. Directed by Owen Harris and written by James Wood, the drama stars Daniel Radcliffe as Rockstar president Sam Houser and Bill Paxton as disbarred attorney Jack Thompson. In May 2015, Rockstar filed a lawsuit against the BBC for trademark infringement, stating that they had no involvement with the development of the film and had unsuccessfully tried to contact the BBC to resolve the matter. It first aired on 15 September 2015 on BBC Two.