The history of the GTA series from DMA Design's 1997 original to GTA 6: a table of every game with release years, cities, protagonists and platforms, sales where Take-Two published them, and the key milestones.
Every GTA game: the table
The GTA series history spans more than a dozen games over 29 years. The table lists every Grand Theft Auto release with its own title, handheld entries included. The date is the first release on any platform; sales appear only where Take-Two or Rockstar gave a figure.
| Game | Year | City | Protagonist | First platforms | Sales |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grand Theft Auto | 1997 | Liberty City, San Andreas, Vice City | choice of 8 characters (4 on PlayStation) | PC (MS-DOS, Windows), PlayStation | — |
| GTA: London 1969 (expansion) | 1999 | London | — | PC, PlayStation | — |
| GTA 2 | 1999 | Anywhere City | Claude Speed | PC, PlayStation (later Dreamcast) | — |
| GTA III | 2001 | Liberty City | Claude (never named in the game) | PS2 (later PC, Xbox) | over 14.5 million (March 2008)* |
| GTA Vice City | 2002 | Vice City, 1986 | Tommy Vercetti | PS2 (later PC, Xbox) | 17.5 million (March 2008)* |
| GTA Advance | 2004 | Liberty City, 2000 | Mike | Game Boy Advance | — |
| GTA San Andreas | 2004 | Los Santos, San Fierro, Las Venturas, 1992 | Carl "CJ" Johnson | PS2 (later PC, Xbox) | 27.5 million (September 2011)* |
| GTA Liberty City Stories | 2005 | Liberty City, 1998 | Toni Cipriani | PSP (later PS2) | over 8 million (March 2008)* |
| GTA Vice City Stories | 2006 | Vice City, 1984 | Victor "Vic" Vance | PSP (later PS2) | 4.5 million (March 2008)* |
| GTA IV | 2008 | Liberty City | Niko Bellic | PS3, Xbox 360 (later PC) | 25 million (Take-Two, July 2013) |
| GTA IV: The Lost and Damned / The Ballad of Gay Tony | 2009 | Liberty City | Johnny / Luis | Xbox 360 (later PS3, PC) | — |
| GTA Chinatown Wars | 2009 | Liberty City | Huang Lee | Nintendo DS (later PSP, iOS, Android) | — |
| GTA V | 2013 | Los Santos and Blaine County | Michael, Franklin, Trevor | PS3, Xbox 360 (later PS4, Xbox One, PC, PS5, Xbox Series) | over 230 million (Take-Two, August 2026) |
| GTA Online | 2013 | Los Santos and Blaine County | your own character | PS3, Xbox 360 | included with GTA V |
| GTA: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition | 2021 | remaster of III, Vice City, San Andreas | — | PS4, PS5, Xbox, Switch, PC | — |
| GTA VI | 2026 | state of Leonida, Vice City | Jason Duval and Lucia Caminos | PS5, Xbox Series X|S | out November 19, 2026 |
* Take-Two figures as quoted by the press; the company has not published newer official numbers for these games. For GTA 1 and GTA 2 the press only reported units shipped to stores, so we left them out of the table. There is also the separate London 1961 add-on and various re-releases that have no history of their own.
1997–1999: top-down roots and the birth of Rockstar
The first GTA was made by DMA Design, a Scottish studio from Dundee, and published by BMG Interactive. Development started in April 1995 under the working title Race'n'Chase, and at first the player was supposed to be a cop. The game came out on November 28, 1997 on PC in Europe, followed by PlayStation on December 12. It already had the three cities that would anchor the series: Liberty City (New York), San Andreas (San Francisco) and Vice City (Miami).
In 1998 Take-Two bought BMG Interactive, and in December Rockstar Games was set up in New York. Its founders included brothers Sam and Dan Houser. The London 1969 expansion arrived in April 1999, and on October 22, 1999, GTA 2 followed, with the retro-futuristic Anywhere City and a gang respect system. The same year Take-Two acquired DMA Design itself; since 2002 the studio has been called Rockstar North.
2001–2006: the 3D era and the PS2 trilogy
GTA III (October 23, 2001) was the turning point: for the first time the series went fully 3D, with a camera behind the protagonist. Liberty City became an open world you could simply live in between missions. Next came Vice City (2002), soaked in the 1980s and starring Ray Liotta as Tommy Vercetti, and San Andreas (2004), a whole state with three cities set in the early 1990s.
At the same time the series moved to handhelds. Rockstar Leeds, working with Rockstar North, made the PSP prequels Liberty City Stories (2005) and Vice City Stories (2006), while GTA Advance for the Game Boy Advance (2004) came from the outside studio Digital Eclipse. Fans now group all of these games under the label "the 3D era of GTA".
2008–2009: GTA IV and a new generation
GTA IV launched on April 29, 2008, on PS3 and Xbox 360. The series switched to Rockstar's own RAGE engine with Euphoria animation technology, and the tone got more serious: the story of Niko Bellic, a war veteran who joins his cousin in Liberty City. The launch set a record with 3.6 million copies on day one. In 2009 two expansions with new protagonists followed, The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony, along with Chinatown Wars for the Nintendo DS, a top-down game that went back to the series' roots.
2013: GTA V and GTA Online
GTA V came out on September 17, 2013, and became the most commercially successful game in the series. Retail sales passed $800 million in the first 24 hours, and the game hit $1 billion in three days. For the first time there were three protagonists, and you could switch between them. GTA Online launched on October 1, 2013, and Rockstar still updates it today.
GTA V has lived through three console generations: PS3 and Xbox 360, PS4 and Xbox One (2014), PC (2015), PS5 and Xbox Series X|S (2022), and in 2025 PC got the free Enhanced version. As of August 2026 it has sold more than 230 million copies, and the whole series almost 475 million. The numbers and records are on the GTA 6 budget and sales page, where GTA 5 is used for comparison.
2021: the Definitive Edition remasters
On November 11, 2021, GTA: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition came out: a remaster of GTA III, Vice City and San Andreas built on Unreal Engine 4 by Grove Street Games. The launch went badly, with lots of bugs, and the PC version was unavailable for several days. Rockstar apologized and kept patching the remaster until 2024. A month before release, on October 13, 2021, the originals were pulled from digital stores. Where to buy the remaster today is on the GTA Trilogy price page.
2023–2026: the road to GTA 6
The first GTA VI trailer dropped on December 5, 2023, and pulled in more than 90 million YouTube views in 24 hours, a Guinness World Records record. The release was delayed twice: first from 2025 to May 26, 2026, then to November 19, 2026. The game takes the series back to Vice City, now part of the fictional state of Leonida, and for the first time has two protagonists, Jason and Lucia. At launch it is out only on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. Everything we know is on the GTA 6 page, and how it differs from its predecessor is in the GTA 6 vs GTA 5 guide.
Key milestones at a glance
- 1995: DMA Design starts work on Race'n'Chase.
- 1997: the first GTA is released.
- 1998: Rockstar Games is founded.
- 2001: GTA III takes the series to 3D.
- 2004: San Andreas brings a state with three cities.
- 2008: GTA IV on the RAGE engine.
- 2013: GTA V and GTA Online, $1 billion in three days.
- 2021: the trilogy remaster, the originals pulled from sale.
- 2023: the record-breaking GTA VI trailer.
- 2026: GTA VI launches on November 19.
For the company itself, its studios and its other games, see the Rockstar Games page.
GTA history FAQ
How many GTA games are there?
There are seven main numbered and standalone games: GTA 1, GTA 2, GTA III, Vice City, San Andreas, GTA IV and GTA V; GTA VI will be the eighth. Counting the handheld games (Advance, Liberty City Stories, Vice City Stories, Chinatown Wars) and the expansions, there are more than a dozen.
What was the first GTA game?
Grand Theft Auto by DMA Design. The top-down game came out on November 28, 1997, on PC in Europe and in December on PlayStation.
In what order should I play the GTA games?
By release year: 1997, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2008, 2013. Most of the stories stand on their own, so you can start anywhere. In story chronology, Vice City Stories (1984) comes first, then Vice City (1986), San Andreas (1992), Liberty City Stories (1998) and GTA III (2001).
Which GTA sold the most?
GTA V: more than 230 million copies, according to Take-Two as of August 2026. Next on official figures is GTA IV with 25 million (2013).
Who created GTA?
The first game was made by the Scottish studio DMA Design, which later became Rockstar North. Since 1999 the series has been published by Rockstar Games, owned by Take-Two Interactive.
How old is the GTA series?
The series turns 29 in November 2026: the first game came out on November 28, 1997, and GTA VI arrives on November 19, 2026.
Read next
All guides →
Sources
- Official: Rockstar Games, Rockstar Newswire, Rockstar Support, Take-Two Interactive
- Databases and guides: GTABase, GTA Wiki, GTA BOOM, PowerPyx
- Press: GamesRadar, PC Gamer, IGN, VGC, Game Informer
Every fact is checked against official sources or at least two independent ones; player-sourced data is labelled in the text. Images are official Rockstar Games material. GTA Top is not affiliated with Rockstar Games or Take-Two Interactive.