Every Grand Theft Auto game in release order, from 1997 to GTA 6

The dates below are the ones Rockstar prints in the specifications panel of each game's page on rockstargames.com, checked on September 29, 2026. Where a page date differs from the year the game is usually given, we say why.

The mainline games at a glance

Year	Game	Setting	Date on Rockstar's page
1997	Grand Theft Auto	Liberty City, San Andreas and Vice City	May 1, 1998
1999	Grand Theft Auto 2	A near-future city fought over by seven gangs	October 27, 1999
2001	Grand Theft Auto III	Liberty City	October 22, 2001
2002	Grand Theft Auto: Vice City	Vice City, 1986	October 27, 2002
2004	Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas	The state of San Andreas, early 1990s	October 26, 2004
2008	Grand Theft Auto IV	Liberty City	April 29, 2008
2013	Grand Theft Auto V	Los Santos and Blaine County	September 17, 2013
2026	Grand Theft Auto VI	Vice City and the state of Leonida	November 19, 2026 (announced)

1997: Grand Theft Auto

The first game came from DMA Design, the Scottish studio that later became Rockstar North, and was published by BMG Interactive. Britannica traces it to a prototype called Race 'n' Chase and dates the release to 1997. Rockstar's own game page lists May 1, 1998, and names PC, PlayStation and Game Boy Color. GameSpot's 2004 history of the series says the PC version reached the US "in early 1998." Reference works such as Britannica give the year as 1997, and Rockstar does not explain why its page shows a later date.

What it introduced was the formula itself: a top-down city, cars to steal, crime bosses handing out missions from pay phones, and radio music that changed with the car. GameSpot describes "two different levels in each of the three large cities: Liberty City, Vice City, and San Andreas." All three names came back later as full games.

1999: Grand Theft Auto 2

Rockstar's GTA 2 page lists October 27, 1999 and four platforms: PC, Dreamcast, Game Boy Color and the original PlayStation. Its pitch is gangs: "Seven ruthless gangs are involved in a ruthless power struggle," and "Respect is earned, not given." GameSpot's history describes the new system. Missions for one gang raised your standing with it and angered its rivals, and walking into hostile territory drew gunfire. The view was still top-down.

2001: Grand Theft Auto III

This is the game Rockstar treats as the series' turning point. Its page lists October 22, 2001 and calls it "the game that defined the open-world genre for a generation." When Rockstar announced the Definitive Edition trilogy in October 2021, it marked "20 years since the original release of Grand Theft Auto III — the game that set players loose in the sprawling, three-dimensional metropolis of Liberty City."

The change was the camera and the world. GameSpot credits the move to PlayStation 2 with the first fully 3D, third-person Grand Theft Auto, and adds a day and night cycle, licensed music, spoken dialogue and a main storyline built around mob wars.

2002: Grand Theft Auto: Vice City

A year later Rockstar took the 3D formula to the 1980s. The Vice City page lists October 27, 2002 and opens with "Welcome to the 1980s." GameSpot's review of October 2002 sets it in 1986, in "a fictional take on Miami, Florida," following Tommy Vercetti after a 15-year prison term. The additions it lists include motorcycles, helicopters and a seaplane, a handful of enterable buildings, and properties you could buy that paid out money and unlocked missions.

2004: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

San Andreas grew from one city to a whole state. Rockstar's page lists October 26, 2004 and sets it in the early '90s, with Carl Johnson returning home to Los Santos after his mother's murder. GameSpot's review places it in 1992 and describes three cities, Los Santos, San Fierro and Las Venturas, with countryside between them. Its history piece notes the new role-playing touches: gym training for strength and stamina, a character who gets visibly fat, and driving and weapon skills that improve with use.

2008: Grand Theft Auto IV

Rockstar's GTA IV page lists April 29, 2008 and credits Rockstar North and Rockstar Toronto. It sends Niko Bellic, "fresh off the boat from Europe," to Liberty City. GameSpot's review of the PC version names the new mechanics: taking cover, climbing and shimmying along ledges, a cell phone for keeping in touch with contacts, and online multiplayer for up to 16 players on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, raised to 32 on PC.

2013: Grand Theft Auto V

GTA V was itself delayed. On January 31, 2013, Rockstar set September 17, 2013, "about four months later than originally planned." Rockstar's GTA V page describes the story through three leads: "a young street hustler, a retired bank robber, and a terrifying psychopath." The game also shipped with GTA Online, which Rockstar now describes as a world "for up to 30 players."

It has also outlived its first consoles. After the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 release, Rockstar announced PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions for November 18, 2014, followed by PC, and the current page sells it on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC. Take-Two's quarterly report of August 7, 2026 says GTA V "has sold-in over 230 million units," and the series as a whole "over 470 million." Sold-in counts copies shipped to stores and sold digitally, not copies bought by players.

2026: Grand Theft Auto VI

Rockstar's page calls it "Vice City, USA," with Jason and Lucia caught "in the middle of a criminal conspiracy stretching across the state of Leonida." Take-Two's pre-order release of June 24, 2026 calls it "a single-player experience set in the biggest, most immersive evolution of the series yet," launching November 19, 2026 on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.

The table above shows why Vice City counts as a return. It appeared as one of three cities in 1997, got its own game in 2002, and is now the centre of the eighth. Rockstar has not published a PC version or date. The platforms page tracks that.

The games between the numbers

Rockstar also released side games that reuse the same cities. The 1997 original got a London expansion, London 1969, according to GameSpot's history. Rockstar's own pages list Liberty City Stories (October 25, 2005), Vice City Stories (October 31, 2006), Chinatown Wars (March 17, 2009) and Episodes from Liberty City (October 9, 2009). They matter for the lore, but none of them carries a new number, and none counts as a mainline release in the order above.

Keep going

To see what Rockstar has confirmed about the eighth game so far, start with everything Rockstar has confirmed about GTA 6. For the new state in Rockstar's own words, read the six Leonida destinations, and for what happens to GTA V's online world, see GTA Online and GTA+ around the GTA 6 launch.