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Michael from GTA 5 in the series' iconic comic style. He's standing counting a wad of cash
Image via Rockstar Games
Category:
GTA

All Grand Theft Auto games in release order

It's one of the best-selling game franchises for a reason, and it's poised to take over the gaming community once more when GTA 6 launches in 2025.
Image of Scott Duwe
Scott Duwe
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Published: Oct 17, 2024 11:47 am

It doesn’t get much bigger than Grand Theft Auto, and the release order of all GTA games illustrates why the franchise is so huge.

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GTA ranks fifth behind Super Mario, Tetris, Pokémon, and Call of Duty on the list of highest-selling games of all time, even though it features way fewer overall releases than those big-name franchises. From Liberty City to Vice City and San Andreas to London, Grand Theft Auto has lampooned several major locations around the world with violent action and dramatic storylines. But it always retains its trademark dark humor, and the combination has made it one of the most successful game franchises of all time by a long shot.

Read on below for the chronological GTA game order for both mainline games in the series and handheld titles, too.

All GTA games in order

GTA 6's main characters, wearing banadanas over their nose and mouth, in the doorway of a store holding pistols.
A lifetime of crime. Image via Rockstar Games

If you’re curious about previous GTA release dates, you’ve come to the right place. Our list of all GTA games contains every game in the order they released.

Main GTA games in release order

These are the big ones, the mainline entries in the series that people line up for and sit in an hours-long queue to connect to. GTA is about as mainstream as it gets when it comes to gaming, and these game releases on the full GTA game release list are why.

1997: Grand Theft Auto

GTA1 screenshot, featuring a top-down view of a city street with cars traveling through an intersection.
This is how it began. Image via Rockstar Games/GTA Wiki
  • Release date: Nov. 28, 1997
  • Developer: DMA Design
  • Sales: Three million

The GTA saga began in 1997 on PC and soon moved to the PlayStation console. It was a top-down, 2D game that featured mainly driving and cars. It is likely unrecognizable to many who joined the franchise in later years.

1999: Grand Theft Auto 2

GTA 2 box art, featuring a blurry taxi cab in traffic with people walking past.
Now with more action. Image via Rockstar Games/PlayStation
  • Release date: Oct. 22, 1999
  • Developer: DMA Design
  • Sales: Two million

The top-down 2D trend continued in GTA 2 and features a location only known as Anywhere City. Featuring more car gameplay, combat, and several gangs throughout the city, it set the trend of GTA’s crime-centric theme.

2001: Grand Theft Auto III

GTA 3 gameplay screenshot, featuring a man in a leather jacket and jeans walking away from a car on a city street.
Hello, 3D. Image via Rockstar Games
  • Release date: Oct. 23, 2001
  • Developer: Rockstar North
  • Sales: 14.5 million

GTA 3 started the franchise on its trajectory into pop culture godhood as the first 3D game in the franchise on the PlayStation 2. It featured a protagonist named Claude in a fun storyline, and several fully-voiced memorable NPCs in Liberty City.

2002: Grand Theft Auto: Vice City

GTA Vice City screenshot of Tommy Vercetti with a minigun firing on several cars while a helicopter flies overhead.
A beautiful flowery shirt on a madman. Image via Rockstar Games
  • Release date: Oct. 29, 2022
  • Developer: Rockstar North
  • Sales: 17.5 million

Rockstar followed up GTA 3 with another banger in Vice City, a reimagining of 1980s Miami, filled with memorable and colorful characters. Main character Tommy Vercetti and his pal Lance Vance dives the game forward and let you explore a fun open world.

2004: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

GTA San Andreas Grove Street crew walk under a bridge, talking to each other.
Grove Street. Image via Rockstar Games
  • Release date: Oct. 26, 2004
  • Developer: Rockstar North
  • Sales: 27.5 million

A franchise favorite for many, San Andreas took the time period to the ’90s to tell a story about protagonist Carl Johnson returning to Grove Street and helping the Grove Street Families rise to power among the many gangs in the region.

2008: Grand Theft Auto IV

GTA 4 screenshot with Niko in the rain. A neon diner sign and skyscrapers rise in the background.
Welcome to America. Image via Rockstar Games
  • Release date: April 29, 2008
  • Developer: Rockstar North
  • Sales: 25 million

“Cousin! Let’s go bowling!” GTA 4 returned to Liberty City and starred immigrant protagonist Niko Bellic trying to make his own foothold in America. It was the first HD GTA game, and was released on the PS3 and Xbox 360. It also featured two expansion packs, The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony.

2013: Grand Theft Auto 5 and GTA Online

Franklin holding an assault rifle in GTA 5.
We’ve all played it. Image via Rockstar Games
  • Release date: Sept. 17, 2013
  • Developer: Rockstar North
  • Sales: 185 million

This is the big one. GTA 5 featured three main protagonists and an online component that has been played for over a decade, becoming the second highest-selling game of all time, only behind Minecraft.

GTA Online even gave birth to an entire subgenre of GTA RP, where players could roleplay as characters in a pseudo-Second Life that launched careers on Twitch and became extremely popular. This game’s unimaginably massive success is why the wait for a new main entry has taken so long, but GTA 5 will go down in history as one of the best ever made.

TBA 2025: Grand Theft Auto 6

There is a shot of the logo of Grand Theft Auto 6. It has the Roman numeral for 6, which has colorful palm trees in it.
The official logo for GTA 6. Screenshot by Dot Esports
  • Release date: TBA 2025
  • Developer: Rockstar Games
  • Sales: TBD

After years of waiting impatiently, fans finally learned of the confirmation of the next GTA when Rockstar Games showed it off in December 2023. The hotly-anticipated upcoming game currently has no release date yet, other than “2025,” and the original trailer is all we’ve seen thus far.

The game will star dual protagonists, Jason and Lucia, and take place in modern-day Vice City. As a follow-up to GTA 5, GTA 6 potentially has some of the highest expectations for any game ever made.

GTA handheld games in release order

GTA Liberty City Stories screenshot, with a man holding an assault rifle and running from a helicopter.
Crime on the run. Image via The GTA Place

GTA may have a home on consoles and PC, but there have also been some really solid games made for handhelds throughout the franchise’s history. Spanning the Gameboy Advance, PSP, Nintendo DS, and eventually mobile, these are the spin-off titles born from the franchise’s console success.

2004: Grand Theft Auto Advance

GTA Advance screenshot, featuring word art and a city street background.
Small screen, small GTA. Image via Rockstar Games

The GTA series’ only Gameboy Advance title is also one of the franchise’s least successful, reportedly selling less than 250,000 copies. It’s a wonder that any other handheld game was made in the franchise after this, but thankfully, it got way better from here.

  • Release date: Oct. 26, 2004
  • Developer: Digital Eclipse
  • Sales: Less than 250,000

2005: Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories

GTA Liberty City Stories box art, with several characters, cars, and weapons drawn in a cartoon style.
It was a fun one. Image via Rockstar Games
  • Release date: Oct. 25, 2005
  • Developer: Rockstar Leeds
  • Sales: 11 million

The handheld GTAs continued in 2005 with the PlayStation Portable. Liberty City Stories featured a protagonist named Toni Cipriani in a mafia-heavy storyline that eventually made its way to PSP and Mobile.

2006: Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories

GTA Vice City Stories box art, with several characters, cars, and weapons drawn in a cartoon style.
Another one. Image via Rockstar Games
  • Release date: Oct. 31, 2006
  • Developer: Rockstar Leeds
  • Sales: Six million

The PSP adventures continued in Vice City Stories, another 1980s time period game that featured a military member supporting his sick brother through illegal means. The return to Vice City was a welcome one for fans of the franchise.

2009: Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars

GTA Chinatown Wars box art, with several characters, cars, and weapons drawn in a cartoon style.
Nintendo DS got its own GTA. Image via Rockstar Games
  • Release date: March 17, 2009
  • Developer: Rockstar Leeds
  • Sales: 1.2 million

Originally released for the Nintendo DS and later for Sony’s PSP, Chinatown Wars is the final handheld GTA game that’s been released thus far, with no indication of any other handheld titles in the works for over 15 years since.

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Author
Image of Scott Duwe
Scott Duwe
Senior Staff Writer & Call of Duty lead. Professional writer for over 10 years. Lover of all things Marvel, Destiny 2, Metal Gear, Final Fantasy, Resident Evil, and more. Previous bylines include PC Gamer, Red Bull Esports, Fanbyte, and Esports Nation. DogDad to corgis Yogi and Mickey, sports fan (NY Yankees, NY Jets, NY Rangers, NY Knicks), Paramore fanatic, cardio enthusiast.
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