.
This article is about the Grand Theft Auto series. For other uses, see Grand Theft Auto (disambiguation).

Grand Theft Auto (GTA) is a long-running video game series created by British development house Rockstar North (formerly DMA Design) and published by their American parent company Rockstar Games.
The series was created by David Scott Jones and Mike Dailly, with subsequent titles under Rockstar North's name being developed under the oversight of brothers Dan and Sam Houser, Aaron Garbut and former president Leslie Benzies.
Throughout its history, the series has always courted controversy due mainly to the mature content of the games, with all but one game being rated the local equivalent of Mature/Adult/R.
Grand Theft Auto held 10 world gaming records, including the Most Guest Stars in a Video Game Series, Largest Voice Cast in a Video Game (Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas), Largest In-Game Soundtrack (Grand Theft Auto IV), and Most Successful Entertainment Launch Of All Time (Grand Theft Auto V). The Grand Theft Auto series has also been ranked 5[1] in the best-selling video game franchises of all time.
The first trailer for Grand Theft Auto VI on December 4, 2023, broke three previous Guinness World Records for most viewed videogame reveal on YouTube in 24 hours (at 90,421,491 views), most liked videogame trailer on YouTube (with 8.9 million likes in the first 24 hours) and most viewed YouTube video in 24 hours (non-music) (surpassing MrBeast's "Every Country On Earth Fights For $250,000").[2]
As of August 2023, the Grand Theft Auto series had sold over 405 million copies worldwide.
The next entry in the series, Grand Theft Auto VI, is scheduled for release in 2025, and is due to be the most immersive title in the series.
The Grand Theft Auto series, belonging to, and to some extent defining the genre of free-roaming video games called "sandbox games", grants a large amount of freedom to the player in deciding what to do and how to do it through multiple methods of transport and weapons. Unlike most traditional action games, which are structured as a single-track series of levels with linear gameplay, in GTA the player can determine the missions they want to undertake, and their relationships with various characters are changed based on these choices. The cities of the games can also be roamed freely at any point in the game, offering many accessible buildings and minor missions. There are exceptions: missions follow a linear, overarching plot, and some city areas must be unlocked over the course of the game.
The plot of the games generally allows the player to take on the role of a criminal in a big city, typically an individual who rises through the ranks of organised crime through the course of the game. Various missions are set for completion by the figureheads of the city underworld, generally criminal, which must be completed to progress through the storyline. Assassinations and other crimes feature regularly. Other activities like taxi driving, firefighting, pimping, street racing, or learning to fly fixed-wing aircraft are also involved as alternate adventures, which can be done at any time during the game, with the exception of the periods performing main missions.
Setting
With the exception of the London expansion/mission packs for the original game and The Cayo Perico Heist update for Grand Theft Auto Online, the games are set in a fictional, heavily satirical recreation of the United States of America with references made to the rest of the world. Gameplay takes place in settings ranging from the largest cities in the country to small towns and remote wilderness and desert areas.
Universes
Individual games in the series have been categorized into three distinct parallel universes, officially named by Rockstar Games as the "2D Universe", "3D Universe" and the "HD Universe". Each universe is designed to be completely separate to each other so that no physically appearing characters or storylines would overlap. Different variants of existing brands and in-game media personalities exist across these universes, as completely different characters.
The 2D Universe follows the independent storylines of DMA Design's original top-down titles, following the stories of various criminal organizations surrounding the silent male and female protagonists doing freelance work for each group. The 2D Universe consists of Grand Theft Auto, Grand Theft Auto: London and Grand Theft Auto 2.
The 3D Universe started in 2001 with the release of Grand Theft Auto III, a reboot of the series, introducing full 3D graphics during gameplay using the RenderWare engine. The universe's other games are prequels of the canon established in Grand Theft Auto III, loosely connected to the game's events. The canon of this universe consists of Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Grand Theft Auto Advance, Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories.
In addition, this universe is shared with Rockstar North's survival horror duology Manhunt, including its brands and certain celebrity characters.
In 2006, Rockstar Games developed its proprietary game engine Rockstar Advanced Game Engine (RAGE), which had its debut in Rockstar Games Presents Table Tennis, a sports game developed by Rockstar San Diego.
The first use of the RAGE engine in the Grand Theft Auto was in 2008, with the second and latest reboot in the series, officially named the HD Universe, which consists of all titles following the new canon established in Grand Theft Auto IV. This includes Grand Theft Auto IV, Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, Grand Theft Auto V and Grand Theft Auto Online.
There are currently sixteen games in the series, including two expansion packs for the original game, two expansions for GTA IV, and a dedicated multiplayer title. The games have been released for various platforms, including the PC, PSX, PS2, Xbox, PS3, Xbox 360, PS4, Xbox One, GBC, DC, GBA, PSP, DS, iPhone and Android with all but two of the games released on multiple platforms.
2D Universe
The following games are set in the same universe and continuity established by the original Grand Theft Auto.