Research-backed game lineage

Grand Theft Auto

Grand Theft Auto is included in the Series Atlas after independent recognition and an authoritative game-by-game roster audit. Editions, simple ports, DLC, bundles, canceled projects, and cameo-only appearances are excluded.

15 curated games 1997–2026 release span 0 connected branches

Release chronology

The complete path.

Ordered by researched series position, then original release date. Ports, DLC, and duplicate editions are intentionally excluded.

15 games in this lineage

Mainline1997

Grand Theft Auto

Grand Theft Auto is the first game in the Grand Theft Auto series and a sandbox-crime game published by Rockstar Games. The original Grand Theft Auto is made up of a series of levels each set in one of the three cities in the game. In each level, the player has a target number of points to achieve, and five lives to attain the score. The score counter doubles as a money meter; the player can spend this money on paint jobs and various other things. However, any money spent is of course taken away from the score, making the goal that little bit further away. On obtaining the target number of points, the player must then drive to a certain location to complete the level, which allows progress to the next one.

Oct 21, 199778/100

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Mainline1999

Grand Theft Auto 2

Grand Theft Auto 2 is an open world action-adventure video game. It is the sequel to Grand Theft Auto, part of the Grand Theft Auto series. The open world design lets players freely roam Anywhere City, the setting of the game.

Oct 22, 199974/100

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Mainline2001

Grand Theft Auto III

Featuring a fully 3-D living city, a combination of narrative driven and non-linear gameplay and a completely open environment, Grand Theft Auto III represents a huge leap forward in interactive entertainment. For the first time, players are put at the heart of their very own gangster movie, and let loose in a fully-realised 3 dimensional city, in which anything can happen and probably will. With a cast of hundreds, 50 plus vehicles, ranging from sports cars to ice cream trucks and from boats to buses, 3 hours of music, including opera, reggae, house, drum and bass, pop and disco, a huge array of street ready weapons and some of the seediest characters in video game history, Grand Theft Auto 3 is a sprawling epic which will show you that sometimes, crime can pay and sometimes it can pay you back. Available now for PlayStation2, Xbox, PC and Macintosh.

Oct 22, 200190/100

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Mainline2002

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City

In the year 1986, Tommy Vercetti is heavily indebted to his mafia superiors after a drug deal gone awry, but his dreams of taking over Vice City (based on Miami) push him down a different path. Featuring a wide variety of vehicles and weapons, radio stations playing hit songs from the era and an intense atmosphere, GTA: Vice City is an open-world sandbox satire of '80's Miami.

Oct 27, 200291/100

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Mainline2004

Grand Theft Auto Advance

Grand Theft Auto Advance is a handheld console game developed by Digital Eclipse, published by Rockstar Games, and released on October 26, 2004 for the Game Boy Advance. It is the only Grand Theft Auto game to not be developed by a Rockstar studio (formerly DMA Design). The game is played from a top-down perspective; this view angle was seen on the first two games in the series, Grand Theft Auto and Grand Theft Auto 2, but vehicle-based side-missions (such as "Vigilante" and "Paramedic"), the heads-up display and a large majority of the weapons, first introduced in the three-dimensional counterparts, have also been included. Unlike previous top-down Grand Theft Auto games, vehicles can now flip over. It is the first game from the Grand Theft Auto series which got a 16+ rating from PEGI and an M rating (recommended for mature audiences though any age is still allowed access) from the Australian Classification Board. The game was released on the same day as the North American release of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

Oct 26, 200456/100

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Mainline2004

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

Returning after his mother's murder to the semi-fictional city of Los Santos (based on Los Angeles), Carl Johnson, a former gang banger, must take back the streets for his family and friends by gaining respect and once again gaining control over the streets. However, a story filled with crime, lies and corruption will lead him to trudge the entire state of San Andreas (based on California and Nevada) to rebuild his life.

Oct 26, 200492/100

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Mainline2005

Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories

Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories is an action-adventure game set in Liberty City in 1998, serving as a prequel to Grand Theft Auto III. Players assume the role of Toni Cipriani, a member of the Leone crime family, as he returns from hiding to reestablish his position within the organization. The game features open-world exploration, mission-based progression, and various side activities, maintaining the series' hallmark gameplay elements.

Oct 24, 200579/100

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Mainline2006

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories

The PlayStation Portable follow-up to Rockstar's monumental handheld entry in the series, Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories. As in Liberty City Stories, this game ventures back to the location of the second PS2 game.

Oct 31, 200675/100

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Mainline2008

Grand Theft Auto IV

Grand Theft Auto IV is an action-adventure video game developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It is the eleventh title in the Grand Theft Auto series, and the first main entry since 2004's Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. The game is played from a third-person perspective and its world is navigated on-foot or by vehicle. Throughout the single-player mode, players play as Niko Bellic. An online multiplayer mode is included with the game, allowing up to 32 players to engage in both co-operative and competitive gameplay in a recreation of the single-player setting. Two expansion packs were later released for the game, The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony, which both feature new plots that are interconnected with the main Grand Theft Auto IV storyline, and follow new protagonists.

Apr 29, 200886/100

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Mainline2009

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is an entirely original entry into the critically acclaimed Grand Theft Auto series, and brings a new level of interactivity to its sprawling open environments. With the use of the DS touch screen, players navigate their way through the streets as they uncover the truth behind an epic tale of crime and corruption within the Triad crime syndicate, delivering the unprecedented amount of depth that has become a true trademark of the franchise.

Mar 17, 200983/100

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Mainline2013

Grand Theft Auto V

Grand Theft Auto V is a vast open world game set in Los Santos, a sprawling sun-soaked metropolis struggling to stay afloat in an era of economic uncertainty and cheap reality TV. The game blends storytelling and gameplay in new ways as players repeatedly jump in and out of the lives of the game’s three lead characters, playing all sides of the game’s interwoven story.

Sep 17, 201389/100

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Remaster2021

Grand Theft Auto III: The Definitive Edition

It all starts in Liberty City. With revolutionary freedom to go anywhere and jack anyone, Grand Theft Auto III puts the center of the criminal underworld at your fingertips, if you have enough guts to take it.

Nov 11, 202158/100

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Remaster2021

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - The Definitive Edition

It's the early '90s. After a couple of cops frame him for homicide, Carl "CJ" Johnson is forced on a journey that takes him across the entire state of San Andreas, to save his family and to take control of the streets.

Nov 11, 202180/100

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Remaster2021

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City - The Definitive Edition

Welcome to the 1980s. Experience Tommy Vercetti’s tale of betrayal and revenge in the neon-soaked tropical sprawl of Vice City, a town brimming with excess, ready to be taken over, your way.

Nov 11, 202170/100

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Mainline2026

Grand Theft Auto VI

Grand Theft Auto VI heads to the state of Leonida, home to the neon-soaked streets of Vice City and beyond in the biggest, most immersive evolution of the Grand Theft Auto series yet.

Nov 19, 20263.7/5

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Sources and method

Built from the public record.

Membership is researched from external official and independent sources. Mainline games, direct spin-offs, remakes, remasters, and standalone expansions are included; DLC, simple ports, duplicate editions, compilation-only duplicates, rumors, cancellations, and cameo-only crossovers are excluded.

database Grand Theft Auto collection — IGDB
IGDB maintains a distinct collection record for Grand Theft Auto and supplies the authoritative roster used for membership verification.
reference List of best-selling video game franchises
The independent catalog recognizes Grand Theft Auto as a multi-game franchise and supports its inclusion in this major-series research sweep.