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.
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
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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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 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
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
- 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
- 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
- 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.
