GTA Games in Order of Release Date
Grand Theft Auto is among the best open world video game series in the gaming industry, from the debut version, which is top-down Grand Theft Auto that came out in 1997 up to the anticipated Grand Theft Auto VI, which is slated for release in 2026. Rockstar has continually revolutionized the open-world games in terms of gameplay, driving mechanics, exploration, story and player experience.
However, with the different expansions, handheld ports, remakes, and platform editions, arranging the order of the Grand Theft Auto games can be difficult.
In this article, we'll discuss the Grand Theft Auto games in order from the earliest to the latest released version, including the major releases, handheld versions and Grand Theft Auto IV expansions. We will also look at where Grand Theft Auto Online and the 2021 Definitive Edition fits into the order.
Key: We're listing these games in order of their release, but not in chronological order.
GTA Games in Order of Release Date
| # | Game | Original Release | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Grand Theft Auto | October 1997 | Main game |
| 2 | Grand Theft Auto: London 1969 | April 1999 | Expansion |
| 3 | Grand Theft Auto: London 1961 | July 1999 | Expansion |
| 4 | Grand Theft Auto 2 | 1999 | Main game |
| 5 | Grand Theft Auto III | October 22, 2001 | Main game |
| 6 | Grand Theft Auto: Vice City | October 29, 2002 | Main game |
| 7 | Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas | October 2004 | Main game |
| 8 | Grand Theft Auto Advance | October 2004 | Handheld game |
| 9 | Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories | October 2005 | Handheld game |
| 10 | Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories | October 2006 | Handheld game |
| 11 | Grand Theft Auto IV | April 29, 2008 | Main game |
| 12 | Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned | February 17, 2009 | Expansion |
| 13 | Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars | March 17, 2009 | Handheld game |
| 14 | Grand Theft Auto IV: The Ballad of Gay Tony | October 29, 2009 | Expansion |
| 15 | Grand Theft Auto V | September 17, 2013 | Main game |
| 16 | Grand Theft Auto Online | October 1, 2013 | Online game |
| 17 | Grand Theft Auto VI | November 19, 2026 | Upcoming main game |
There are some differences in the earliest GTA games by region and platform, which is why there are different dates given above in cases where there is no single common date. In addition, Rockstar themselves give platform-specific dates on their websites for many of their older games.
1. Grand Theft Auto — 1997
The first game was Grand Theft Auto, which was published in 1997, by the company called DMA Design, later renamed to Rockstar North.
Compared to the latest editions, the first GTA had a top-down view. The gameplay involved moving around a number of fictional cities, stealing cars, doing jobs for criminal gangs and dodging the cops.
In this early GTA there were three cities, which became very significant in the franchise, namely Liberty City, Vice City and San Andreas.
As of this moment, GTA was more about the freedom of choice rather than storytelling. The player could take part in different missions and earn points by completing certain tasks and getting paid.
Although, compared to GTA V and GTA VI, the game looks pretty primitive, but the main concept was already here. The player was provided with a city, cars, criminals, police, and a huge amount of freedom to do everything he/she wants.
Why it matters: The original GTA has laid down the foundation for all future crime sandbox games.
2. Grand Theft Auto: London 1969 – 1999
Grand Theft Auto: London 1969 was the first expansion pack for the original Grand Theft Auto.
Released in 1999, it took the series off its fictional American city settings and placed it in an exaggerated London in the late 1960s. According to Rockstar's official website, the expansion is available for the PC and PlayStation and released on April 6, 1999.
Gameplay followed the original framework set by GTA, however, everything that relates to the setting had been changed, based on the British surroundings.
The end product became a unique GTA game with all of the features and vehicles characteristic to the time.
It is worth noting that the game is an expansion pack of the original, not an independent Grand Theft Auto title, hence it is not included in many modern lists of the franchise.
Significance: This was the first attempt at expanding the GTA universe beyond America.
3. Grand Theft Auto: London 1961 — 1999
In the late part of 1999, there was another expansion pack called Grand Theft Auto: London 1961.
This pack was released as a downloadable/free mission pack for PC and employs the same technology as London 1969. In most historical sources, the game is dated to have been released in 1999, but actual date might differ among various archival sources.
Unlike other major GTA releases that came afterward, this expansion was not marketed as a proper sequel.
From the perspective of a current gamer, it has significance only within the entire timeline of GTA series development and not as a necessary game in the lineup.
Why it matters: It wrapped up the short-lived London era of GTA prior to the next GTA 2.
4. Grand Theft Auto 2 - 1999
This game followed the top-down approach and improved upon the systems used within it.
Grand Theft Auto 2 takes place in a futuristic city known as Anywhere City. It introduced an interesting feature, which was its interaction with the various gangs of criminals.
Players could side with one gang and at the same time sabotage the other gang, making the structure of the missions more complex compared to the first title.
It was still a top-down game, but the game world was much richer and more interactive. There were more vehicles, weapons, missions, and interactions with the gangs.
The exact release date of the game is disputed because of the differences between various versions of it. So it would be best to use 1999 as the original release year rather than trying to make it fit all versions.
Importance of the game: This was the last big 2D GTA before the franchise was rebooted to 3D.
5. Grand Theft Auto III – 2001
With Grand Theft Auto III, everything was different.
Launched on October 22, 2001, GTA switched from a 2D to a fully fledged 3D open world and laid down the blueprint that would shape the future of the franchise for decades to come.
Players controlled Claude, an organized criminal who joins several different groups working in Liberty City.
Unlike before, the action was no longer viewed from above. Players could actually visit various parts of Liberty City from the third-person point of view.
Driving, gunning, completing missions, and roaming the world became much more immersive thanks to GTA III.
Liberty City was no longer limited to mere streets and tasks. It became possible to freely roam around the city between missions, encounter traffic, pedestrians, listen to radio stations, shop and use many different types of vehicles.
Grand Theft Auto III is undoubtedly a very important title. Modern open-world crime games owe a lot to the framework created by Rockstar here.
This game can be considered the most influential game in the history of GTA series.
Why it matters: GTA III introduced modern 3D Grand Theft Auto gameplay formula.
6. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City – 2002
Following up on GTA III was Grand Theft Auto: Vice City in 2002.
Released originally for North America on October 29, 2002, the game would also see other platform releases.
A crime story featuring Tommy Vercetti, a gangster who attempts to create a criminal empire, Vice City is set in a fictional 1980s Miami.
The game's greatest strength was its atmosphere.
From neon lights to beaches, from nightlife to sports cars and helicopters, and of course the licensed soundtrack made Vice City distinct from GTA III.
Expansion of the concept of empire building was another aspect, since in addition to completing missions the player can buy property and businesses.
Why it matters: Coming into 2026, Vice City still holds significance since Rockstar will go back to the location in Grand Theft Auto VI.
Vice City demonstrated how a great setting and personality can be as important as gameplay in GTA series.
7. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas — 2004
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was released in 2004 and brought the scale of the series to an entirely new level.
According to the official page of Rockstar Games, the release date of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was October 26, 2004.
The player's character is Carl "CJ" Johnson – a man who comes back to Los Santos after the murder of his mother.
Instead of providing players with one main city, San Andreas introduced an open-world state-like map, which includes three cities – Los Santos, San Fierro and Las Venturas – connected with highways and countryside area.
Such scale provided Rockstar with the opportunity to introduce much more things and systems for the player to engage into.
Players were able to customize CJ, upgrade cars, buy properties, go through countryside and do many other things.
Also, San Andreas is probably one of the most story-driven games of the franchise because it focused on the family of CJ, gangs, corruption and criminal world of Los Santos.
Why it matters: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas has taken GTA to an unprecedented level of openness.
8. Grand Theft Auto Advance — 2004
In addition to Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Rockstar Games released Grand Theft Auto Advance for the Game Boy Advance in 2004.
Instead of trying to replicate the 3D experience on a console, Rockstar went back to the top-down style of play.
Grand Theft Auto Advance takes place in Liberty City and is built specifically for the technical specifications of the Game Boy Advance by Nintendo.
What makes Grand Theft Auto Advance matter for the GTA series is that it shows how willing Rockstar Games was to adapt the series in different ways.
Grand Theft Auto Advance was not just a scaled-down version of San Andreas. It was a standalone GTA game for the Game Boy Advance.
9. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories — 2005
Originally Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories was released on the PlayStation Portable in 2005.
According to the current Rockstar listing, the release date is October 25, 2005, though historical data bases say October 24, the year of the initial PSP release.
The main character is Toni Cipriani who belongs to the Leone crime family.
The game is taking place in the Liberty City before the events of GTA III and allows the player to see the criminal elements of the city once again.
What made Liberty City Stories unique was the fact that Rockstar managed to create rather a full-fledged 3D GTA experience for the PSP.
Why it matters: The game showed that it was possible to create a rather full-fledged 3D GTA experience on the handheld device.
10. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories – 2006
Released in 2006, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories was first available on the PlayStation Portable.
October 31, 2006 is the official release date of the game according to Rockstar Games.
The plot revolves around Victor "Vic" Vance, a soldier drawn into the cutthroat world of crime in Vice City.
The game takes place in 1984, two years before the events of the original Vice City. As described by Rockstar Games, the game setting features a city growing through its construction, crime and drugs.
Vice City Stories extended the notion of building criminal empires and introduced new activities and systems while still featuring the open-world format present in the earlier Stories game.
It is one of the best prequels in terms of filling gaps in the fictive history of GTA series for the fans of the game.
Why it matters: It added to the history of Vice City and once again proved the success of handheld GTA games.
11. Grand Theft Auto IV – 2008
Grand Theft Auto IV marked a new era for Rockstar Games, which released this title on April 29, 2008. Rockstar Games and Take-Two confirmed the release date of the worldwide console version of this game.
The main character in this title is Niko Bellic, an immigrant who arrives in Liberty City looking for a chance to live a better life.
Unlike previous titles from this series, GTA IV took a much more realistic direction.
The designers created Liberty City as a highly detailed urban area, while there were also major improvements in character animations, physics of driving, shooting, and environment detail.
The game became one of the darkest releases from this franchise, focusing on Niko's relationships, crimes and the truth about so-called American Dream.
Also, this game became the base for two major story expansions.
Why it matters: GTA IV helped to move this franchise towards more realism and better storytelling.
12. Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned – 2009
The Lost and Damned was an expansion to GTA IV which featured its first full storyline expansion.
Released in February 2009, it is about Johnny Klebitz, a high-ranking member of the Lost motorcycle gang.
Rather than continuing the Niko story line, the expansion provided Rockstar the ability to tell a new story from a new perspective.
Johnny's story is very much about the Lost, gang rivalry, motorcycles and the price of being a loyal criminal.
Being set in the same Liberty City as the main GTA game, it also includes references to events that occur in the main storyline.
Later, the expansion was made available together with The Ballad of Gay Tony in Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City.
Significance: Rockstar proved that the same GTA universe can be home to many different stories.
13. Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars — 2009
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars was released in 2009 on the Nintendo DS platform.
Rockstar considers the official release date to be March 17, 2009.
The player controls Huang Lee, who gets into trouble with the Triads operating in Liberty City as a result of some personal business.
In Chinatown Wars, Rockstar used a return to the top-down viewpoint approach, which, however, was far from a retrograde step.
The game contained elements of the modern 3D age combined with features offered by the Nintendo DS controls.
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars was also later ported to PSP, iOS and Android.
What is important: Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars proved that top-down GTA can still be a good modern game.
14. Grand Theft Auto IV: The Ballad of Gay Tony — 2009
Second in line for major GTA IV expansions is The Ballad of Gay Tony that was released in October 2009.
It features the character Luis Lopez, the bodyguard and business partner of Tony Prince, a nightclub owner.
Whereas GTA IV had an atmosphere that was more serious, this expansion was all about nightlife, richness, luxuries and excess in actions.
The game offers players an opportunity to partake in the activities that involve helicopters, jumping with a parachute, nightlife and impressive set pieces.
Along with The Lost and Damned, it concluded the GTA IV expansion cycle.
Why is it important? It gave GTA IV an additional edge and demonstrated another side of Liberty City.
15. Grand Theft Auto V — 2013
Four years passed before Rockstar Games released Grand Theft Auto V on September 17, 2013. The company confirmed this date back in January 2013.
GTA V takes the player back to Los Santos and Blaine County.
In this game, Rockstar introduced the players to three main characters of the game:
Michael De Santa – a former criminal trying to keep his family and his way of life.
Franklin Clinton – a street hustler trying to escape from low-level crimes.
Trevor Philips – a crazy criminal, whose actions often make everything turn into chaos.
The three-character approach provided Rockstar Games with a new way of presenting their game with mission switching and free roam gameplay.
The world itself got much bigger, containing different areas including streets of cities, mountains, deserts, oceans, and rural territories.
GTA V legacy, however, goes beyond the single-player campaign.
16. Grand Theft Auto Online – 2013
Grand Theft Auto Online was released on October 1st, 2013, shortly after GTA V.
According to Rockstar, it featured a multiplayer world focused on exploration, missions, teamwork, and competition.
While GTA V has fixed characters playing the main roles, GTA Online lets users create and customize their own.
In the following years, Rockstar kept adding new elements to GTA Online, such as businesses, properties, heists, vehicles, and missions.
All of these additions turned the game from a multiplayer feature of GTA V into a standalone GTA game.
As of 2026, GTA Online is still alive and getting new additions. The 2026 Newswire of Rockstar has new GTA Online events, vehicles, and updates, proving that the game is not forgotten by developers as GTA VI is coming.
Why it is important: GTA Online made GTA into a living multiplayer platform instead of just a single-player release.
17. Grand Theft Auto VI — 2026
The next numbered title is Grand Theft Auto VI, which hasn't been released by September 2026.
At the moment, Rockstar has listed November 19, 2026, as the official release date for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S.
The action takes place in Vice City, however, the game is set within the fictional state of Leonida.
Jason Duval and Lucia Caminos are the protagonists of the game; they are criminals, whose relationship will be the core of the plot.
According to the official information from Rockstar, the two get entangled in a criminal conspiracy that is going on in Leonida due to a seemingly easy job that goes wrong.
The developer has also published the extended trailer of the game, using the footage taken in the game on the PlayStation 5. It is claimed to be the largest update in the history of the GTA series.
And for all the GTA fans in India and elsewhere, there is one thing to keep in mind regarding GTA VI: it is a game that is to be released, not a game of 2026.
What About GTA Trilogy: Definitive Edition?
The Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition is not a separate GTA game in the chronological order of release.
Released in 2021, this is the package with upgraded:
• Grand Theft Auto III,
• Grand Theft Auto: Vice City,
• Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
The new platform launch of this game pack does not change its place in the chronological order of GTA games release.
This aspect is very important if you want to find the GTA games in the order of their release, as without it the list would be full of duplicated games.
Difference Between GTA Release Order and GTA Story Order
The first major reason for the chaos is the fact that there are two different things called order.
Some examples of the differences:
"Vice City Stories" was released in 2006 but takes place in 1984.
"Vice City" was released in 2002 but takes place in 1986.
"San Andreas" was released in 2004 and takes place in 1992.
"Liberty City Stories" was released in 2005 but takes place prior to "GTA III".
It is necessary to choose what is desired before starting the series.
Release order is preferable for seeing how the design of Rockstar games progressed.
Story order is recommended if one wants to understand the fictional timeline.
Most new players should use release order due to the ability to trace the evolution from classic to HD-era.
Which GTA Game Should You Start With?
For a brand new gamer in 2026, Grand Theft Auto V would be the best choice.
It is much more modern in its controls, visuals, and missions structure compared to the older titles.
But for those who are interested in GTA’s history, the best game to start with is GTA III. This is the one that introduced the current 3D framework and which was improved in future titles.
So, the chronological order to start with would be the following:
GTA III → Vice City → San Andreas → GTA IV → GTA V
Those who want to get prepared to play GTA VI could also check out Vice City since these two games have the same name and concept. But still, GTA VI is an entirely new story. So, playing older titles is not necessary.
GTA Games Released in Chronological Order
The development order for the series is:
Grand Theft Auto (1997)
→ London 1969 (1999)
→ London 1961 (1999)
→ Grand Theft Auto 2 (1999)
→ Grand Theft Auto III (2001)
→ Vice City (2002)
→ San Andreas (2004)
→ GTA Advance (2004)
→ Liberty City Stories (2005)
→ Vice City Stories (2006)
→ GTA IV (2008)
→ The Lost and Damned (2009)
→ Chinatown Wars (2009)
→ The Ballad of Gay Tony (2009)
→ GTA V (2013)
→ GTA Online (2013)
→ GTA VI (November 19, 2026)
Beginning with a crime game from a top-down perspective in 1997 to now being a grand-scale open-world blockbuster in the form of a state, the GTA series keeps raising the bar on how much people can expect from a sandbox game.
And in 2026, this evolution will take place once more when GTA VI is released, bringing players back to Vice City and opening up their world to Leonida. As per Rockstar's current official schedule, the game will be out on November 19, 2026.
For Those interested, here is their GTA merchandise collection:
https://bowchika.in/collections/GTA