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''Grand Theft Auto'' (''GTA'') is a series of action-adventure games created by David Jones and Mike Dailly. Later titles were developed under the oversight of brothers Dan and
Sam Houser Sam Houser (born 1971) is a British video game producer. He is the co-founder and president of Rockstar Games and one of the creative driving forces behind the games in the ''Grand Theft Auto'' franchise, being producer since the third game. ...
, Leslie Benzies and Aaron Garbut. It is primarily developed by British development house
Rockstar North Rockstar North Limited (formerly DMA Design Limited) is a British video game development company and a studio of Rockstar Games based in Edinburgh. The company was founded as DMA Design in Dundee in 1987 by David Jones, soon hiring former clas ...
(formerly DMA Design), and published by its parent company,
Rockstar Games Rockstar Games, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in New York City. The company was established in December 1998 as a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive, using the assets Take-Two had previously acquired from BMG Interactive. Foun ...
. The name of the series references the term "grand theft auto", used in the United States for motor vehicle theft.
Gameplay Gameplay is the specific way in which players interact with a game, and in particular with video games. Gameplay is the pattern defined through the game rules, connection between player and the game, challenges and overcoming them, plot and pl ...
focuses on an open world where the player can complete missions to progress an overall story, as well as engage in various side activities. Most of the gameplay revolves around driving and shooting, with occasional
role-playing Role-playing or roleplaying is the changing of one's behaviour to assume a role, either unconsciously to fill a social role, or consciously to act out an adopted role. While the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' offers a definition of role-playing a ...
and stealth elements. The series also has elements of the earlier
beat 'em up The beat 'em up (also known as brawler and, in some markets, beat 'em all) is a video game genre featuring hand-to-hand combat against a large number of opponents. Traditional beat 'em ups take place in scrolling, two-dimensional (2D) levels, ...
games from the 16-bit era. The games in the ''Grand Theft Auto'' series are set in fictional locales modelled after real-life cities, at various points in time from the early 1960s to the 2010s. The original game's map encompassed three cities—Liberty City (based on
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
), San Andreas (based on
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
), and Vice City (based on
Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...
)—but later titles tend to focus on a single setting; usually one of the original three locales, albeit remodelled and significantly expanded. The series centers on different protagonists who attempt to rise through the ranks of the criminal underworld, although their motives for doing so vary in each title. The antagonists are commonly characters who have betrayed the protagonist or their organisation, or characters who have the most impact impeding the protagonist's progress. Several film and music veterans have voiced characters in the games, including
Ray Liotta Raymond Allen Liotta (; December 18, 1954 – May 26, 2022) was an American actor. He was best known for his roles as Shoeless Joe Jackson in ''Field of Dreams'' (1989) and Henry Hill in Martin Scorsese's ''Goodfellas'' (1990). He was a Primet ...
, Dennis Hopper,
Samuel L. Jackson Samuel Leroy Jackson (born December 21, 1948) is an American actor and producer. One of the most widely recognized actors of his generation, the films in which he has appeared have collectively grossed over $27 billion worldwide, making him ...
,
William Fichtner William Edward Fichtner (born November 27, 1956) is an American actor. He is known for his television roles as Sheriff Tom Underlay on ''Invasion'', Alexander Mahone on ''Prison Break'', Carl Hickman on '' Crossing Lines'', and Adam Janikowski o ...
,
James Woods James Howard Woods (born April 18, 1947) is an American actor. He is known for his work in various film, stage, and television productions. He started his career in minor roles on and off- Broadway. In 1972, he appeared in ''The Trial of the ...
, Debbie Harry,
Axl Rose W. Axl Rose (born William Bruce Rose Jr.; born February 6, 1962) is an American musician. He is best known for being the lead vocalist and lyricist of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, and has been the band's sole constant member since its incep ...
and Peter Fonda. DMA Design began the series in 1997, with the release of the ''Grand Theft Auto''. , the series consists of seven standalone titles and four
expansion pack An expansion pack, expansion set, supplement, or simply expansion is an addition to an existing role-playing game, tabletop game, video game or collectible card game. These add-ons usually add new game areas, weapons, objects, characters, or ...
s. The third main title, '' Grand Theft Auto III'', released in 2001, is considered a landmark game, as it brought the series to a
three-dimensional Three-dimensional space (also: 3D space, 3-space or, rarely, tri-dimensional space) is a geometric setting in which three values (called ''parameters'') are required to determine the position of an element (i.e., point). This is the informa ...
(3D) setting and more immersive experience. Subsequent titles have followed and built upon the concept established in ''Grand Theft Auto III'', and received significant acclaim. They have influenced other open-world action games, and led to the label ''Grand Theft Auto'' clone on similar titles. The series has been critically acclaimed, with all the main 3D entries in the franchise frequently ranked among the greatest and best-selling video games; it has shipped more than 370 million units, making it the fifth-best selling video game franchise. In 2006, ''Grand Theft Auto'' was featured in a list of British design icons in the Great British Design Quest organised by the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
and the Design Museum. In 2013, ''
The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are popular names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, publ ...
'' ranked ''Grand Theft Auto'' among Britain's most successful exports. The series has also been
controversial Controversy is a state of prolonged public dispute or debate, usually concerning a matter of conflicting opinion or point of view. The word was coined from the Latin ''controversia'', as a composite of ''controversus'' – "turned in an opposite d ...
for its adult nature and violent themes.


Titles


Main series

The ''Grand Theft Auto'' series is split into separate fictional universes, named after the primary level of graphics capability used in each era. The original ''
Grand Theft Auto ''Grand Theft Auto'' (''GTA'') is a series of action-adventure games created by David Jones and Mike Dailly. Later titles were developed under the oversight of brothers Dan and Sam Houser, Leslie Benzies and Aaron Garbut. It is primarily d ...
'', its expansions and its sequel are considered the "2D universe". '' Grand Theft Auto III'' and its sequels are considered the "3D universe". ''
Grand Theft Auto IV ''Grand Theft Auto IV'' is a 2008 action-adventure game developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It is the sixth main entry in the ''Grand Theft Auto'' series, following 2004's '' Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas'', and the e ...
'', its expansions and '' Grand Theft Auto V'' are considered the "HD universe". Each universe is considered separate with only brands, place names and background characters shared between them. ''
Grand Theft Auto ''Grand Theft Auto'' (''GTA'') is a series of action-adventure games created by David Jones and Mike Dailly. Later titles were developed under the oversight of brothers Dan and Sam Houser, Leslie Benzies and Aaron Garbut. It is primarily d ...
'', the first game in the series, was released for Microsoft Windows and
MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few ope ...
in November 1997, ported to the PlayStation in 1998 and the Game Boy Color in 1999. ''
Grand Theft Auto 2 ''Grand Theft Auto 2'' is an action-adventure game, developed by DMA Design and published by Rockstar Games in October 1999, for Microsoft Windows and the PlayStation, and the Dreamcast and Game Boy Color in 2000. It is the sequel to 1997's ' ...
'' was released in 1999 for Microsoft Windows, later receiving ports on the PlayStation,
Dreamcast The is a home video game console released by Sega on November 27, 1998, in Japan; September 9, 1999, in North America; and October 14, 1999, in Europe. It was the first sixth-generation video game console, preceding Sony's PlayStation 2, Nint ...
and Game Boy Color. The PlayStation 2 also featured three instalments of the main series, all of which have been re-released on several platforms; a deal between
Take-Two Interactive Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. is an American video game holding company based in New York City and founded by Ryan Brant in September 1993. The company owns two major publishing labels, Rockstar Games and 2K, which operate internal ...
and
Sony Computer Entertainment Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), formerly known as Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE), is a multinational video game and digital entertainment company wholly owned by multinational conglomerate Sony. The SIE Group is made up of two legal co ...
resulted in their timed exclusivity on the PlayStation 2, before receiving ports to Microsoft Windows and the
Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by the ...
. The 2001 title '' Grand Theft Auto III'' moved away from the two-dimension (2D) graphics used in the first two games to three-dimension (3D) computer graphics '' Grand Theft Auto: Vice City'' was published in 2002, and was the first to feature a speaking protagonist, voiced by
Ray Liotta Raymond Allen Liotta (; December 18, 1954 – May 26, 2022) was an American actor. He was best known for his roles as Shoeless Joe Jackson in ''Field of Dreams'' (1989) and Henry Hill in Martin Scorsese's ''Goodfellas'' (1990). He was a Primet ...
. '' Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas'', released in 2004, introduced various new elements, including character customisation and a large map encompassing three cities and surrounding rural area. Two main instalments were published for the
PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed by Sony Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on November 11, 2006, in Japan, November ...
and
Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generati ...
. The 2008 title ''Grand Theft Auto IV'' focused on realism and detail, removing various customisation features, while adding an
online multiplayer A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system ( couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...
mode. '' Grand Theft Auto V'', published in 2013, featured three playable protagonists. It was released to massive financial success, breaking multiple records. It was later re-released with various enhancements, in 2014 for the PlayStation 4 and
Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third base console in the Xbox series of video game consoles. It was first released in North America, parts of ...
, and in 2015 for Microsoft Windows; versions for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S were released in March 2022. On 4 February 2022, Rockstar confirmed that development of a new entry in the series was "well underway". In-development footage of the game leaked in September 2022; Rockstar noted that it was "extremely disappointed" by the manner in which the game was first demonstrated, but that it did not anticipate long-term effects on development.


Other games

''Grand Theft Auto'' has spawned numerous additional games and
expansion pack An expansion pack, expansion set, supplement, or simply expansion is an addition to an existing role-playing game, tabletop game, video game or collectible card game. These add-ons usually add new game areas, weapons, objects, characters, or ...
s. In 1999, the original game received two expansion packs: '' Grand Theft Auto: London 1969'' and '' Grand Theft Auto: London 1961'', which, as their names suggest, featured a different setting – a fictional version of
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
– and new missions and characters. '' Grand Theft Auto Advance'', released in 2004 exclusively for the
Game Boy Advance The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console developed, manufactured and marketed by Nintendo as the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, in North America on June 11, 2001, in the PAL region on June 22, ...
, featured a
top-down perspective A variety of computer graphic techniques have been used to display video game content throughout the history of video games. The predominance of individual techniques have evolved over time, primarily due to hardware advances and restrictions ...
, similarly to the first two main games in the series, and the same setting as ''Grand Theft Auto III'', to which it served as a prequel. Three games were released for the PlayStation Portable: '' Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories'' in 2005, which is also a prequel to ''Grand Theft Auto III''; '' Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories'' in 2006, which is a prequel to ''Vice City''; and '' Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars'' in 2009, which features the same setting as ''Grand Theft Auto IV'', but the two games are otherwise unrelated. Both ''Liberty City Stories'' and ''Vice City Stories'' were later ported to the PlayStation 2, while ''Chinatown Wars'' was originally released for the Nintendo DS and later ported to PlayStation Portable. In 2009, ''
The Lost and Damned ''Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned'' is the first of two episodic expansion packs of the 2008 video game ''Grand Theft Auto IV'', developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. The game was released individually for the X ...
'' and ''
The Ballad of Gay Tony ''Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony'' is the second of two episodic expansion packs available for the 2008 video game '' Grand Theft Auto IV'', developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. The game was released individu ...
'' were released for the
Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generati ...
as expansion packs to ''Grand Theft Auto IV''; a "
strategic alliance A strategic alliance (also see strategic partnership) is an agreement between two or more parties to pursue a set of agreed upon objectives needed while remaining independent organizations. The alliance is a cooperation or collaboration which aims ...
" between Rockstar and
Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washin ...
resulted in the timed exclusivity. The expansions focus on characters who played a relatively minor role in the main game, and whose stories take place simultaneously with ''Grand Theft Auto IV''s. Both were later released for the PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Windows as part of a compilation, titled ''Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City'', also available on Xbox 360. Numerous titles in the series have received ports to
mobile Mobile may refer to: Places * Mobile, Alabama, a U.S. port city * Mobile County, Alabama * Mobile, Arizona, a small town near Phoenix, U.S. * Mobile, Newfoundland and Labrador Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Mobile ( ...
devices. ''Chinatown Wars'' was released for
iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also include ...
in 2010 and for Android and
Fire OS Fire OS is a mobile operating system based on the Android Open Source Project, it is developed by Amazon for their devices. Fire OS includes proprietary software, a customized user interface primarily centered on content consumption, and heavy ...
in 2014. For their tenth anniversaries, ''Grand Theft Auto III'' and ''Vice City'' were both re-released for iOS and Android in 2011 and 2012, respectively. In 2013, ''San Andreas'' was ported to iOS, Android and Windows Phone and RT; the mobile port was later re-released for Xbox 360 in 2014, the year of the game's tenth anniversary, and the following year for PlayStation 3. In 2015, ''Liberty City Stories'' was ported to iOS, Android and Fire OS.


Compilations

''Grand Theft Auto Double Pack'' was released in 2003 for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox, and includes both ''Grand Theft Auto III'' and ''Vice City''. ''Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy'' is a compilation of ''III'', ''Vice City'', and ''San Andreas'', and was first released in 2005 for the Xbox. It was later re-released for the PlayStation 2, Windows, Mac OS X, and PlayStation 4. ''The Trilogy'' also served as the revised package for ''San Andreas'', which had to be pulled from shelves due to the controversial ''Hot Coffee'' mod. A report in August 2021 suggested that Rockstar Dundee was leading development on a
remastered Remaster refers to changing the quality of the sound or of the image, or both, of previously created recordings, either audiophonic, cinematic, or videographic. The terms digital remastering and digitally remastered are also used. Mastering A ...
version of the trilogy, using
Unreal Engine Unreal Engine (UE) is a 3D computer graphics game engine developed by Epic Games, first showcased in the 1998 first-person shooter game '' Unreal''. Initially developed for PC first-person shooters, it has since been used in a variety of g ...
; following some leaks, Rockstar officially announced '' Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition'' on 8 October 2021. The game features graphical and gameplay upgrades, and replaced existing versions on digital retailers. It released for Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on 11 November 2021, and will release for Android and iOS in 2022. ''Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City'' is a standalone compilation of the two episodes for ''Grand Theft Auto IV''. It contains both ''The Lost and Damned'' and ''The Ballad of Gay Tony'' on one disc. It was released on 29 October 2009 for the Xbox 360 and on 13 April 2010 for Microsoft Windows and PlayStation 3. Microsoft added ''Episodes from Liberty City'' to its backwards compatibility list for Xbox One platforms in February 2017. The standalone release of ''Episodes from Liberty City'' for Windows was discontinued and replaced by a single-player-only version of ''Grand Theft Auto IV: Complete Edition'' in 2020.


Related media

The series has been expanded into various other formats. ''Jacked: The Outlaw Story of Grand Theft Auto'', a book written by
David Kushner David Kushner is a writer who has contributed to many publications, including ''Wired'', ''The New York Times'', ''Rolling Stone'', SPIN, ''IEEE Spectrum'' and ''Salon''. Career From 1994 to 1996, Kushner worked as a senior producer and writer ...
chronicling the development of the series, was published in 2012. In March 2015, BBC Two announced ''
The Gamechangers ''The Gamechangers'' is a British docudrama produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the story of the controversies caused by ''Grand Theft Auto'', a successful video game series, as various attempts were made to halt the production of the g ...
'', a 90-minute docudrama based on the creation of ''Grand Theft Auto''. Directed by Owen Harris and written by James Wood, the drama stars
Daniel Radcliffe Daniel Jacob Radcliffe (born 23 July 1989) is an English actor. He rose to fame at age twelve, when he began portraying Harry Potter in the film series of the same name; and has held various other film and theatre roles. Over his career, Rad ...
as Rockstar president
Sam Houser Sam Houser (born 1971) is a British video game producer. He is the co-founder and president of Rockstar Games and one of the creative driving forces behind the games in the ''Grand Theft Auto'' franchise, being producer since the third game. ...
and
Bill Paxton William Paxton (May 17, 1955 – February 25, 2017) was an American actor and filmmaker. He appeared in films such as '' Weird Science'' (1985), ''Aliens'' (1986), '' Near Dark'' (1987), '' Tombstone'' (1993), ''True Lies'' (1994), '' Apollo 1 ...
as disbarred attorney
Jack Thompson Jack Thompson may refer to: Sports * Jack Thompson (footballer, born 1892) (1892–1969), English footballer who played for Sheffield United and Bristol City * Jack Thompson (1920s footballer), English footballer who played for Aston Villa and Brig ...
. In May 2015, Rockstar filed a lawsuit against the BBC for trademark infringement, stating that they had no involvement with the development of the film and had unsuccessfully tried to contact the BBC to resolve the matter. It first aired on 15 September 2015 on BBC Two. In 2006, McFarland & Company published ''The Meaning and Culture of Grand Theft Auto''. Compiled by Nate Garrelts, the 264-page book is a collection of essays regarding the ''Grand Theft Auto'' series, to help audiences better understand the games and to make a point about due diligence of game criticism. The book is divided into two parts: the first part discusses the controversies surrounding the series, while the second half takes a theoretical look at the games absent of the controversy.
Roger Corman Roger William Corman (born April 5, 1926) is an American film director, producer, and actor. He has been called "The Pope of Pop Cinema" and is known as a trailblazer in the world of independent film. Many of Corman's films are based on works t ...
, who produced the unrelated 1977 film ''Grand Theft Auto'', claimed that any attempted film adaptation of the video game series was unable to proceed. In 2017, he claimed that he sued the "video game manufacturer who flat-out stole the idea", and that they "settled out of court and they gave me some money". He said that he retains the rights, "but the way it was actually written in the contract is a little bit cloudy", and that his lawyers were analysing the contract to ensure that he can remake the film. Take-Two Interactive responded to Corman's claims, noting that the company "owns all rights for films related to the ''Grand Theft Auto'' video game series", and that it "can and will take appropriate legal action against anyone attempting to misuse our intellectual property by attempting to make a new film titled ''Grand Theft Auto''"; it claimed to have successfully taken legal action against similar attempts in the past.


Common elements


Gameplay

Each game in this series allows the player to take on the role of a criminal in the big city, typically an individual who plans to rise through the ranks of
organised crime Organized crime (or organised crime) is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally th ...
through the course of the game. The player is given various missions by kingpins and major idols in the city underworld which must be completed to progress through the storyline. Assassinations and other
violent crime A violent crime, violent felony, crime of violence or crime of a violent nature is a crime in which an offender or perpetrator uses or threatens to use harmful force upon a victim. This entails both crimes in which the violent act is the objecti ...
s are featured regularly. Occasionally
taxi A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choic ...
driving, firefighting, street racing, bus driving, or learning to fly
helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...
s and fixed-wing aircraft are also involved in the game. In later titles, notably those released after ''
Grand Theft Auto 2 ''Grand Theft Auto 2'' is an action-adventure game, developed by DMA Design and published by Rockstar Games in October 1999, for Microsoft Windows and the PlayStation, and the Dreamcast and Game Boy Color in 2000. It is the sequel to 1997's ' ...
'', the player is given a more developed storyline in which they are forced to overcome an unfortunate event (e.g., being betrayed and left for dead), which serves as motivation for the character to advance up the criminal ladder and ultimately leads to the triumph of the character by the end of the storyline. The ''Grand Theft Auto'' series belongs to a genre of free-roaming role-playing video games called open world games, and grants a large amount of freedom to the player. Traditional action games are structured as a single track series of levels with linear gameplay, but in ''Grand Theft Auto'' the player can determine the missions that they want to undertake, and their relationship with various characters are changed based on these choices. Influenced by the earlier game '' Turbo Esprit'',Retrorevival: Turbo Esprit, ''
Retro Gamer ''Retro Gamer'' is a British magazine, published worldwide, covering retro video games. It was the first commercial magazine to be devoted entirely to the subject. Launched in January 2004 as a quarterly publication, ''Retro Gamer'' soon became ...
'' issue 20, page 48. Imagine Publishing, 2006.''Charlie Brooker's Gameswipe'', BBC Television, 2009. "''Grand Theft Auto'' directly inspired by the pioneering Spectrum game ''Turbo Esprit''" the cities of the games can be roamed freely at any point in the game, and are examples of open world video game environments which offer accessible buildings with minor missions in addition to the main storyline. There are exceptions: missions follow a linear, overarching plot. These missions are required to complete in order to unlock new areas in the game. ''Grand Theft Auto III'' and subsequent games have more voice acting and radio stations, which simulate driving to music with disc jockeys, radio personalities, commercials,
talk radio Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often featu ...
,
pop music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former descri ...
, and American culture. The use of vehicles in an explorable urban environment provides a basic simulation of a working city, complete with pedestrians who generally obey traffic signals. Further details are used to flesh out an open-ended atmosphere that has been used in several other games, such as '' The Simpsons: Hit & Run'', which has less emphasis on crime or violence, and '' Lego City Undercover'', which reverses the roles of police officer and criminal, although the player goes undercover in gangs for a portion of the game. Criminal activities in ''Grand Theft Auto'' games do not go unnoticed by the police. As the player engages in these in-game illegal activities, they may gain a "wanted level", represented by a maximum of five or six stars. A small crime, such as running over a non-player character, may create a one star wanted level situation, while shooting an officer may earn more stars. As the number of stars increase, the amount and strength of the response will increase; a single star might have a few police cars chase after the player, while at 5 or 6 stars, tanks and attack helicopters will chase down the player. Many in-game missions will automatically give the player a wanted level after completing a certain event which they must then get rid of before the mission is complete. Often, trying to keep away from the police while wanted will cause the player to gain even higher wanted levels. The player can remove their character's wanted level by avoiding detection or spending in-game money at specific locations to elude the police (such as a mod shop to repaint their car). Alternatively, if the player-character dies, they will
respawn In video games, spawning is the live creation of a character, item or NPC. Respawning is the recreation of an entity after its death or destruction, perhaps after losing one of its lives. Despawning is the deletion of an entity from the game ...
at a hospital and the wanted level will be removed, though the player may lose money, guns, and other benefits they had before being chased. The "wanted level" gameplay concept has become common in similar open world games.


Setting

Most ''Grand Theft Auto'' games are set in fictional parodies of well-known
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
cities, in a number of different time periods. The games are split into three different universes (2D, 3D, and HD), each with their own reinterpretations of previously established settings. The universes share the names of cities, several brands, and background characters who never make physical appearances in the games (with a few exceptions), but are otherwise considered to be separate continuities.


Liberty City

Liberty City, based on
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
, is one of the three original cities introduced in ''
Grand Theft Auto ''Grand Theft Auto'' (''GTA'') is a series of action-adventure games created by David Jones and Mike Dailly. Later titles were developed under the oversight of brothers Dan and Sam Houser, Leslie Benzies and Aaron Garbut. It is primarily d ...
''. It is the first setting available to the player. The city encompasses two landmasses (a large one in the southeast and a smaller one in the northeast) and a
Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
-like central island; two smaller islands are featured along the river that separates the three main islands. The setting also incorporates the neighbouring state of New Guernsey (a parody of
New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
), which occupies the northwest portion of the map. All four major islands are divided into multiple districts, inspired by New York and New Jersey's boroughs. A redesigned version of Liberty City was introduced in '' Grand Theft Auto III'' (set in 2001). This iteration is only loosely based on New York, and incorporates elements from other U.S. cities, such as
Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...
,
Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...
,
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
,
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
, and
Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
. The city encompassess three main islands, which are gradually unlocked as the game's storyline progresses: Portland (based on the industrial areas of
Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
and
Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...
, with additional elements from Manhattan and Long Island), Staunton Island (based mostly on Manhattan), and Shoreside Vale (loosely based on
North Jersey North Jersey comprises the northern portions of the U.S. state of New Jersey between the upper Delaware River and the Atlantic Ocean. The designation of northern New Jersey with a distinct toponym is a colloquial one rather than an administrati ...
,
The Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...
, Staten Island, and
Upstate New York Upstate New York is a geographic region consisting of the area of New York State that lies north and northwest of the New York City metropolitan area. Although the precise boundary is debated, Upstate New York excludes New York City and Long Is ...
). The islands are connected by road bridges and an underground tunnel system. A tunnel leading out of Liberty City can be found in Shoreside Vale, but it is impassable by the player. This particular version of Liberty City returned in the prequels '' Grand Theft Auto Advance'' (set in 2000) and '' Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories'' (set in 1998), albeit with several changes to reflect the different time periods. The city was also mentioned in '' Grand Theft Auto: Vice City'' and '' Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas'', and was the setting of a mission in the latter. A third version of Liberty City was featured in ''
Grand Theft Auto IV ''Grand Theft Auto IV'' is a 2008 action-adventure game developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It is the sixth main entry in the ''Grand Theft Auto'' series, following 2004's '' Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas'', and the e ...
'', its expansion packs ''
The Lost and Damned ''Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned'' is the first of two episodic expansion packs of the 2008 video game ''Grand Theft Auto IV'', developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. The game was released individually for the X ...
'' and ''
The Ballad of Gay Tony ''Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony'' is the second of two episodic expansion packs available for the 2008 video game '' Grand Theft Auto IV'', developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. The game was released individu ...
'' (all three set in 2008), and the handheld game '' Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars'' (set in 2009). This iteration closely resembles New York, and consists of four main boroughs, which become available to explore as the story progresses: Broker (based on Brooklyn), Dukes (Queens), Bohan (The Bronx), and Algonquin (Manhattan). The placement of these boroughs mirrors that of their real-life counterparts: Broker and Dukes occupy a large landmass in the southeast, while Bohan forms its own, smaller island in the northeast, and Algonquin acts as the city's central island. The setting also incorporates three smaller islands—Charge Island ( Randall's Island), Colony Island ( Roosevelt Island), and Happiness Island (
Liberty Island Liberty Island is a federally owned island in Upper New York Bay in the United States. Its most notable feature is the Statue of Liberty (''Liberty Enlightening the World''), a large statue by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi that was dedicated i ...
)—and a fourth landmass, Alderney, which is located west of Algonquin and regarded as its own independent state (similarly to New Jersey). Alderney is absent in ''Chinatown Wars''. All islands, barring Happiness Island, are connected by road bridges, underground tunnels, and a subway system; none of which lead out of the city.


San Andreas

San Andreas, based on
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
, is one of the three original cities introduced in ''Grand Theft Auto''. It is the second setting available to the player. The locale encompasses two landmasses: a large northern portion, which is divided into fifteen districts and generally considered to be the city's core, and a smaller island in the southeast, consisting of only one district, which acts as the city's docks area. The northern landmass is further divided by Aye Valley, which cuts through the heart of the area from the east to the west. A reimagined version of San Andreas was featured in '' Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas'' (set in 1992), as a state rather than a city. Based on
California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
and
Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a state in the Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the 7th-most extensive, ...
, the state encompasses two landmasses, separated by a river and surrounded by a large body of water. The southern portion of the map features the cities of Los Santos (based on
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
) and San Fierro (San Francisco), separated by vast forest and mountain areas. By contrast, the northern portion is one large desert region and incorporates only one city, Las Venturas (
Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
). Both landmasses feature additional rural settlements, which are less inhabited than the three major cities. The cities are connected by a train track system, and each one features an airport, which can be used to
fast travel Fast travel or teleportation is a video game mechanic used in open world titles that allows a player character to instantaneously travel between previously discovered locations (teleport waypoints or fast travel points) without having to traverse ...
from a city to another. At the beginning of the game, players only have access to Los Santos, with the rest of the map being gradually unlocked as the story progresses. A third version of San Andreas appeared in '' Grand Theft Auto V'' (set in 2013), again imagined as a state. The game features only the southern portion of the state, which is depicted as a large island. The southern portion of the island is occupied mostly by the city of Los Santos (which resembles Los Angeles much more closely than its ''San Andreas'' counterpart), while the northern portion, known as Blaine County, is less inhabited, featuring vast areas of desert, forest, and mountain, and only a few small towns.Rockstar Game
Grand Theft Auto V Official Announcement
. Retrieved 26 November 2012. This version of San Andreas is currently the only setting in the series that doesn't feature any map limitations, allowing players to explore the entire island at the beginning of the game. Los Angeles was extensively researched for ''Grand Theft Auto V''. The team organised field research trips with tour guides and architectural historians and captured around 250,000 photos and hours of video footage during these visits. Since the release of the game, hundreds of in-game buildings have been identified as being based on real-world landmarks. ''
The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
''s Sam Sweet notes that, with sales of the game reaching thirteen million copies, "there will be more people living in the imaginary state of Los Santos than in the real city on which it was modelled."


Vice City

Vice City, based on
Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...
, is one of the three original cities introduced in ''Grand Theft Auto''. It is the third setting available to the player. The city encompasses one large landmass, divided into eight districts which form the city's core, and a smaller island, Vice Beach, in the northeast. Like its real-life counterpart, Vice City is depicted as a tropical city, easily distinguished from the other two in the game by its beaches and palm trees. A redesigned version of Vice City was introduced in '' Grand Theft Auto: Vice City'' (set in 1986). The city consists of two main landmasses, Vice City Beach and Vice City Mainland, separated by a large body of water and connected to each other and to two smaller islands, Starfish Island and Prawn Island, by a series of road bridges. At the beginning of the game, the player only has access to Vice City Beach, with the rest of the city being gradually unlocked as the story progresses. The same setting would be later used in the prequel '' Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories'' (set in 1984), albeit with several changes to reflect the different time period. The HD universe version of Vice City has yet to be introduced, but has been referenced in both ''Grand Theft Auto IV'' and ''Grand Theft Auto V''.


Other settings

The '' London 1969'' and '' London 1961'' expansion packs for ''Grand Theft Auto'' take place within a fictionalised version of
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
during the 1960s. As such, they are the only games in the series to be set outside of the United States. The portion of the city used in the games is based on Central London, although heavily condensed and mostly geographically inaccurate. It consists of two landmasses, separated by the
River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...
and connected by several road bridges. A fictionalised version of
Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
is also featured in the games. ''
Grand Theft Auto 2 ''Grand Theft Auto 2'' is an action-adventure game, developed by DMA Design and published by Rockstar Games in October 1999, for Microsoft Windows and the PlayStation, and the Dreamcast and Game Boy Color in 2000. It is the sequel to 1997's ' ...
'' is set in Anywhere City, a fictional U.S. retrofuturistic metropolis with no apparent inspiration from any real-life city. The setting consists of three areas, which the player will switch between as the story progresses: the Downtown District, the Residential District, and the Industrial District. Each district is depicted as its own individual island. The game is set in an unspecified time period—conflicting sources suggest anything from "three weeks into the future", to the year 2013, while the game itself features several references to the "new millennium" that is coming, implying that the year is 1999. ''Grand Theft Auto V'' features the fictional town of Ludendorff in the state of North Yankton (a parody of
North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minnesota to the east, So ...
), which is the setting of two missions and is inaccessible outside of the storyline. The 2020 update for ''
Grand Theft Auto Online ''Grand Theft Auto Online'' is an online multiplayer action-adventure game developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It was released on 1 October 2013 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, 18 November 2014 for PlayStation 4 and Xb ...
'', ''The Cayo Perico Heist'', introduced the eponymous fictional island, a "tropical paradise" off the Caribbean coast of Colombia privately owned by notorious drug lord Juan "El Rubio" Strickler. The island is used as both a
transshipment Transshipment, trans-shipment or transhipment is the shipment of goods or containers to an intermediate destination, then to another destination. One possible reason for transshipment is to change the means of transport during the journey (e.g ...
base and a partying place by El Rubio, and draws inspiration from
Norman's Cay Norman's Cay is a small Bahamian island (a few hundred hectares) in the Exumas, a chain of islands south and east of Nassau, that served as the headquarters for Carlos Lehder's drug smuggling operation from 1978 until around 1982. History Dru ...
and Hacienda Nápoles. Cayo Perico is the first setting in the series not located in the United States since London.


Voice acting

The series has included a wide variety of
voice actors Voice acting is the art of performing voice-overs to present a character or provide information to an audience. Performers are called voice actors/actresses, voice artists, dubbing artists, voice talent, voice-over artists, or voice-over talent ...
. The original ''
Grand Theft Auto ''Grand Theft Auto'' (''GTA'') is a series of action-adventure games created by David Jones and Mike Dailly. Later titles were developed under the oversight of brothers Dan and Sam Houser, Leslie Benzies and Aaron Garbut. It is primarily d ...
'', its mission packs and its
sequel A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...
, as well as '' Grand Theft Auto Advance'' and '' Chinatown Wars'' did not feature any voice credited to specific roles. The first game in the series to do so was '' Grand Theft Auto III'' which, despite a limited budget and the series' low profile at the time, featured several notable actors from film and television. These included
Frank Vincent Frank Vincent Gattuso Jr. (April 15, 1937 – September 13, 2017) was an American actor. During a five-decade career, Vincent often portrayed mobsters. He was a frequent collaborator of filmmaker Martin Scorsese, appearing as Salvy in ''Raging B ...
,
Michael Madsen Michael Søren Madsen (born September 25, 1957) is an American actor. He has starred in many films and television series, frequently collaborating with director Quentin Tarantino, most famously in the latter's debut film '' Reservoir Dogs'' (1 ...
and
Kyle MacLachlan Kyle Merritt MacLachlan (; ' McLachlan, February 22, 1959) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Dale Cooper in '' Twin Peaks'' (1990–1991; 2017) and its film prequel '' Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me'' (1992), as well as roles ...
, who all had prominent roles. At the time it was rare for a video game to use such high-profile actors, and ''Grand Theft Auto III'' is considered a pioneer in doing so. The next game, '' Grand Theft Auto: Vice City'', featured more film actors, including
Ray Liotta Raymond Allen Liotta (; December 18, 1954 – May 26, 2022) was an American actor. He was best known for his roles as Shoeless Joe Jackson in ''Field of Dreams'' (1989) and Henry Hill in Martin Scorsese's ''Goodfellas'' (1990). He was a Primet ...
as the player character. Although the following title, '' Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas'', also featured many notable film actors—such as
Samuel L. Jackson Samuel Leroy Jackson (born December 21, 1948) is an American actor and producer. One of the most widely recognized actors of his generation, the films in which he has appeared have collectively grossed over $27 billion worldwide, making him ...
, Peter Fonda and
James Woods James Howard Woods (born April 18, 1947) is an American actor. He is known for his work in various film, stage, and television productions. He started his career in minor roles on and off- Broadway. In 1972, he appeared in ''The Trial of the ...
—it had been decided that the use of such actors should be reduced, particularly for leading roles. As a result, many of the prominent roles in ''San Andreas'' were voiced by lower profile actors or rappers. From '' Liberty City Stories'' through to '' Grand Theft Auto V'', the series has continued using lesser known actors to voice main characters, but still uses celebrities and real-life radio personalities to voice the DJs of the many radio stations featured in each game. Some games also feature celebrities portraying themselves, such as Lazlow Jones, Phil Collins, Ricky Gervais, Katt Williams, and Dr. Dre.


Controversies

According to ''The Guinness World Records'' 2008 and 2009 Gamer's Edition, it is the most controversial video game series in history, with over 4,000 articles published about it, which include accusations of glamorising violence, corrupting gamers, and connection to real life crimes.


''Grand Theft Auto''

The game was controversial from the first incarnation of the series. ''
Grand Theft Auto ''Grand Theft Auto'' (''GTA'') is a series of action-adventure games created by David Jones and Mike Dailly. Later titles were developed under the oversight of brothers Dan and Sam Houser, Leslie Benzies and Aaron Garbut. It is primarily d ...
'' was condemned in Britain, Germany, and France due to its "extreme violence", and Brazil banned it outright.
Publicist A publicist is a person whose job is to generate and manage publicity for a company, a brand, or public figure – especially a celebrity – or for a work such as a book, film, or album. Publicists are public relations specialists who ...
Max Clifford Maxwell Frank Clifford (6 April 1943 – 10 December 2017) was an English publicist who was particularly associated with promoting " kiss and tell" stories in tabloid newspapers. In December 2012, as part of Operation Yewtree, Clifford was arr ...
planted sensational stories in tabloids in order to help sell the first game.


''Grand Theft Auto III''

The controversies flared up again with '' Grand Theft Auto III'', since the 3D graphics made the violence more realistic, and players could pay for the services of prostitutes to restore their health, and if they wished, kill them to get some of their money back. There is also criticism from the focus on illegal activities in comparison with traditional "heroic" roles that other games offer. The main character can commit a wide variety of crimes and violent acts while dealing with only temporary consequences, including the killing of policemen and military personnel.


''Vice City''

The sixth game in the series, '' Grand Theft Auto: Vice City'', also came under criticism. One mission in particular, in which the player must instigate a gang war between Haitian and Cuban gangs, has been controversial. Haitian and Cuban anti-defamation groups criticised the game. Jean-Robert Lafortune of the Haitian American Grassroots Coalition is quoted as saying that "The game shouldn't be designed to destroy human life, it shouldn't be designed to destroy an ethnic group," for this and similar scenarios, including lines in the game's script such as "kill the Haitian dickheads" said by character "Diaz" during an altercation between the player and a Haitian gang. After the threat of a lawsuit by the Haitian-American Grassroots Coalition, Rockstar removed the word "Haitians" from this phrase in the game's subtitles.


''San Andreas''

''San Andreas'' was criticised initially due to its "gangster" elements, which include drugs, prostitution, and murder. It later received additional criticism after the discovery of an interactive sex
minigame A minigame (also spelled mini game and mini-game, sometimes called a subgame or microgame) is a short game often contained within another video game. A minigame contains different gameplay elements, and is often smaller or more simplistic, than t ...
, nicknamed Hot Coffee; initially cut from the game, it remained in the game code, and was discovered in both the console and
Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for ser ...
versions of the game. After the release of ''San Andreas'', modders managed to find the unused code in the game and released
unofficial patch An unofficial patch is a patch for a piece of software, created by a third party such as a user community without the involvement of the original developer. Similar to an ordinary patch, it alleviates bugs or shortcomings. Unofficial patches do ...
es for the
Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for ser ...
and
Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by the ...
(with a
modchip A modchip (short for modification chip) is a small electronic device used to alter or disable artificial restrictions of computers or entertainment devices. Modchips are mainly used in video game consoles, but also in some DVD or Blu-ray player ...
) versions as well as a PlayStation 2 version through the use of an
Action Replay Action Replay is the brand name of a cheating device (such as cheat cartridges) created by Datel. The Action Replay is available for many gaming systems including the Nintendo DS, Nintendo DSi, Nintendo 3DS, PlayStation Portable, PlaySt ...
code enabling the player to engage in these sexual mini-games (dubbed "Hot Coffee" in reference to a euphemism for sex used in the game). These mini-games were left partially intact in the game's code. This prompted application of an AO (Adults Only)
ESRB The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) is a self-regulatory organization that assigns age and content ratings to consumer video games in the United States and Canada. The ESRB was established in 1994 by the Entertainment Software Asso ...
rating to the version of the game containing the leftover code. Take-Two Interactive was forced to re-release the game in order to restore the M (Mature) rating. A class action lawsuit against Take-Two was also filed as a result of the "Hot Coffee" code.


''Grand Theft Auto IV''

One of the controversies involved with this game was
Mothers Against Drunk Driving Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) is a non-profit organization in the United States, Canada and Brazil that seeks to stop drunk driving, support those affected by drunk driving, prevent underage drinking, and strive for stricter impaired drivi ...
's (MADD) criticism of the ability to drink and drive as a new feature. MADD had even requested
ESRB The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) is a self-regulatory organization that assigns age and content ratings to consumer video games in the United States and Canada. The ESRB was established in 1994 by the Entertainment Software Asso ...
to change the rating of the game from "M" for ages seventeen and up to "AO", for adults only, because they felt it was inappropriate for children, even at the age of seventeen, to experience drunk driving in such a manner. In the final game, drunk driving is a playable event, but it is a crime that automatically generates a wanted rating and main playable character Niko Bellic loudly (and drunkenly) proclaims that it is a "bad idea" and that he "should know better". Notably, it is impossible to drive while drunk in the ''GTA IV'' expansions, ''The Lost and Damned'' and ''The Ballad of Gay Tony''. These were released after the criticism. It is, however, possible to drive drunk again in the successor, ''Grand Theft Auto V''.


''The Lost and Damned''

''
The Lost and Damned ''Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned'' is the first of two episodic expansion packs of the 2008 video game ''Grand Theft Auto IV'', developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. The game was released individually for the X ...
'' expansion pack for ''Grand Theft Auto IV'' was condemned by US parents group Common Sense Media who issued a public warning against the pack's content due to a full-frontal nudity scene during one of the cutscenes. They claimed the game was "more controversial than its predecessors" because it featured "full frontal male nudity".


''Chinatown Wars''

There has been some controversy over a drug dealing minigame along with comments that some Nintendo games are being aimed at children (despite the fact that the game was rated Mature). The drug dealing mini-game allows players to peddle six types of drugs around the city, but the profit the player makes depends on market conditions, which will be based on the area in which they deal, and the level of regular service this area receives from them.


''Grand Theft Auto V''

A segment in the latest instalment caused controversy for scenes containing player-initiated torture. The mission "By the Book" features graphic depictions of kneecapping, electrocution, dental extraction and waterboarding, and the player is required to perform an act of torture in order to progress in the game. UK-based charity
Freedom from Torture Freedom from Torture (previously known as The Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture) is a British registered charity which provides therapeutic care for survivors of torture who seek protection in the UK. Since it was established ...
publicly condemned the use of torture scenes in ''Grand Theft Auto V''. The organisation, who works to rehabilitate survivors of torture, joined other human rights charities who were outraged at a torture scene in the game in which the players have to pull teeth and electrocute an unarmed man in order to extract information. The charity's CEO Keith Best stated: “Rockstar North has crossed a line by effectively forcing people to take on the role of a torturer and perform a series of unspeakable acts if they want to achieve success in the game." The game has also been accused of sexism. The ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...
'' considered the game's satirical portrayals of women uncreative, and added that violent and sexist themes hurt the game experience. ''Edge'' noted that while "every female in the game exists solely to be sneered, leered or laughed at", it treated its all-male lead characters in a similar vein through their stereotyped tendencies towards violence.
Sam Houser Sam Houser (born 1971) is a British video game producer. He is the co-founder and president of Rockstar Games and one of the creative driving forces behind the games in the ''Grand Theft Auto'' franchise, being producer since the third game. ...
, Rockstar Games co-founder, felt that the development team sometimes overlooked their portrayal of women in ''Grand Theft Auto'' games, but that the weight towards male characters "fit with the story we wanted to tell".


Lawsuits

Several celebrities have sued Rockstar Games and/or Take-Two Interactive for purportedly violating their
intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, cop ...
or personality rights, including hip-hop artist
Daz Dillinger Delmar Drew Arnaud (born May 25, 1973), known professionally as Daz Dillinger (formerly Dat Nigga Daz and commonly Daz), is an American rapper and record producer. In the 1990s at Death Row Records, aided the catapult of West Coast rap and gang ...
, Karen Gravano of ''
Mob Wives ''Mob Wives'' is an American reality television series that premiered on VH1 on April 17, 2011. The show focuses on the lives of several women residing in the New York City borough of Staten Island, whose family members and husbands have been arr ...
'', and actress Lindsay Lohan.


Lawsuits involving Jack Thompson

Former lawyer
Jack Thompson Jack Thompson may refer to: Sports * Jack Thompson (footballer, born 1892) (1892–1969), English footballer who played for Sheffield United and Bristol City * Jack Thompson (1920s footballer), English footballer who played for Aston Villa and Brig ...
has been involved in a number of attempts to get families of murder victims to hold the ''Grand Theft Auto'' series accountable for the death of their loved ones. Due to his conduct in this and related cases, Thompson was disbarred in 2008 and was fined more than $100,000 by the
Florida Bar The Florida Bar is the integrated bar association for the state of Florida. It is the third largest such bar in the United States. Its duties include the regulation and discipline of attorneys. The Florida Bar is also responsible for the governi ...
Association. On 20 October 2003, the families of Aaron Hamel and Kimberly Bede, two young people shot by teens William and Josh Buckner (who in statements to investigators claimed their actions were inspired by ''Grand Theft Auto III'') filed a US$246 million lawsuit against publishers
Rockstar Games Rockstar Games, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in New York City. The company was established in December 1998 as a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive, using the assets Take-Two had previously acquired from BMG Interactive. Foun ...
,
Take-Two Interactive Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. is an American video game holding company based in New York City and founded by Ryan Brant in September 1993. The company owns two major publishing labels, Rockstar Games and 2K, which operate internal ...
Software, retailer
Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...
, and PlayStation 2 manufacturer
Sony Computer Entertainment America Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), formerly known as Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE), is a multinational video game and digital entertainment company wholly owned by multinational conglomerate Sony. The SIE Group is made up of two legal co ...
. Rockstar and its parent company, Take-Two, filed for dismissal of the lawsuit, stating in
US District Court The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district cou ...
on 29 October 2003 that the "ideas and concepts as well as the 'purported psychological effects' on the Buckners are protected by the First Amendment's free-speech clause". The lawyer of the victims, Jack Thompson, denied that, but failed in his attempt to move the lawsuit into a state court and under
Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...
's consumer protection act. Two days later, the plaintiffs filed a Notice of Voluntary Dismissal, and the case was closed. In February 2005, a lawsuit was brought upon the makers and distributors of the ''Grand Theft Auto'' series claiming the games caused a teenager to shoot and kill three members of the
Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County , LargestMetro = Greater Birmingham , area_total_km2 = 135,765 ...
police force. The shooting took place in June 2003 when Devin Moore, 17 years old at the time, was taken in for questioning by police in
Fayette, Alabama Fayette is a city and the county seat of Fayette County, Alabama, United States. The population was 4,619 at the 2010 census, down from 4,922 at the 2000 census. History Originally known as "La Fayette", it incorporated on January 15, 1821. W ...
regarding a stolen vehicle. Moore then grabbed a pistol from one of the police officers and shot and killed him along with another officer and dispatcher before fleeing in a police car. One of Moore's attorneys, Jack Thompson, claimed it was ''Grand Theft Auto''s graphic nature—with his constant playing time—that caused Moore to commit the murders, and Moore's family agrees. Damages were being sought from branches of GameStop and
Wal-Mart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...
in
Jasper, Alabama Jasper is a city in and the county seat of Walker County, Alabama, United States. Its population was 14,352 as of the 2010 census. Named in honor of Sergeant William Jasper, an American Revolutionary War hero, Jasper was settled around 1815 and ...
, the stores from which ''Grand Theft Auto III'' and ''Grand Theft Auto: Vice City'', respectively, were purchased and also from the games' publisher
Take-Two Interactive Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. is an American video game holding company based in New York City and founded by Ryan Brant in September 1993. The company owns two major publishing labels, Rockstar Games and 2K, which operate internal ...
, and the PlayStation 2 manufacturer
Sony Computer Entertainment Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), formerly known as Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE), is a multinational video game and digital entertainment company wholly owned by multinational conglomerate Sony. The SIE Group is made up of two legal co ...
. On 29 March 2006 the case was dismissed and permission to appeal was denied.Reeves, Jay
Court rejects appeal in Alabama suit blaming game for slayings
". ''Associated Press'', 29 March 2006. In May 2005, Jack Thompson appeared via satellite on the '' Glenn Beck'' program on
CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...
's Headline News. Thompson mentioned Devin Moore and said, regarding '' Grand Theft Auto III'' and '' Grand Theft Auto: Vice City'', "There's no doubt in my mind ..that but for Devin Moore's training on this cop killing simulator, he would not have been able to kill three cops in
Fayette, Alabama Fayette is a city and the county seat of Fayette County, Alabama, United States. The population was 4,619 at the 2010 census, down from 4,922 at the 2000 census. History Originally known as "La Fayette", it incorporated on January 15, 1821. W ...
who are now dead and in the ground. We are suing Take-Two,
Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professiona ...
, Wal-Mart, and GameStop for having trained Devin Moore to kill. He had no history of violence. No criminal record." In September 2006, Thompson brought another lawsuit, claiming that Cody Posey played the game obsessively before murdering his father Delbert Paul Posey, stepmother Tryone Schmid, and stepsister Marilea Schmid on a ranch in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The suit was filed on behalf of the victims' families. The suit alleged that were it not for his obsessive playing of ''Grand Theft Auto: Vice City'', the murders would not have taken place. Named in the suit were Cody Posey, Rockstar Games, Take-Two Interactive, and Sony. The suit asked for US$600 million in damages. During the criminal trial, Posey's defence team argued he was abused by his father, and tormented by his stepmother. Posey was also taking Zoloft at the time of the killings. The lawsuit was dismissed in December 2007.


Modding and fan recreations

Modding ''Modding'' is a slang expression derived from the English verb " to modify". The term refers to modification of hardware, software, or anything else, to perform a function not originally intended by the designer, or to achieve bespoke specif ...
of ''Grand Theft Auto'' content, either within ''Grand Theft Auto'' games or recreated via other software, had generally performed by the player community since around the early 2000s, with one of the first major conversions being the recreation of ''Grand Theft Auto III'' Liberty City within the ''Vice City'' engine. Around 2017, Take Two began taking action against these mods, specifically issuing a cease & desist letter to the makers of ''OpenIV'' that allowed modders to alter content from ''Grand Theft Auto IV'' and ''V''. Take-Two said at the time that its issue was not directly with the mod itself, but that it "enables recent malicious mods that allow harassment of players and interfere with the ''GTA Online'' experience for everybody", and that it was working with the ''OpenIV'' to find a amenable solution. ''OpenIV'' developers opted to remove the mod from circulation after several rounds of discussion with Take-Two. Take-Two issued a statement to clarify that it would not take action against single-player mods; this statement was updated in 2019 to exclude modders from including other Take-Two intellectual property or from "making new games, stories, missions, or maps". The ''Grand Theft Auto'' modding community worked under this response to continue to build out mods and other content within the bounds set by Take-Two. In February 2021, Take-Two issued a
Digital Millennium Copyright Act The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is a 1998 United States copyright law that implements two 1996 treaties of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). It criminalizes production and dissemination of technology, devices, or ...
(DMCA) takedown of two projects hosted at
GitHub GitHub, Inc. () is an Internet hosting service for software development and version control using Git. It provides the distributed version control of Git plus access control, bug tracking, software feature requests, task management, continu ...
that had
reverse-engineered Reverse engineering (also known as backwards engineering or back engineering) is a process or method through which one attempts to understand through deductive reasoning how a previously made device, process, system, or piece of software accompli ...
the game engines for ''Grand Theft Auto III'' and ''Vice City'', asserting that such reversing engineering was disallowed by the game's
EULA An end-user license agreement or EULA () is a legal contract between a software supplier and a customer or end-user, generally made available to the customer via a retailer acting as an intermediary. A EULA specifies in detail the rights and restr ...
. On 10 June 2021, the project developers filed a counter-notice; per DMCA rules regarding disputes, the source code was restored after two weeks. Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick stated the company has a "pretty flexible" view on user mods, asserting that "if the economy is threatened, or if there's bad behaviour, and we know how to define that, then we would issue a takedown notice". However, the company proceeded to continue to file a lawsuit in California against the programmers behind this effort in September 2021, asserting that the programmers "are well aware that they do not possess the right to copy, adapt, or distribute derivative GTA source code, or the audiovisual elements of the games, and that doing so constitutes copyright infringement." As part of the lawsuit, Take-Two issued another takedown notice to GitHub to remove the mods in October 2021. The modders, in their legal reply, asserted that use of the assets were within
fair use Fair use is a doctrine in United States law that permits limited use of copyrighted material without having to first acquire permission from the copyright holder. Fair use is one of the limitations to copyright intended to balance the interests ...
, as the reversed engineered versions were transformative in nature and as neither Rockstar nor Take Two had issued any updates for years, did not harm the commercial prospects of the games.


Reception

Ever since the release of ''Grand Theft Auto III'' in 2001, the ''Grand Theft Auto'' series has been a major success, both critically and financially. It has shipped more than 370 million units, making it the fifth-highest selling video game franchise of all time, behind Nintendo's ''
Mario is a character created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the title character of the ''Mario'' franchise and the mascot of Japanese video game company Nintendo. Mario has appeared in over 200 video games since his cre ...
'' and '' Pokémon'',
Activision Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. Activision is one ...
's '' Call of Duty'', and ''
Tetris ''Tetris'' (russian: link=no, Тетрис) is a puzzle video game created by Soviet software engineer Alexey Pajitnov in 1984. It has been published by several companies for multiple platforms, most prominently during a dispute over the appro ...
''. In 2006, ''Grand Theft Auto'' was voted one of Britain's top 10 designs in the Great British Design Quest organised by the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
and the Design Museum. The game appeared in a list of British design icons which included
Concorde The Aérospatiale/BAC Concorde () is a retired Franco-British supersonic airliner jointly developed and manufactured by Sud Aviation (later Aérospatiale) and the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC). Studies started in 1954, and France an ...
, Jaguar E-Type,
Aston Martin DB5 The Aston Martin DB5 is a British grand tourer (GT) produced by Aston Martin and designed by Italian coachbuilder Carrozzeria Touring Superleggera. Originally produced from 1963 to 1965, the DB5 was an evolution of the final series of DB4. Alth ...
,
Mini The Mini is a small, two-door, four-seat car, developed as ADO15, and produced by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and its successors, from 1959 through 2000. Minus a brief hiatus, original Minis were built for four decades and sold during ...
,
World Wide Web The World Wide Web (WWW), commonly known as the Web, is an information system enabling documents and other web resources to be accessed over the Internet. Documents and downloadable media are made available to the network through web ...
, ''
Tomb Raider ''Tomb Raider'', also known as ''Lara Croft: Tomb Raider'' from 2001 to 2008, is a media franchise that originated with an action-adventure video game series created by British gaming company Core Design. Formerly owned by Eidos Interactive, ...
'', K2 telephone box, London tube map,
AEC Routemaster The AEC Routemaster is a front-engined double-decker bus that was designed by London Transport and built by the Associated Equipment Company (AEC) and Park Royal Vehicles. The first prototype was completed in September 1954 and the last one ...
bus and the Supermarine Spitfire. The series has broken several records, resulting in Guinness World Records awarding the series 10 world records in the ''Gamer's Edition 2008''. These records include 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: San Andreas'') as well as Most Successful Entertainment Launch of All Time (''Grand Theft Auto V''). Guinness World Records also ranked ''Grand Theft Auto'' in third place on their list of top 50 console games of all time based on initial impact and lasting legacy. ''Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas'' is listed as the most successful game on the PlayStation 2 according to ''The Guinness World Records 2009 Gamer's Edition''. ''Grand Theft Auto III'', ''San Andreas'' and ''Vice City'' currently lie at the 2nd, 5th and 6th highest rated PlayStation 2 games on
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, respectively, while ''Chinatown Wars'' is rated the best game on the Nintendo DS and the second best on the PlayStation Portable, and ''Grand Theft Auto IV'' is currently rated the second best game ever, with a score of 98, only trailing behind '' The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time''. Also, ''Vice City'', ''Grand Theft Auto III'', ''San Andreas'', ''Grand Theft Auto IV'' and ''Grand Theft Auto V'' lie at 11th, 24th, 27th, 93rd and 2nd best PC games of all time, on Metacritic. Along with this, ''The Lost and Damned'' and ''The Ballad of Gay Tony'' are currently placed 35th and 59th in the top Xbox 360 games.


Sales


Similar games

The release of '' Grand Theft Auto III'' is treated as a major event in the
history of video games The history of video games began in the 1950s and 1960s as computer scientists began designing simple games and simulations on minicomputers and mainframes. '' Spacewar!'' was developed by MIT student hobbyists in 1962 as one of the first s ...
, much like the release of ''
Doom Doom is another name for damnation. Doom may also refer to: People * Doom (professional wrestling), the tag team of Ron Simmons and Butch Reed * Daniel Doom (born 1934), Belgian cyclist * Debbie Doom (born 1963), American softball pitcher * ...
'' nearly a decade earlier. During interviews to mark the 10th anniversary of the release of ''Grand Theft Auto III'', producer of the ''Street Fighter'' series, Yoshinori Ono, said "It would be no exaggeration to say that ''Grand Theft Auto III'' changed the industry, and we can basically separate the time before and after its emergence as distinct eras." In the same article Bethesda studios director, Todd Howard, said "The mark of a truly great game is how many people try to recapture or emulate it and fail. There's a long line behind this one." Subsequent games that follow this formula of driving and shooting have been called "''Grand Theft Auto'' clones". Some reviewers even extended this label to the ''Driver'' series, even though this series began years before the release of ''Grand Theft Auto III''. ''Grand Theft Auto'' clones are a type of 3D action-adventure game, where players are given the ability to drive any vehicle or fire any weapon as they explore an open world. These games often incorporate violent and criminal themes. Notable games that are comparable to ''Grand Theft Auto'' are ''
Saints Row ''Saints Row'' is a series of action-adventure video games created by Volition and published by THQ and Deep Silver. The series follows the 3rd Street Saints, a fictional street gang originally operating out of the Saints Row district, hence ...
'', '' Scarface: The World Is Yours'', '' True Crime: Streets of LA'', ''
Watch Dogs ''Watch Dogs'' (stylized as ''WATCH_DOGS'') is an action-adventure video game franchise published by Ubisoft, and developed primarily by its Montreal and Toronto studios using the Disrupt game engine. The series' eponymous first title was rel ...
'', '' Sleeping Dogs'', '' Just Cause'', ''
Mafia "Mafia" is an informal term that is used to describe criminal organizations that bear a strong similarity to the original “Mafia”, the Sicilian Mafia and Italian Mafia. The central activity of such an organization would be the arbitration of d ...
'' and ''
The Godfather ''The Godfather'' is a 1972 American crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, who co-wrote the screenplay with Mario Puzo, based on Puzo's best-selling 1969 novel of the same title. The film stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caa ...
''.


See also

* GTA gang


Notes


References


Further reading

* *


External links

* {{Authority control Action-adventure games Gangs in fiction Obscenity controversies in video games Open-world video games Rockstar Games franchises Rockstar Games games Satirical video games Take-Two Interactive franchises Video game controversies Video game franchises introduced in 1997 Video game franchises Video games developed in the United Kingdom