Grand Theft Auto is one of the most successful role-playing games ever since it was created.

So, have you ever wondered when Grand Theft Auto began?

---

---

About Grand Theft Auto

Grand Theft Auto is a popular video game series by Rockstar Games and their subsidiaries. The games were developed by Rockstar North (formerly known as DMA Design).

The series has often sparked controversy because most games have mature content, usually earning them a Mature/Adult rating and a lot of parental hate.

Despite controversies, the franchise has many supporters, selling millions worldwide and becoming one of the most successful games ever.

Grand Theft Auto Awards

Apart from selling millions of copies worldwide across various platforms, Grand Theft Auto has set numerous unbeaten world records.

According to a source, this is the list of world breaking records Grand Theft Auto has:

• Most Guest Stars in a Video Game Series
• Largest Voice Cast in a Video Game (GTA San Andreas)
• Largest In-Game Soundtrack (GTA San Andreas)
• Most Successful Entertainment Launch of All Time (GTA V)
• Top 3 in Console Games of All Time Based on Initial Impact and Lasting Legacy
• The Most Successful Game on the PlayStation 2 (GTA San Andreas)

On October 8, 2013, Guinness World Records announced that GTA 5 has broken sales records, including:

• The best-selling action-adventure video game in 24 hours.
• The best-selling video game in 24 hours.
• The fastest entertainment property to gross $1 billion.
• The fastest video game to gross $1 billion.
• The highest-grossing video game in 24 hours.
• The highest revenue generated by an entertainment product in 24 hours.
• The most viewed trailer for an action-adventure video game.

---

History of Grand Theft Auto

Grand Theft Auto began in 1999 as a 2D game on PS1, PC, and Gameboy Color. It has since grown to include 16 titles, including expansions for the original and GTA IV, as well as GTA Online, thanks to its widespread popularity.

The games have been released on multiple platforms, such as:

• PlayStation
• Xbox
• Dreamcast
• Gameboy
• PlayStation Portable
• Nintendo DS
• Android
• IOS

There are currently sixteen games in the series, including two expansion packs for the original two expansions for GTA IV and a dedicated multiplayer title.

Game	Universe	Released	Set In	Protagonists	Platforms
Grand Theft Auto	2D	1997	1997	Player’s Choice	PC PS1 Gameboy Color
Grand Theft Auto: London 1969	2D	1999	1969	Player’s Choice	PC PlayStation
Grand Theft Auto: London 1961	2D	1999	1961	Player’s Choice	PC
Grand Theft Auto 2	2D	1999	1999 – 2013	Claude Speed or Player’s Choice (Gameboy Color)	PC PS1 Dreamcast Gameboy Color
Grand Theft Auto III	3D	2001	2001	Claude	PC PS2 Xbox IOS and Android
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City	3D	2002	1986	Tommy Vercetti	PC PS2 Xbox IOS and Android
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas	3D	2004	1992	Carl Johnson	PC PS2/PS3 Xbox/Xbox 360 IOS and Android
Grand Theft Auto Advance	3D	2004	2000	Mike	Gameboy Advance
Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories	3D	2005	1998	Toni Cipriani	PS2/PSP IOS and Android
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories	3D	2006	1984	Victor Vance	PS2 and PSP
Grand Theft Auto IV	HD	2008	2008	Niko Bellic	PC PS3 Xbox 360
The Lost and Damned	HD	2009	2008	Johnny Klebitz	PC PS3 Xbox 360
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars	HD	2009	2009	Huang Lee	Nintendo DS PSP IOS and Android
The Ballad of Gay Tony	HD	2009	2008	Luis Fernando Lopez	PC PS3 Xbox 360
Grand Theft Auto V	HD	2013	2013 (Main Events) 2004 (Prologue)	Michael De Santa Franklin Clinton Trevor Philips	PC PS3/PS4/PS5 Xbox 360/One/X&S
Grand Theft Auto Online	HD	2013	2013 – Present	GTA Online Protagonist	PS3 (Removed) Xbox 360 (Removed) PC PS4/PS5 Xbox One/X&S

---

Grand Theft Auto Universe

Rockstar Games has created three different parallel universes for the series, namely the “2D Universe,” “3D Universe,” and “HD Universe.”

These universes are designed to be entirely separate from each other, with no overlap of characters or storylines.

2D Universe

In 2D Universe, you play from a top-down view and complete missions to earn points and unlock new tasks.

1. Grand Theft Auto – The first Grand Theft Auto game is now called “GTA 1”. It includes Liberty City, San Andreas, and Vice City.
   • Grand Theft Auto: London 1969 – is an expansion pack for the original game, available on PlayStation and PC. It’s set in London and needs the base game to play.
   • Grand Theft Auto: London 1961 – An expansion to the London 1969 game, but it’s only available for PC. You can download it for free, but you must have the original game and the first DLC to play it.
2. Grand Theft Auto 2 – Has better graphics and a new gameplay style. It takes place in Anywhere City. Also, it’s the only GTA game with a T-rating.

3D Universe

The 3D Universe includes the popular game Grand Theft Auto III, a big hit. It was the first GTA game with 3D graphics and a third-person view.

In this era, the games had connected stories, and some characters appeared in multiple games. Note that the games were not in chronological order.

1. Grand Theft Auto III – Set in the fictional Liberty City inspired by New York. They took out the multiplayer feature but made the graphics, voice acting, and story much better, allowing players to explore the story in different ways.
2. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City – Set in Vice City, a city based on the real-life Miami. This game is a prequel to both GTA III and GTA: San Andreas. Which was released after GTA: Vice City.
3. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas – Located in the State of San Andreas, the game has three cities: Los Santos, San Fierro, and Las Venturas. The game is set in 1992, making it a sequel to GTA: Vice City and a prequel to GTA III.
4. Grand Theft Auto Advance – Originally planned as a stripped-down port of GTA III for the Game Boy Advance, the developers created a completely original game set in a slightly altered Liberty City.
5. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories – A prequel to GTA III, set in Liberty City in 1998, it was originally made for the PlayStation Portable, but it was later released for PS2 in June 2006. It doesn’t have multiplayer though.
6. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories – Set in Vice City in 1984, two years before the original GTA: Vice City. It was released in October 2006 for PSP and March 2007 for PS2, and is the final game in the 3D Universe series.

A quick trivia: The cities in San Andreas are based on Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Las Vegas.

HD Universe

The HD Universe in Rockstar games used the RAGE engine, also used in their other game, “Rockstar Games Presents Table Tennis”.

This Universe is the same as the 3D universe, which they find successful. The following games are:

1. Grand Theft Auto IV – is set in a redesigned Liberty City in 2008 and introduces new game mechanics and a multiplayer mode. It was released for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on April 2008, and later released on PC in December 2008.
   • The Lost and Damned –  A standalone episode which was released in February 2009 for Xbox 360. It takes place in Liberty City, with events and characters from GTA IV.
   • The Ballad of Gay Tony – This was the second standalone episode for GTA IV, released in October 2009, the last DLC for GTA IV. It was released on PC and PlayStation 3 in April 2010.
2. Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars – Set in 2009, the game focuses on Huang Lee, son of a murdered Triad boss, who comes to Liberty City. Available on the PSP, iPhone, and Android.
3. Grand Theft Auto V – Set in 2013 in a redesigned Los Santos. The game features more than one protagonist, with three playable protagonists: Michael De Santa, Franklin Clinton, and Trevor Philips.
4. Grand Theft Auto Online is the first franchise with a dedicated multiplayer title. The map is the same as GTA V, but the protagonist is a new one you created.

Fun Fact: All three GTA IV games were later combined into Grand Theft Auto IV: The Complete Edition.

---

All About GTA Lore

This section covers the main characters, their enemies, and how they relate to everyone in the game.

In every GTA game, there’s a main character and their arch-enemy, which adds to the excitement.

The characters revolving around the main character are also a crucial part of the story, making it more engaging and adding more depth to the story.

As an example, in GTA: San Andreas, we have Carl Johnson also known as “CJ” as the main protagonist. The antagonist would be Frank Tenpenny who is a cop.

The characters revolving around Carl Johnson would be his family and friends like “Sweet“, “Kendl“, “Big Smoke“, Etc.

Supporting characters are “Kent Paul“, “Maccer“, “Ken Rosenberg“, “Catalina“, Etc. These supporting characters also make a significant impact on the story as well.

For a more detailed list of all the lore in all GTA games, we have prepared another article that mainly focuses on that.

---

Characters That Appeared in Multiple GTA Games

Some GTA characters may appear in specific GTA game/s. But remember, they only appear in their game universe and cannot cross over into others.

This means characters from one game universe can’t appear in games from a different universe.

As shown above, we have three universes: 2D, 3D, and HD. Characters in the HD universe can move between games in the same category.

A good example would be Salvatore Leone. He was in GTA III, GTA: San Andreas, and GTA: Liberty City Stories, which all belong to the 3D Universe.

He can’t go to GTA V because it’s in the HD universe, even though GTA V also has its own San Andreas. It’s not the same as the one in the 3D universe.

For a more detailed list of all the characters that appeared in other GTA games, we have prepared an article focusing on that as well.

---

How Are All The Games Connected?

In this section, we will discuss how all the GTA series are connected to each other with cars, restaurants, clothing stores, etc.

Rockstar is strict with its main characters not crossing between different universes, but they’re more lenient with elements outside the main story.

So, here are a few things you can spot in different universes:

• Liberty City and San Andreas appear in all three universes, but they are all different in each one.
• A lot of the same cars appear in all universe. A good example is the “Pfister Comet, Grotti Cheetah, Bravado Banshee”, Etc.
• “Burger Shot” and “Cluckin’ Bell” appear in both the 3D and HD versions of the game.
• Also, the beverage “Sprunk” appeared in both 3D and HD universes.
• Clothing stores like “Binco“, “Suburban“, and “Didier Sachs” are present in both the 3D and HD universes.
• The gang known as the “Ballas” are present in San Andreas and GTA V.
• “Love Fist” is a band mentioned in both the 3D and HD universes.
• “Lazlow Jones” is a radio host in most 3D and HD-era games. His first appearance is in GTA V in a TV reality show called “Fame or Shame“.