Grand Theft Auto in Chronological Order
All 21 entries from 1997 to 2026, arranged by when their stories happen rather than when they came out. The timeline moves 17 of 21 away from release order: Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories is #12 by release but #6 in the timeline, and Grand Theft Auto III is #6 by release but #12 in the timeline. The full Grand Theft Auto guide has both orders, the reasoning, and a free progress tracker.
| # | Title | Year | Release order |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Grand Theft Auto: London 1961 Released 1 July 1999, PC only, distributed free. A short prequel bolted onto London 1969 that reuses its map and cast and requires it to run, so it cannot be a starting point despite being the earliest story in the franchise. | 1999 | #3 (later) |
| 2 | Grand Theft Auto: London 1969 Released 30 April 1999 for PC and PlayStation, and an expansion that needs the original game installed. The only GTA set outside America and, at the time, the only one set in the past. A UK-only PlayStation release called London - Special Edition (2000) was the standalone route. | 1999 | #2 |
| 3 | Grand Theft Auto Starts the 2D universe. DOS and Windows in November 1997, PlayStation that December in Europe, North America in 1998, Game Boy Color in 1999. Six levels split across three top-down cities, Liberty City, San Andreas and Vice City, which share only their names with the later 3D and HD versions. | 1997 | #1 (earlier) |
| 4 | Grand Theft Auto 2: The Movie Rockstar's own eight-minute live-action promo short, written by Dan Houser, directed by Alex De Rakoff and shot in New York. Released alongside the game as its opening sequence, and it introduces Claude Speed, played by Scott Maslen. Optional, but genuine first-party material rather than a fan piece. | 1999 | #5 (later) |
| 5 | Grand Theft Auto 2 22 October 1999 on PlayStation and Windows, Dreamcast in 2000, Game Boy Color in December 2000. Set in Anywhere City at an unfixed near-future date. Closes the 2D universe, and nothing after it connects back. | 1999 | #4 (earlier) |
| 6 | Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories PSP on 31 October 2006, PS2 in March 2007. No mobile port, which makes it the hardest 3D-universe game to play today. Set in 1984, two years before Vice City, and chronologically the earliest 3D-universe entry, so it is the natural opener if you go by story. | 2006 | #12 (later) |
| 7 | Grand Theft Auto: Vice City PS2 in October 2002, Windows in May 2003, Xbox in November 2003, mobile in December 2012. A prequel set in 1986, fifteen years before III, with a wholly separate cast. This is where release order and story order first split. | 2002 | #7 |
| 8 | Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - The Introduction A 21-minute machinima short on the PS2 San Andreas Special Edition disc, released 8 October 2005, a year after the game rather than with it. Covers events immediately before San Andreas with CJ, Sweet, Big Smoke, Ryder and Tenpenny. The same disc carried Rockstar's lowrider documentary Sunday Driver, which is not fiction and belongs to no continuity. | 2005 | #10 (later) |
| 9 | Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas PS2 on 26 October 2004, Windows and Xbox in June 2005, mobile in December 2013, Xbox 360 in 2014, PS3 in 2015. Set in 1992. The largest 3D-universe game, and the one the later prequels reference most often. | 2004 | #8 (earlier) |
| 10 | Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories PSP on 25 October 2005, PS2 in June 2006, mobile from December 2015 onward. Set in 1998, three years before III, in a visibly earlier version of the same Liberty City, with buildings still standing that III has demolished and vice versa. | 2005 | #11 (later) |
| 11 | Grand Theft Auto Advance Game Boy Advance, 26 October 2004 in North America, the same day as San Andreas. Built by Digital Eclipse rather than Rockstar North. An original story set in 2000, one year before III, in the 3D-universe Liberty City. Skippable: it is the thinnest link in the chain and nothing later depends on it. | 2004 | #9 (earlier) |
| 12 | Grand Theft Auto III PS2 in October 2001, Windows in May 2002, Xbox in November 2003, mobile in December 2011. Reboots the series into 3D and starts the 3D universe from zero, with no story carried over from the 2D games. Set in 2001. | 2001 | #6 (earlier) |
| 13 | Grand Theft Auto IV PS3 and Xbox 360 on 29 April 2008, Windows in December 2008. Set in 2008. Opens the HD universe as an outright reboot: Rockstar rebuilt Liberty City from scratch and deliberately did not use the III-era city as reference. Nothing from the 3D universe carries over. | 2008 | #13 |
| 14 | Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned Xbox 360 on 17 February 2009, PS3 and Windows in April 2010. Johnny Klebitz's biker story, running concurrently with IV rather than after it. The two campaigns cross at the same diamond deal, seen from opposite sides. | 2009 | #14 |
| 15 | Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony Xbox 360 on 29 October 2009, PS3 and Windows in April 2010. Luis Lopez's nightlife story, the third and glossiest view of the same 2008 weeks. It completes the diamond-deal triptych, so it reads best last of the three. | 2009 | #16 (later) |
| 16 | Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City 29 October 2009. The retail package of The Lost and Damned plus The Ballad of Gay Tony. Its whole point is that it does not require GTA IV, so this is the standalone route into the episodes and the reason finish-IV-first is a rule about story rather than access. | 2009 | #17 (later) |
| 17 | Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars Nintendo DS on 17 March 2009, PSP in October 2009, iOS in 2010, Android in 2014. Top-down camera but firmly HD universe: set in 2009 in a scaled-down version of IV's Liberty City, and chronologically the last of the IV-era stories despite shipping between the two episodes. | 2009 | #15 (earlier) |
| 18 | Grand Theft Auto Online Launched 1 October 2013, two weeks after V, and still receiving story content: The Kortz Center Heist landed 14 July 2026 and is likely the last before VI. Sold standalone since March 2022. Its own timeline slides, because it began as a prequel to V's story and then moved to real time from the 2017 Gunrunning update onward. | 2013 | #19 (later) |
| 19 | Grand Theft Auto V PS3 and Xbox 360 on 17 September 2013, PS4 and Xbox One in November 2014, Windows in April 2015, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S in March 2022, PC Enhanced in March 2025. All the same story, set in 2013 with a 2004 prologue, so the re-releases are one step rather than five. | 2013 | #18 (earlier) |
| 20 | Grand Theft Auto VI Scheduled for 19 November 2026 on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S after two delays, from a 2025 target to 26 May 2026 and then to November. No PC version has been announced. Continues the HD universe in the fictional state of Leonida, built around a modern Vice City. Rockstar has not stated the in-game year. | 2026 | #21 (later) |
| 21 | Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - The Definitive Edition 11 November 2021 on Switch, PS4, PS5, Windows, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S, then Steam in January 2023, Epic in February 2023 and mobile in December 2023. Remasters III, Vice City and San Andreas. Its own step because it is a different engine with different lighting and altered content, and for years the only version of those three games sold digitally. It has no chronological slot of its own. | 2021 | #20 (earlier) |
Track Grand Theft Auto in this order → The guide's tracker follows whichever order you pick, chronological order (by continuity) included.