All GTA games in chronological order: Rockstar’s timeline explained

Grand Theft Auto is one of the longest-running and most iconic series in gaming, but with so many releases throughout its history, it can be tough to figure out which order they launched in, or how the timeline plays out.

As of 2024, Rockstar has published 13 GTA games across consoles like the PlayStation and Xbox, handhelds like the PSP and Nintendo DS, and PC. Each game is its own self-contained story, though, which means the developers have bounced around to different locations and times, making it hard to figure out the chronological order.

With GTA 6 on the horizon, here’s every Grand Theft Auto game in chronological and release order.

Every GTA game in chronological order

GTA: London 1961 & 1969

Rockstar

Younger GTA fans may not even know the series used to be top-down.

Grand Theft Auto has only left North America once, and that was in two expansion packs for the original GTA game. Heading to London, England, players are dropped into Britain’s capital in the 1960s, complete with iconic landmarks like Big Ben and red double-decker busses speeding down the left-hand lane of the road.

In these mission packs, you take control of one of eight young criminals hoping to take over London and become the city’s new organized crime kingpin.

GTA: Vice City Stories

Rockstar

Vice City in the 80s, what’s not to love?

In the prequel to Vice City, you arrive in the sleazy city as Victor Vance, a dishonorable discharge from the army after being caught up in a botched drug deal with his corrupt sergeant Jerry Martinez. With the help of his brother Lance, Victor gets wrapped up in Vice City’s criminal underworld, ending in an explosive rooftop shootout with the Forelli crime family – including Tommy Vercetti.

GTA: Vice City

Rockstar

Tommy rises through Vice City’s criminal ranks.

Set two years after Vice City Stories, we’re reunited with Tommy Vercetti, who’s back on the streets after a stretch in prison. Sent to Vice City by Sonny Forelli, Tommy is ambushed in a drug deal, leaving him with no money and no prospects. Rather than lay down, Vercetti decides to take over the city, going after gangsters, biker gangs, and even politicians in his quest to reestablish himself back on the outside.

GTA: San Andreas

Rockstar

For many, San Andreas is one of our core childhood gaming experiences.

San Andreas is one of the most popular GTA games of all time, taking players away from the east coast settings of Vice and Liberty City to a reimagined version of California. CJ, our protagonist, returns to the city after five years following the murder of his mother.

Framed for homicide, CJ falls into the world of gang warfare, waging battle on the streets while trying to keep the rest of his family together.

Grand Theft Auto

Rockstar

Every series has to start somewhere.

The very first entry in the series is the only one to take place across three locations, with San Andreas, Liberty City, and Vice City all featured in Grand Theft Auto. Set in the late 1990s, you take control of a silent criminal working for the Vercotti Crime Family, acting as a hired goon and getaway driver.

GTA: Liberty City Stories

Rockstar

This prequel gives us a look at Liberty City before GTA 4.

Liberty City Stories takes us to 1998, where Toni Cipriani is introduced to Vincenzo Cilli. Convinced to do some work for him by Salvatore of the Leone Crime Family, Toni ends up in the middle of a dispute between the Leones and the Sindaccos, which escalates into battles across the city including the Triads, the Colombian Cartel, and the Sicilians.

Grand Theft Auto 2

Rockstar

GTA 2 has an odd place in the franchise’s history.

Grand Theft Auto 2 is a strange entry in this list, as it doesn’t tell you when it is set. There are lots of theories, some suggesting that it takes place in 2013, but the most popular idea, and one that we agree with, is that it is set in 1999. This is because a host on the radio commented that the “millennium is coming,” which took place in 2000.

Grand Theft Auto Advance

The prequel to GTA 3, Grand Theft Auto Advance takes place in the year 2000 and follows Mike as he fights to get vengeance for the death of his friend. Taking place across Liberty City, Mike fights his way through the crime gangs that inhabit the city, leading to a dramatic showdown with the Uptown Yardies.

Grand Theft Auto 3

The first 3D Grand Theft Auto game.

GTA 3 is a landmark moment in the series, as it’s the first time we got a 3D version of the game. Set in Liberty City in 2001, directly after the events of GTA Advanced, fans play as Claude, who is searching for his ex-girlfriend Catalina who brutally shot and betrayed him for the Colombian Cartel during a bank heist.

Grand Theft Auto 4

Rockstar

Bowling would have been more fun that getting shot at.

GTA 4 took us back to Liberty City, although takes place seven years later in 2008. You play as Niko Bellic, who has become one of the series’ most iconic characters, a Serbian who has traveled to live the American dream after a life of crime and war in Eastern Europe.

As all GTA games go, however, Niko falls back into the world of loan sharks and drug deals, while also finding time to go bowling with his cousin Roman.

GTA: Chinatown Wars

Rockstar

A modern take on GTA’s top-down titles.

Developed for handheld consoles and mobile, Chinatown Wars is set in 2009 and follows Huang Lee as he tries to find out who killed his Triad boss father and retrieve the Huang family sword, an heirloom stolen from him.

Grand Theft Auto 5

Rockstar

San Andreas could barely contain these three.

GTA 5 takes place in 2013 and follows the stories of Michael, Franklin, and Trevor, three very different personalities brought together in Los Santos to pull off a series of heists, wage war against gangs, and try to survive as the corrupt Feds try to make them pawns in their own sinister game.

GTA games in release order

For a bunch of incredibly useful GTA guides to help you, take a look at these below:

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