GTA 5 Online
All GTA Games
How Many GTA Games Are There? All GTA Release Dates in Order
A lot of GTA timeline articles mix together full games, add-ons, bundles, remasters, and GTA Online. That is why one page says 11 games, another says 15, and another throws in extras that are not new GTA entries at all.
That confusion matters if you are trying to see the franchise in release order, check when GTA 5 actually came out, or compare the series before GTA VI.
This article separates standalone games from official expansion packs and from repackaged bundles. It also keeps the dates conservative when older platform and regional records do not cleanly point to one universal launch day.
GTA Assumptions
Clean Count
Use this total if you want full GTA games and handheld standalone entries, but not expansion packs, bundles, or GTA Online.
Broad Count
Use this total if you also count London 1969, London 1961, The Lost and Damned, and The Ballad of Gay Tony.
Original Launch
Grand Theft Auto V first launched on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. GTA Online arrived later on a different date.
GTA Count
Most count mistakes happen because readers mix together standalone games, expansion packs, and bundles. Once those are separated, the answer is simple.
- 11 standalone GTA games. This count includes the original game, GTA 2, the 3D-era games, the handheld standalone entries, GTA IV, Chinatown Wars, and GTA V.
- 15 official named GTA releases. This count adds four official expansion releases: London 1969, London 1961, The Lost and Damned, and The Ballad of Gay Tony.
- If you only want standalone games, use the 11-game count.
- If you also want official expansion releases, use the 15-title count.
- If you only care about GTA 5, jump to GTA 5 Dates.
- If you want the full franchise order, stay with GTA Timeline.
GTA Timeline
This is a release-order timeline, not an in-universe story order. For the oldest 2D-era titles, public records vary by platform and market, so the table uses the safest first-release window instead of pretending every entry had one clean global street date.
| # | GTA Release | First Release Window | Type | Standalone Total | Why The Date Is Written This Way |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Grand Theft Auto | 1997 | Standalone | Yes | It is the first GTA, but the earliest 2D-era regional dates do not cleanly collapse into one universal launch day. |
| 2 | Grand Theft Auto: London 1969 | 1999 | Expansion | No | Official add-on to the original GTA. Public records differ by platform and market, so year-only wording is the safe option. |
| 3 | Grand Theft Auto: London 1961 | 1999 | Expansion | No | Free PC add-on for London 1969. The strongest current-source trail supports the year cleanly, but not one universally safe exact day. |
| 4 | Grand Theft Auto 2 | Late 1999 | Standalone | Yes | Different platform and regional listings point to different exact October dates, so late 1999 is the no-BS wording. |
| 5 | Grand Theft Auto III | October 22, 2001 | Standalone | Yes | This one has a clean PlayStation 2 launch date. |
| 6 | Grand Theft Auto: Vice City | October 2002 | Standalone | Yes | Public listings disagree by two days on the first PS2 release, so month-year wording is safer than forcing one exact day. |
| 7 | Grand Theft Auto Advance | October 2004 | Standalone | Yes | Game Boy Advance spin-off. Public listings differ by one to two days, so month-year wording is the safest fit. |
| 8 | Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas | October 26, 2004 | Standalone | Yes | This one has a clean PS2 launch date. |
| 9 | Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories | October 25, 2005 | Standalone | Yes | Clean PSP debut date. |
| 10 | Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories | October 31, 2006 | Standalone | Yes | Clean PSP debut date. |
| 11 | Grand Theft Auto IV | April 29, 2008 | Standalone | Yes | Clean PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 launch date. |
| 12 | Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned | February 17, 2009 | Expansion | No | First GTA IV episode. It had its own release, but it is still an expansion, not a standalone full game. |
| 13 | Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars | March 17, 2009 | Standalone | Yes | Clean Nintendo DS debut date. |
| 14 | Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony | October 29, 2009 | Expansion | No | Second GTA IV episode. Like The Lost and Damned, it is an expansion release. |
| 15 | Grand Theft Auto V | September 17, 2013 | Standalone | Yes | Original PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 launch date. This is the plain-English answer to when GTA 5 came out. |
Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City is not counted as a new GTA game here because it repackaged two earlier GTA IV episodes into one standalone retail bundle. GTA Online is also not counted as a separate GTA game here because it launched as the online component of GTA V. Remasters, ports, and bundles are excluded for the same reason.
GTA 5 Dates
The most common date mix-up in the whole series is GTA 5 versus GTA Online. GTA V first released on September 17, 2013. GTA Online unlocked later on October 1, 2013.
Original PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 release.
Online component unlocks inside GTA V. This is not the same date as GTA V’s own launch.
PlayStation 4 and Xbox One release.
Original PC release.
PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S release.
Free PC upgrade rollout that delivered the newer Enhanced version. See the PC upgrade recap for the newer feature set.
GTA FAQs
There are 11 standalone GTA games before GTA VI. If you also count official expansion releases with the GTA name, the total becomes 15.
Not in this article. GTA Online launched as the online component of GTA V, even though it was later sold separately on newer platforms.
It was a standalone retail bundle, but not a new GTA story. It repackaged The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony.
The first GTA was the original Grand Theft Auto from 1997.
Grand Theft Auto V first released on September 17, 2013 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
The higher number counts official expansion releases. The lower number counts only standalone games.
Grand Theft Auto Advance, Liberty City Stories, Vice City Stories, and Chinatown Wars all debuted on handheld systems.
No. This article does not count remasters, ports, or compilation bundles as new GTA entries.
No. This article counts released games only, so GTA VI is not part of the released-game total yet.
