Rockstar Games will release Grand Theft Auto VI on November 19, 2026 for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, more than 13 years after Grand Theft Auto V, and it opened pre-loads on November 10. The studio is also marking the launch with a Miami Heat home game against the Milwaukee Bucks on ESPN on Wednesday, November 18 at 5 PM MST, the night before release. Check out the official post down below:
The series began in 1997 and has returned to Liberty City, Vice City and San Andreas several times, but each return rebuilt those places from scratch. Rockstar treats the games as 3 separate continuities, so the story order of the series depends on which era a game belongs to, while the release order runs straight from 1997 to the release of Grand Theft Auto VI.
Why The Series Has 3 Separate Universes
The Grand Theft Auto games are split into 3 continuities, named after the graphics technology of each era. The original Grand Theft Auto, its expansions and Grand Theft Auto 2 make up the 2D universe. Grand Theft Auto III and the games built on it make up the 3D universe. Grand Theft Auto IV, its expansions and Grand Theft Auto V make up the HD universe.
The universes share city names, brands and background characters, but their stories do not connect. The Liberty City of Grand Theft Auto III and the Liberty City of Grand Theft Auto IV are different versions of the same New York parody, and the San Andreas of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is a different state from the San Andreas of Grand Theft Auto V. Story order only applies inside each universe.
The 2D Universe
DMA Design, the Dundee studio that later became Rockstar North, released the first Grand Theft Auto in November 1997 for MS-DOS and Windows, followed by a PlayStation version in December 1997. The top-down game sent an unnamed criminal through 3 cities: Liberty City, based on New York City, San Andreas, based on San Francisco, and Vice City, based on Miami. Players progressed by earning points in the millions through missions and general mayhem.
Grand Theft Auto Mission Pack #1: London 1969 arrived in April 1999 for PC and PlayStation and moved the action to a version of London in the 1960s. A second, free PC expansion, Grand Theft Auto Mission Pack #2: London 1961, followed in July 1999. Grand Theft Auto 2 launched for PlayStation and Windows in October 1999 and left the 3 cities behind for a retrofuturistic metropolis called Anywhere City, where the player takes jobs from rival crime syndicates.
The 3D Universe In Story Order
Grand Theft Auto III moved the series into full 3D in October 2001 on PlayStation 2, and the games that followed it were set earlier in the same continuity. In story order, the 3D universe runs:
- Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (set in 1984): Ex-soldier Victor "Vic" Vance builds a criminal empire in Vice City with his brother Lance. Released on PlayStation Portable in October 2006.
- Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (set in 1986): Tommy Vercetti, voiced by Ray Liotta, rebuilds after an ambushed drug deal and takes over Vice City. Released on PlayStation 2 in October 2002.
- Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (set in 1992): Carl "CJ" Johnson returns home to Los Santos after his mother's murder and rebuilds his old street gang. Released on PlayStation 2 in October 2004.
- Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (set in 1998): Mobster Toni Cipriani rises through the Leone crime family. Released on PlayStation Portable in October 2005.
- Grand Theft Auto Advance (set in 2000): A criminal named Mike hunts for revenge after his partner's supposed death, 1 year before Grand Theft Auto III. Released on Game Boy Advance in October 2004.
- Grand Theft Auto III (set in 2001): The silent protagonist Claude pursues revenge against his ex-girlfriend across Liberty City's 3 islands.
Vic Vance appears as a minor character in Vice City before getting his own game, and Toni Cipriani first appeared in Grand Theft Auto III, which is why the 2 Stories games work as prequels. Grand Theft Auto III was delayed after the September 11 attacks so the team could change references and gameplay considered inappropriate. Vice City's map covers 2 main islands, and San Andreas spans 3 cities, Los Santos, San Fierro and Las Venturas, based on Los Angeles, San Francisco and Las Vegas, with rural land between them.
The HD Universe In Story Order
Grand Theft Auto IV reset the timeline in April 2008, and every game since has followed it. In story order, the HD universe runs:
- Grand Theft Auto IV (set in 2008): Eastern European war veteran Niko Bellic tries to escape his past in a new Liberty City with 4 boroughs across 3 islands, plus the neighboring state of Alderney, based on New Jersey.
- The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony (also 2008): 2 expansions whose new protagonists' stories interlock with Niko's. They launched on Xbox 360 on February 17, 2009 and October 29, 2009.
- Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars (set in 2009): Triad member Huang Lee tries to recover a sword his late father left him and lands in a power struggle among Liberty City's Triads. Released on Nintendo DS in March 2009 as a follow-up to Grand Theft Auto IV.
- Grand Theft Auto V (set in 2013): Michael De Santa, Franklin Clinton and Trevor Philips pull off heists in Los Santos under pressure from a corrupt government agency. Released in September 2013.
- Grand Theft Auto Online: The online component of Grand Theft Auto V, launched on October 1, 2013, where up to 30 players build criminal businesses in the same San Andreas.
The HD San Andreas has 1 major city instead of 3, though its world is much larger in area than earlier entries. Grand Theft Auto V covers Los Santos, based on Los Angeles, along with the open countryside of Blaine County, where Trevor lives. Michael, Franklin and Trevor can be switched between at almost any time outside missions, and Rockstar later released Grand Theft Auto V for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in November 2014, Windows in April 2015, and PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S in March 2022.
Release Order
In release order, the series runs Grand Theft Auto (1997), London 1969 (April 1999), London 1961 (July 1999), Grand Theft Auto 2 (1999), Grand Theft Auto III (2001), Vice City (2002), San Andreas and Grand Theft Auto Advance (both October 2004), Liberty City Stories (2005), Vice City Stories (2006), Grand Theft Auto IV (2008), The Lost and Damned (2009), Chinatown Wars (2009), The Ballad of Gay Tony (2009), Grand Theft Auto V and Grand Theft Auto Online (2013), and Grand Theft Auto VI (2026).
Where The Older Games Are Sold
Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto V page lists the game as available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC, bundled with GTA Online. Grand Theft Auto III, Vice City and San Andreas are sold together as Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - The Definitive Edition, which adds new lighting, higher resolution textures and Grand Theft Auto V-style controls, and Rockstar's page lists platform features for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, PC and Nintendo Switch. The 3 Definitive Edition games are also sold separately on Steam.
Grand Theft Auto IV is sold on Steam as Grand Theft Auto IV: The Complete Edition, which includes both expansions, and Rockstar's page also lists Xbox One. Chinatown Wars is listed on iOS, Android and Kindle devices along with its original PSP and DS releases.
Where Grand Theft Auto VI Fits
Grand Theft Auto VI follows Jason Duval and Lucia Caminos across Leonida, a fictional state based on Florida that includes a new Vice City. Rockstar's official description reads: "Jason and Lucia have always known the deck is stacked against them. But when an easy score goes wrong, they find themselves on the darkest side of the sunniest place in America, in the middle of a criminal conspiracy stretching across the state of Leonida."
Vice City has appeared as one of the 3 cities in the original game, as the 1984 setting of Vice City Stories and as the 1986 setting of Vice City. This version also splits off Vice Beach as its own city with its own police force, the way Miami Beach works in real life. Rockstar revealed the game with its first trailer in December 2023, timed to mark 25 years of Rockstar Games, and the video reached 101 million views on YouTube in 2 days. Rockstar's first trailer is still on its channel:
A second trailer followed on May 6, 2025 alongside 70 screenshots and new character and location profiles, and it drew 475 million views across platforms in its first 24 hours. Rockstar released a launch trailer on October 15, which revealed new story details laid out in this look at the Grand Theft Auto VI launch trailer. Rockstar has also promoted the game in Miami with a blimp, Burger Shot stands and a rooftop sign. Here is Trailer 2 from Rockstar's channel:
Which version of Vice City do you want Leonida's to resemble most, the 1984 city of Vice City Stories, the 1986 city of Vice City, or the original top-down map from 1997?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.