Grand Theft Auto V

Grand Theft Auto V is a 2013 action-adventure game developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It is the seventh main entry in the Grand Theft Auto series, following 2008's Grand Theft Auto IV, and the fifteenth instalment overall. Set within the fictional state of San Andreas, based on Southern California, the single-player story follows three protagonists—retired bank robber Michael De Santa (Ned Luke), street gangster Franklin Clinton (Shawn Fonteno), and drug dealer and gunrunner Trevor Philips (Steven Ogg), and their attempts to commit heists while under pressure from a corrupt government agency and powerful criminals. Players freely roam San Andreas's open world countryside and fictional city of Los Santos, based on Los Angeles.

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Quick Facts Developer(s), Publisher(s) ...

Grand Theft Auto V
Developer(s)	Rockstar North[a]
Publisher(s)	Rockstar Games
Producer(s)	Leslie Benzies
Designer(s)	Leslie Benzies Imran Sarwar
Programmer(s)	Adam Fowler
Artist(s)	Aaron Garbut
Writer(s)	Dan Houser Rupert Humphries Michael Unsworth
Composer(s)	Tangerine Dream Woody Jackson The Alchemist Oh No
Series	Grand Theft Auto
Engine	RAGE
Platform(s)	PlayStation 3 Xbox 360 PlayStation 4 Xbox One Windows PlayStation 5 Xbox Series X/S
Release	17 September 2013 PS3, Xbox 360 17 September 2013 PS4, Xbox One 18 November 2014 Windows 14 April 2015 PS5, Xbox Series X/S 15 March 2022
Genre(s)	Action-adventure
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer

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The game world is navigated on foot and by vehicle, from either a third-person or first-person perspective. Players control the protagonists throughout single-player and switch among them, both during and outside missions. The story is centred on the heist sequences, and many missions involve shooting and driving gameplay. A "wanted" system governs the aggression of law enforcement response to players who commit crimes. In Grand Theft Auto Online, the game's online multiplayer mode, up to 30 players engage in a variety of different cooperative and competitive game modes.

Shared between many of Rockstar's studios worldwide, the game's development began around the time of Grand Theft Auto IV's release. The developers drew influence from many of their previous projects (such as Red Dead Redemption and Max Payne 3) and designed the game around three lead protagonists to innovate on the core structure of its predecessors. Much of the development work constituted the open world's creation, and several team members conducted field research around California to capture footage for the design team. The game's soundtrack features an original score composed by a team of producers who collaborated over several years. Grand Theft Auto V was released in September 2013 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, in November 2014 for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, in April 2015 for Windows, and in March 2022 for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.

Extensively marketed and widely anticipated, the game broke industry sales records and became the fastest-selling entertainment product in history, earning $800 million in its first day and $1 billion in its first three days. It received critical acclaim, with praise directed at its multiple-protagonist design, open world, presentation and gameplay. However, its depiction of violence and women caused controversies. Several gaming publications awarded the game year-end accolades including Game of the Year awards. In retrospect, it is considered one of seventh and eighth generation console gaming's most significant titles and among the best video games ever made. It is the second-best-selling video game of all time with 205 million copies shipped, and one of the most financially successful entertainment products of all time, with over $8.5 billion in worldwide revenue. Its successor, Grand Theft Auto VI, is scheduled to be released in 2025.

Grand Theft Auto V is an action-adventure game^[2] played from either a third-person^[3] or first-person perspective.^[b] Players complete missions—linear scenarios with set objectives—to progress through the story.^[5] Outside of the missions, players may freely roam the open world. Composed of the San Andreas open countryside area, and its fictional Blaine County and city of Los Santos, the world is much larger in area than earlier entries in the series.^[6][c] It may be fully explored after the game's beginning without restriction, although story progress unlocks more gameplay content.^[8]

Players use melee attacks, firearms and explosives to fight enemies,^[d] and may run, jump, swim or use vehicles to navigate the world.^[e] To accommodate the map's size, the game introduces vehicle types absent in its predecessor Grand Theft Auto IV, such as fixed-wing aircraft.^[12] In combat, auto-aim and a cover system may be used to assist against enemies.^[9] Should players take damage, their health meter will gradually regenerate to its halfway point.^[f] Players respawn at hospitals when their health depletes.^[11] If players commit crimes, law enforcement may respond as indicated by a "wanted" meter in the heads-up display (HUD).^[13] Stars displayed on the meter indicate the current wanted level (for example, at the maximum five-star level, police helicopters and SWAT teams swarm to lethally dispatch players).^[14][g] Officers will search for players who leave the wanted vicinity. The meter enters a cool-down mode and eventually recedes when players are hidden from the officers' line of sight that displays on the mini-map for a period of time.^[16][h]

In the single-player mode, players control three characters: Michael De Santa, Trevor Philips and Franklin Clinton—criminals whose stories interconnect as they complete missions. Some missions are completed with only one character and others feature two or three.^[18] Outside the missions, players may switch between characters at will by a directional compass on the HUD, although this feature is restricted at certain points during the story. During missions, characters may automatically switch to complete specific objectives. A character's compass avatar will flash red if he is in danger and needs help, and flash white if he has a strategic advantage.^[19] Though players complete missions with the protagonists, the more difficult heist missions require aid from AI-controlled accomplices with unique skill sets like computer hacking and driving. If an accomplice survives a successful heist, they take a cut from the cash reward^[20] and may be available for later missions with improvements to their unique skills.^[21] Some heists afford multiple strategies; in a holdup mission, players may either stealthily subdue civilians with an incapacitating agent or conspicuously storm the venue with guns drawn.^[22]

Each character has a set of eight skills that represent their ability in specific areas such as shooting and driving. Though skills improve through play, each character has a skill with expertise by default (e.g. Trevor's flying skill).^[23] The eighth "special" skill determines proficiency in an ability that is unique to each respective character. Michael enters bullet time in combat, Franklin slows down time while driving, and Trevor deals twice as much damage to enemies while taking half as much in combat.^[24] A meter on each character's HUD depletes when an ability is being used and regenerates when players perform skilful actions (for example, drifting in vehicles as Franklin or performing headshots as Michael).^[25]

While free-roaming the game world, players may engage in context-specific activities such as scuba diving and BASE jumping, and visit businesses such as cinemas and strip clubs. Each character has a smartphone for contacting friends, starting activities and accessing an in-game Internet.^[26] The Internet lets players trade in stocks via a stock market.^[27] Players may purchase properties such as garages and businesses, upgrade the weapons and vehicles in each character's arsenal, and customise their appearance by purchasing outfits, haircuts and tattoos.^[28]

In 2004,^[i] criminals Michael Townley, Trevor Philips, and Brad Snider partake in a failed robbery in Ludendorff, North Yankton, resulting in Michael being presumed dead. Nine years later, Michael lives with his family in the city of Los Santos under the alias Michael De Santa, having made a secret agreement with a Federal Investigation Bureau (FIB)^[j] agent, Dave Norton, to stay hidden. Across town, gangbanger Franklin Clinton works for a corrupt car salesman and meets Michael while attempting to fraudulently repossess his son's car. The two later become friends. When Michael finds his wife sleeping with her tennis coach, he and Franklin chase the coach to a mansion, which Michael heavily damages in anger. The owner of the mansion, drug lord Martin Madrazo, demands compensation, so Michael returns to a life of crime to obtain the money, enlisting Franklin as an accomplice. With the help of Michael's old friend Lester Crest, a disabled hacker, they rob a jewellery store to pay off the debt. Meanwhile, Trevor, who lives in squalor in rural Blaine County, hears of the heist and recognises Michael's work; Trevor had believed the FIB killed Michael in the Ludendorff heist. Trevor finds Michael and reunites with him, forcing the latter to reluctantly accept the former back into his life.

As time goes on, the protagonists' lives spiral out of control. Michael's criminal behaviour prompts his family to leave him. When he later becomes a movie producer, he comes into conflict with Devin Weston, a billionaire venture capitalist and corporate raider, who attempts to shut down Michael's studio. Michael thwarts his efforts and inadvertently kills his lawyer, to which Devin vows revenge. Meanwhile, Franklin has to rescue his friend Lamar Davis from rival gangbanger Harold "Stretch" Joseph, who attempts to kill him multiple times. Concurrently, Trevor tries to consolidate his control over various black markets in Blaine County, waging war against The Lost outlaw motorcycle club, Latino street gangs, rival meth dealers, the private military company Merryweather, and triad kingpin Wei Cheng.

Having broken his agreement with Dave by committing robberies again, Michael is coerced by Dave and his superior, Steve Haines, to perform a series of operations alongside Franklin and Trevor to undermine the International Affairs Agency (IAA).^[k] Under Steve's direction and with Lester's help, they attack an armored car carrying funds for the IAA and steal an experimental nerve agent from an IAA lab. As Steve comes under increasing scrutiny, he forces Michael and Franklin to break into the FIB building and erase evidence against him from the servers. Michael takes the opportunity to wipe the data on his activities, destroying Steve's leverage over him.

After reconciling with his family, Michael starts planning his final heist with Trevor, Franklin, and Lester: raiding the Union Depository's gold bullion reserve. However, Trevor discovers that Brad was not imprisoned as he was led to believe, but killed during the Ludendorff heist and buried in the grave marked for Michael. Deducing the heist was a setup and that he was supposed to be killed in Brad's place, Trevor feels betrayed and leaves Michael for dead during a shootout with Cheng's henchmen. Although Franklin rescues Michael, Trevor's anger towards the latter causes friction within the group and threatens to undermine their plans. Meanwhile, Steve attempts to arrest Michael, but they, alongside Dave, become caught in a Mexican standoff between the FIB, the IAA, and Merryweather. Steve escapes while Michael and Dave are saved by Trevor, who believes only he has the right to kill Michael.

The Union Depository heist is successful, but Franklin is afterwards approached by Steve and Dave, who contend that Trevor is a liability, and Devin, still seeking vengeance on Michael. Franklin has three options: kill Trevor, kill Michael, or attempt to save both in a suicide mission. Should Franklin choose to kill either Michael or Trevor, his relationship with the other ceases, and he returns to his old life.^[31][32] Otherwise, the trio, aided by Lamar and Lester, withstand an onslaught from the FIB and Merryweather before going on to kill Cheng, Stretch, Steve, and Devin. Michael and Trevor reconcile, and the three protagonists cease working together but remain friends.^[33]

Shawn Fonteno

Ned Luke

Steven Ogg

Fonteno, Luke, and Ogg portray the game's three protagonists, Franklin Clinton, Michael De Santa, and Trevor Philips, respectively.^[34]

Rockstar North began to develop Grand Theft Auto V in 2008, around Grand Theft Auto IV's release.^[35] The development team totalled more than 1,000 people, including Rockstar North's core team and staff from parent company Rockstar Games' studios around the world.^[36] The proprietary Rockstar Advanced Game Engine (RAGE) was overhauled for the game to improve its draw distance rendering capabilities.^[37] The Euphoria and Bullet software handle additional animation and rendering tasks.^[38] Having become familiar with the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 hardware over time, Rockstar found they were able to push the consoles' graphical capabilities further than in previous games.^[39] Analyst estimations place the game's combined development and marketing budget at more than £170 million (US$265 million), which would make it the most expensive game ever made at that time.^[40][l]

The open world was modelled on Southern California and Los Angeles,^[42] and its design and in-game render constituted much of the game's early work.^[43] Key members of the game world production team took field research trips throughout the region and documented their research with photo and video footage.^[39] Google Maps projections of Los Angeles were used by the team to help design Los Santos's road networks.^[44][45] To reflect and reproduce Los Angeles's demographic spread, the developers studied census data and watched documentaries about the city.^[37] The team considered creating the open world the most technically demanding aspect of the game's production.^[46]

A fundamental design goal from the outset was to innovate on the series' core structure by giving players control of three lead protagonists instead of one.^[43] The idea was first raised during Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas' development, but contemporaneous hardware restrictions made it infeasible.^[35] Having developed two Grand Theft Auto IV episodic expansion packs featuring new protagonists in 2009, the team wanted to base Grand Theft Auto V around three simultaneously controlled protagonists.^[12] The team viewed it as a spiritual successor to many of their previous games (such as Grand Theft Auto IV, Red Dead Redemption and Max Payne 3), and designed it to improve upon their gameplay mechanics.^[19][47] They sought to improve the action gameplay by refining the shooting mechanics and cover system^[48] and reworked the driving mechanics to correct Grand Theft Auto IV's awkward vehicle controls.^[49]

After an audition process, Ned Luke, Shawn Fonteno and Steven Ogg were selected to portray Michael, Franklin and Trevor, respectively.^[34] Their performances were mostly recorded using motion capture technology,^[50] but dialogue for scenes with characters seated in vehicles was recorded in studios instead.^[51] The game's original score was composed by a team of producers who collaborated over several years.^[52] Licensed music provided by an in-game radio is also used.^[53] The team licensed more than 241 tracks shared between fifteen radio stations, with an additional two stations providing talk radio.^[m] Some of the tracks were written specifically for the game, such as rapper and producer Flying Lotus' original work composed for the FlyLo FM radio station he hosts.^[55]

Release

Rockstar Games announced the game on 25 October 2011.^[56] They released its debut trailer one week later,^[57] with an official press release acknowledging its setting.^[58] Journalists noted the widespread industry anticipation ignited by the announcement, which they owed to the series' cultural significance.^[59][60][61] The game missed its original projected Q2 2013 release date, pushed back to 17 September to allow for further polishing.^[62] To spur pre-order game sales, Rockstar collaborated with several retail outlets to make a special edition with extra in-game features.^[63] They ran a viral marketing strategy with a website for a fictional religious cult, "The Epsilon Program", that offered users the chance to feature in the game as members of the cult.^[64]

A re-release of the game was announced for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One at E3 2014. This enhanced version features an increased draw distance, finer texture details, denser traffic, upgraded weather effects, and new wildlife and vegetation.^[65] It includes a new on-foot first-person view option, which required the development team to overhaul the animation system to accommodate first-person gameplay.^[4] The PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions were released on 18 November 2014.^[66] The PC version, initially scheduled for simultaneous release with the console versions,^[65] was delayed until 14 April 2015.^[67] According to Rockstar, it required extra development time for "polish".^[68] The PC version is capable of 60 frames per second gameplay at 4K resolution, and the Rockstar Editor lets players capture and edit gameplay videos.^[69]

Plans to develop single-player downloadable content (DLC) were later scrapped as the team focused resources on Grand Theft Auto Online and Red Dead Redemption 2.^[70] After Grand Theft Auto V's source code reportedly leaked online on 24 December 2023, possibly originating from members of Lapsus$,^[71] dataminers found at least eight sets of single-player DLC were in development but cancelled, including a Liberty City expansion.^[72]

A new version, commonly referred to as "Expanded & Enhanced", was announced in June 2020.^[73] Released on 15 March 2022 for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S,^[74] it features technical enhancements and performance updates.^[73] A trailer released for the new version in September 2021 was met with negativity, becoming one of the most-disliked videos on PlayStation's YouTube channel;^[75] journalists noted that fans were frustrated by Rockstar's continued focus on the game instead of other projects such as a new Grand Theft Auto game, as well as an lack of apparent new features demonstrated in the trailer.^{[76][77][78][79]}

The mission "By the Book", which requires players to use torture equipment in a hostage interrogation, unsettled reviewers. They noted its political commentary on the use of torture by the United States government but found the sequence to be in poor taste.^[112][119] GameSpot felt that placing the torture scene in context with an analogous monologue by Trevor created a hypocrisy in the mission's function as a commentary device.^[110] Eurogamer felt the close-up camera and quick time events accentuated the sequence's impact beyond the violence depicted in previous Grand Theft Auto games, and considered the sequence lacking enough context to justify its violence.^[196] The mission received criticism from politicians and anti-torture charity groups.^[197] Independent journalist Tom Chick defended the torture sequence, and wrote that unlike Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2's "No Russian" mission or the 2012 film Zero Dark Thirty, the underlying political commentary on torture in "By the Book" necessitated the violent content.^[30] The torture gameplay was cut from the Japanese release.^[198][199]

Several reviewers found the game's portrayal of women misogynistic;^[119][200] VG247 wrote the female characters were "either there to be rescued, shouted at, fucked, to be seen fucking, put up with, killed, heard prattling away like dullards on their mobile phones or shopping".^[201] Edge noted the game treated its all-male lead characters in a similar vein through their stereotyped tendencies towards violence.^[123] After GameSpot's Carolyn Petit claimed the game was misogynistic, her review was met with backlash as users responded with 20,000 largely negative comments on the webpage and a Change.org petition for her firing.^[202] Many journalists defended her right to an opinion and lamented the gaming community's defensiveness towards criticism.^[203][204]

Australian department stores Target and Kmart pulled the game from their stores in December 2014 after a Change.org petition against depictions of violence towards women in the game amassed over 40,000 signatures.^[205][206] Take-Two Interactive chief operating officer Strauss Zelnick publicly expressed the company's disappointment that the game had been pulled from the retailers, and affirmed that he "stand[s] behind our products, the people who create them, and the consumers who play them".^[205] IGN called the Change.org petition "misinformed", stating that its complaints about incentives for committing sexual violence in the game are untrue. Sexual violence in games is forbidden by the Australian Classification Board, meaning the game would have been refused classification.^[207] Kotaku said that the depiction of women is inherently problematic, and that Target were within their rights to refuse to stock the game and were obligated to respond to the petition's wide support.^[208]

Petit (writing for Kotaku) and scholar Ben Colliver criticised the game's depiction of transgender characters as sex workers with primarily muscular bodies, describing it as harmful transphobic stereotypes;^[209][210] Colliver wrote that the representation "does not reflect the complex, nuanced structures that often regulate transgender people's lives".^[209] The April 2022 re-release on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S removed the content from all portions of the game except Director Mode, meaning their models are accessible but without dialogue options. Some journalists recognised the removal may have been prompted by an open letter written by LGBTQ+ advocacy group Out Making Games, who requested the removal after reading Petit's article. The group praised Rockstar's decision to remove the content.^{[211][212][213]}

In October 2013, rapper Daz Dillinger issued a cease and desist letter to Rockstar Games and Take Two Interactive for allegedly using two of his songs without authorisation.^[214][p] In February 2014, television personality Karen Gravano of the reality television programme Mob Wives filed suit against Rockstar Games in allegation that a character in the game is based on her likeness and story and was depicted without her consent.^[215][q] Rockstar filed to dismiss Gravano's lawsuit in April, and stated that the allegations are foreclosed by the First Amendment.^[216] In July, actress Lindsay Lohan filed a lawsuit, claiming elements in the game, including the Lacey Jonas character, were influenced by her image, voice and clothing line without permission.^[217] Rockstar responded in court papers that sought a dismissal of the case, saying that the case was frivolous and filed for publicity purposes.^[218] In 2016, both lawsuits were dismissed.^[219]

Within 24 hours of its release, Grand Theft Auto V generated more than US$815 million in worldwide revenue, equating to approximately 11.21 million copies sold for Take-Two Interactive.^[220][r] The numbers nearly doubled analysts' expectations for the title.^[222][223] Three days after its release, the game had surpassed one billion dollars in sales, making it the fastest-selling entertainment product in history.^[224][s] Six weeks after its release, Rockstar had shipped nearly 29 million copies of the game to retailers, exceeding the lifetime figures of Grand Theft Auto IV.^[226] On 7 October 2013, the game became the best-selling digital release on PlayStation Store for PlayStation 3, breaking the previous record set by The Last of Us, though numerical sales figures were not disclosed.^[227][228] It broke seven Guinness World Records on 8 October: best-selling video game in 24 hours, best-selling action-adventure video game in 24 hours, highest-grossing video game in 24 hours, fastest entertainment property to gross US$1 billion, fastest video game to gross US$1 billion, highest revenue generated by an entertainment product in 24 hours, and most viewed trailer for an action-adventure video game.^[2]

A digital version was released on 18 October for the Xbox 360,^[229] which went on to become the highest-grossing day-one and week-one release on Xbox Live.^[230] By May 2014, the game had generated nearly US$1.98 billion in revenue.^[231] As of August 2014, the game had sold-in over 34 million units to retailers for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.^[232] By December 2014, the game had shipped 45 million copies, including 10 million copies of the re-released version.^[233] By April 2018, MarketWatch reported the game had generated about $6 billion and was the most profitable entertainment product of all time;^[234][235] it had nearly sold around 100 million copies by July 2018,^[236] and by July 2021, it had shipped over 150 million copies.^[237] By late 2023, Barron's reported the game's lifetime revenue figures had increased to $8.5 billion, consistently generating over $500 million annually with about 22 million monthly active players;^[238] by September 2024, the game had shipped 205 million copies worldwide across all platforms.^[239] More copies were sold in 2020 than any other year since the game's launch in 2013.^[240]

In the United Kingdom, the game became the all-time fastest-selling game, selling more than 2.25 million copies in five days. This broke the record set by Call of Duty: Black Ops at two million copies over the same period. It broke the day one record by selling 1.57 million copies and generating £65 million.^[241] In two weeks, the game sold more than 2.6 million copies and generated £90 million, which accounted for 52% of games sold in September 2013.^[242] After three weeks on sale, it beat Grand Theft Auto IV's lifetime sales in the United Kingdom.^[243] In its fourth week, it became the fastest-selling title to break the three million barrier in the UK, thus overtaking Black Ops II's lifetime sales.^[244] In November 2014, the game became the best-selling game of all time in the UK, overtaking Black Ops.^[245] The game was similarly successful in North America: it was the best selling game in September, representing over 50% of software sales^[246] and boosting overall software sales by 52% compared to September 2012.^[247]

Critics agreed that Grand Theft Auto V was among seventh-generation console gaming's best^[27] and a great closing title before the eighth generation's emergence.^[248][249] Polygon observed that the game would "bridge between games' present and the future", and declared it "the closure of this generation, and the benchmark for the next".^[119] VideoGamer.com considered it "the ultimate swansong for this console cycle" that would "cast a long shadow over the next".^[250] Three days after its release, the game ranked second on IGN''s "Top 25 Xbox 360 Games" list. They considered that the open world's scale and detail succeeded the majority of other Xbox 360 games. They called the game "a triumph both for gamers and for the medium itself, and it deserves its runaway success".^[251] In November 2013, Hardcore Gamer placed the game third on their "Top 100 Games of the Generation" list. They cited its improved shooting and driving mechanics over its predecessors, and considered the multiple protagonist design "a welcome change of pace" that could become an eighth-generation gaming benchmark.^[252] In December, The Daily Telegraph listed the game among their "50 best games of the console generation". They called it a "cultural behemoth" that "will be Rockstar's lasting legacy".^[253]

In January 2014, Computer and Video Games ranked the game fourth on their "Games of the Generation" list. They said that for the first time, Rockstar created an "utterly beautiful" open world. They found that the game did away with Grand Theft Auto IV's repetitive mission design and focused instead on fun gameplay.^[254] In May, IGN ranked it eighth on their "Top 100 Games of a Generation" list and called it a "huge, raucous, and wildly ambitious bridge towards the [eighth] generation of console gaming".^[255] The next month, it placed third on IGN's "Games of a Generation: Your Top 100" list as voted by the site's readers.^[256] In August, Game Informer ranked it third on their "Top 10 Action Games Of The Generation" list. They compared the game's quality to that of its predecessor but thought that its ensemble character set-up, varied missions and multiplayer superseded Grand Theft Auto IV's placement on the list. They wrote of the story's absurd drama and the open world's vastness, and did not "regret a single second" spent playing the game.^[257] In November, Edge named it the fifth-best game of its generation and commented that "no other game studio is even daring to attempt an open world game in its tradition because there is simply no possibility of measuring up to [its] standards."^[258] In 2015, the publication rated it the second-greatest video game of all time.^[259] The game ranked high on several best game lists determined by the public; it featured eighth on Empire's "100 Greatest Video Games Of All Time" list, and fifth on Good Game's "Top 100 Games" list, as voted by the magazine and programme's respective audiences.^[260][261] It was the most tweeted game of 2015, despite being released over a year earlier.^[262]

Development of Grand Theft Auto VI was confirmed by Rockstar in February 2022;^[263] the game was formally revealed in December 2023 and is currently scheduled to be released in 2025.^[264]