History of "Grand Theft Auto (GTA)" series viewed with a single picture

"Grand Theft Auto (GTA)"Speaking of the series, it was released in 2001"Grand Theft Auto III"Is a record-breaking hit that sells more than 8 million copies worldwide, it is a global hit series that is said to be sold more than 100 million pieces when cumulating the series, but in Japan it is still established as well as the home country America It does not seem.

Below is an infograph that summarizes the progress of the GTA series. The first generation released in PC version and PS version in 1997"Grand Theft Auto"It was released in 2009"Grand Theft Auto The Ballad of Gay Tony"We can see how the GTA evolved until the end.

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GTA has elements of strong crime and violence from the first series in the series, and since III has become a symbolic element of the series with extremely high degrees of freedom. In addition, stories are developed in the imaginary city which imaged the major cities of the United States through the series.


Since 1997, the GTA series have released 10 independent titles and 4 expansion packs. Here, the platform on which each work was released, the age restriction, the game review site"METACRITIC", The total number of sales to date, and so on are summarized.


The first work "Grand Theft Auto" was released in 1997, and there are Game Boy color version, Windows version, MS-DOS version, PS version as platform.ESRBThe age restriction by M (Must be aged by parents at the time of purchase under 17 years old), GBC version only T (parents under 13 years old must have parental consent at the time of purchase). The score is 68, the cumulative sales volume is 1 million. As expansion packs, "London 1961" and "London 1969" are on sale.


Second work"Grand Theft Auto II"It was released in 1999, corresponding to Dreamcast, Gameboy Color, Windows, PS respectively. ESRB rating is M, GBC version only T. The score was 70, and the cumulative sales volume was 2 million.


Liberty city set the stage extremely flexible open world, pushing up the GTA series to a global hit work"Grand Theft Auto III"It was released in 2001. Platform is Mac OSX, Windows, PS2, Xbox. ESRB rating is M. The score was 93 to 97 and got the highest score. The cumulative sales volume is 15 million.


Gaelicusian work of III"Grand Theft Auto Vice City"It was released in 2002. The platform is similar to III, and the rating of ESRB is also M. The score is also extremely high as 94 to 95, and the number of sales also recorded 17.5 million books exceeding III.


It was released in 2004"Grand Theft Auto Advance"It is released only by Game Boy Advance. The rating of ESRB is M, and in METACRITIC the corresponding hardware is GBA only, so it is not subject to evaluation. The number sold was 100,000.


Also released in 2004"Grand · Theft Auto · San Andreas"Was found to be able to do sex acts in the game by using Mod 's modified data called Hot Coffee (Hot Coffee)"Hot coffee problem"It also became a social problem in America as. The platform is similar to III, but due to the hot coffee problem temporarily the rating of ESRB has been raised to AO (Adult Only, prohibited purchase under the age of 18). The data is deleted later and the rate has returned to M. The score is still as high as 93 - 95, and it sold 22.5 million books.


"Grand Theft Auto Liberty City Stories"Is the title for PSP first in the GTA series released in 2005. It corresponds to PS 2 and PSP, ESRB rating is M. Although the point of correspondence to a portable machine was a new axis, dissatisfaction such as loading time is somewhat slow in the review, fewer new elements, etc. are seen in the review, the score is slightly lowering from 78 to 88. The number of sales is 10 million.


"Grand · Theft Auto · Vice City · Stories"Was released in 2006 and became the second series of PSP compatible titles. The platform corresponds to PSP and PS2. ESRB rating is M. From fine to deadly, many bugs stand out, the score is 75 to 86 and it is lower than previous work. The number sold is 5 million.


The numbering title for 7 years in 2008"Grand Theft Auto IV"Released. Platform supports PS3, Xbox 360 and HD machines and also supports Windows. ESRB rating is M. With the response of the next-generation aircraft, significant modifications have been made on the system side, the behavior of vehicles and the general public has diversified, and we are further strengthening the traditional open world. The score also increased greatly from 90 to 98, and the number of sales was 17.1 million.


Released in 2009"Grand · Theft Auto · China Town Wars"Returns to the handset again, the platform corresponds to Nintendo DS, PSP, also supports iOS. ESRB rating is M. Software for Nintendo DS became the first software of CERO Z (only for those over the age of 18). The score is 88 to 90. Due to limited platform, the number of sales is struggling to 200,000.


Released in 2009"Grand Theft Auto: Episode from Liberty City"It corresponds to PS3, Xbox 360, Windows. The rating of ESRB is M, the score is 90 to 93. Although it is highly appreciated, the number sold is 2.5 million, which is a hit work from the general number, but it is a weakness of Gaiden or somewhat less in the series.


In IV, expansion pack"Grand Theft Auto IV · The Lost and Damned"When"Grand Theft Auto The Ballad of Gay Tony"Are sold as download contents.


The Grand Theft Auto Series caused various controversies due to its extreme violence and the unique game nature that the hero performs a crime. The bereaved families of the victims of gun killing by boys said that it is the influence of GTAIII that the juvenile caused the incident, and compensation for US $ 246 million (about 26.8 billion yen) against Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. etc. GTA is also a series of games that has undergone a number of lawsuits, such as raising a lawsuit seeking or encouraging violence against immigrants in Haiti GTA: Vice City is subject to litigation.


The Grand Theft Auto series features an open world that travels freely around an extremely wide map and an event occurs in various places while walking around, but the area of ​​the map has also evolved with the times and becomes more vast .


The first GTA was a looking down type drive game. Vice City which modeled on Liberty City which was already modeled on New York from this time, San Andreas modeled on San Francisco, Miami has appeared, but at this time both are still 2D maps.


In GTAII, a Japanese place name such as "FUNABASHI (Funabashi)" will appear. Organizations such as "Zaybatsu" and "Yakuza" also appeared during the game, and it has become a work strongly conscious of Japan somehow.


Liberty City as the stage of GTAIII, and GTA: Vice City, the stage of Vice City, also appeared in the original GTA, but the 3D map reproduced with overwhelming presence is a map of the first generation It is completely different thing.


Liberty city is 6 square miles (about 15 square kilometers), New York City which became model became 303 square miles (784 square kilometers), which is about 1 / 50th the size. In addition, Vice City is 5.9 square miles and Miami City is 35 square miles (about 90 square kilometers).


GTA: In San Andreas the map scale expands and is set in San Andreas state modeled in Nevada and California states. For the city, Ross Santos, modeled on San Francisco model San Francisco, Las Vegas model Las Ventus, and Los Angeles that appears in the latest work LA Noir, will appear.


San Andreas is 13.9 square miles (about 36 square kilometers), San Francisco is 35 square miles (about 90 square kilometers).


And in GTAIV, Liberty City has been reworked significantly.


In this infograph, we use the following sites, books and magazines as information sources.