Grand Theft Auto (video game)
Grand Theft Auto is an action-adventure video game developed by DMA Design and published by BMG Interactive. It was first released in Europe and North America in October 1997 for MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows. It was later re-released on 12 December 1997 in Europe and 30 June 1998 in North America for the PlayStation. It is the first instalment of the "Grand Theft Auto" series, to be followed by 1999's "Grand Theft Auto 2". The series, which has led to five main entries and several special edition games over 16 years, has sold more than 150 million units as of September 2013. The story follows a group of criminals in three fictionalised versions of US cities as they perform bank robberies, assassinations, and other illegal activities for their respective crime syndicates.
Rockstar North
DMA Design began developing a new game, "Race'n'Chase", in April 1995. The development team consisted of mostly inexperienced members, who struggled with the task until producer and creative director Gary Penn joined the project. Originally scheduled for release in late 1996, the game was ultimately released as "Grand Theft Auto" in October 1997 for Microsoft Windows, following many development issues. The game was a critical and commercial success, and ultimately spawned a successful series. Following the release of "Grand Theft Auto", DMA was bought by British publisher Gremlin Interactive for in 1997.