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.
Grand Theft Auto clone
Ultimately, rival developers were unable to match the reception of the "Grand Theft Auto" series. Rockstar North released "" in 2004, which featured an open world on the scale of three distinct cities. The game also allowed players to customize the player-character and vehicles, as well as compete for turf by fighting with rival gangs. The continued success of the "Grand Theft Auto" series led to successful spin-offs, including "" in 2005, "" in 2006, and the 2D "Grand Theft Auto Advance" for the Game Boy Advance handheld game console. A market analysis in early 2006 found that new games in this genre would have more difficulty than new first-person shooters or racing games, and noted that overall revenue for this genre declines during periods without a new "Grand Theft Auto" game. By 2006, developers were producing fewer games in this space, estimated at half the number seen in 2005. "Grand Theft Auto" clones for mobile phones were also released by a number of developers, most notably those from Gameloft's "Gangstar" series, the first being "" in 2006.