a team of approximately 1,000 people developed "grand theft auto v", an action-adventure video game, over several years. rockstar games released the game in september 2013 for playstation 3 and xbox 360, in november 2014 for playstation 4 and xbox one, and in april 2015 for microsoft windows, as the fifteenth entry in the "grand theft auto" series. development began soon after "grand theft auto iv"s release and was led by rockstar north's core 360-person team, who collaborated with several other international rockstar games studios. the team considered the game a spiritual successor to many of their previous projects like "red dead redemption" and "max payne 3". after its unexpected announcement in 2011, the game was fervently promoted with press showings, cinematic trailers, viral marketing strategies and special editions. its release date, though subject to several delays, was widely anticipated.