Grand Theft Auto: every game and controversy explained

The trailer for Grand Theft Auto 6 is everywhere this week, the first game in the smash hit crime series in more than a decade. From its crude beginnings to its multiplayer mayhem, we look back at past releases - and the outrage that greeted them

GTA is a series of crime-drama video games set in fictionalised cities (mostly) around the US. In each game, the player takes on the role of a criminal (or criminals) navigating the violent underworld of modern America, stealing cars and carrying out missions and heists for a range of shadowy kingpins. The later games in particular are home to vast, freely explorable cities or states and, outside of missions, players are free to do whatever they want, whether that's exploring the countryside on a bike or taking on side jobs for car thieves, drug smugglers or corrupt politicians.

The original Grand Theft Auto was designed by a Dundee-based studio, DMA Design, which also produced the famed platforming series Lemmings. At the time, the game was an unloved project and publisher BMG Interactive almost canned it several times. Now it is one of the most successful franchises in existance, created by developer Rockstar's studios across the world, and led from Edinburgh by Rockstar North.