GTA: 30 Years of Graphics Evolution Before GTA 6
GTA 6 launches next month and the series turns 30 in 2027: Journal du Gamer traces its graphical evolution, from 1997 to GTA III.
Image: Source : Journal du Gamer
GTA 6 arrives next month on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, 13 years after GTA 5, and the series turns 30 in 2027. According to Journal du Gamer, which traces the saga's graphical evolution, the first game came out in October 1997 on PC and PlayStation.
A makeshift start in 1997
Per Journal du Gamer, Rockstar Games did not exist yet: BMG Interactive and DMA Design made the first game. BMG Interactive was then bought by Take-Two Interactive and became Rockstar Games; in 2002, Take-Two also bought DMA Design, which became Rockstar North.
The game ran on an in-house engine mixing 2D and 3D, a CPU rasterizer built by Mike Dailly and his colleagues. The world is a 3D mesh seen from above through a fixed camera, while vehicles and pedestrians are 2D sprites that scale with depth.
GTA 2: a rounder future
In September 1999, Grand Theft Auto 2 is set in 2013, the outlet says. Its visuals are less blocky, rounder and a little more detailed, but the engine stays the same, with a few upgrades. The outlet notes it is "not night and day".
GTA III, the first revolution
October 2001 brings the move to PlayStation 2 and a fully 3D game with Grand Theft Auto III. Rockstar and DMA Design adopt the RenderWare engine, developed by Criterion Software, which allows better graphics and deeper gameplay. Liberty City, inspired by New York, feels more real than ever, according to Journal du Gamer.
And where does GTA 6 fit?
The excerpt we read stops at GTA III: later games' evolution is not detailed there. Journal du Gamer presents GTA 6 as a game promising to be extremely beautiful, detailed and realistic, but only the launch will tell. Browse our GTA 6 news and the game encyclopedia, and follow GTA 6 Universe on X.