Grand Theft Auto 4

Grand Theft Auto IV, Grand Theft Auto 4, GTA 4 or GTA IV is the sixth mainline installment in the Grand Theft Auto franchise and the fourth numbered title in the series. It was released in 2008 by Rockstar North and it was published by Rockstar Games.

Release and Platform

GTA IV was initially released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on April 29, 2008 before getting a PC port on December 2, 2008. It was one of the most expensive video games ever made at the time of its release with a budget of over US$100 million ¹. However, it also set a then-record US$310 million in its first day and US$500 million in its first week ², which was later broken by its successor, Grand Theft Auto 5.

Narrative

GTA 4 is set in Liberty City, a fictional city inspired by New York City in real life, with a single-player story revolving around Niko Bellic, an Eastern European war veteran.

Expansions

Aside from the base game, GTA 4 received two expansion packs that expanded on the post-story content, The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony.

Trivia

• Grand Theft Auto 4 is the first GTA title to be developed using Rockstar Games' priorietary game engine, RAGE.
• Grand Theft Auto 4 is the only mainline title in the franchise that has not been re-released for modern platforms.