The original Grand Theft Auto debuted in 1997.
DMA Design developed the game, and BMG Interactive published its first release. It launched for MS-DOS and Windows in November 1997, followed by the PlayStation version in December of that year. A Game Boy Color edition arrived later, in 1999.
The game began as Race ’n’ Chase, a police-chase project. During development, the team shifted toward letting players control criminals and explore cities freely. That change established the series’ defining combination of driving, missions, open-world movement, police pursuit, and criminal progression.
The 1997 date is sometimes confused with later milestones. Grand Theft Auto III, the major 3D breakthrough, arrived in 2001, while Grand Theft Auto II followed the original in 1999. The first game also differs from those later entries through its top-down viewpoint and three fictional cities inspired by real locations.