The game's development began around the time of Grand Theft Auto IV's release and was shared between many of Rockstar's studios worldwide.
The development team drew influence from many of their previous projects such as Red Dead Redemption and Max Payne 3 and designed the game around three lead protagonists to innovate on the core structure of its predecessors.
Much of the development work constituted the open world's creation, and several team members conducted field research around California to capture footage for the design team.
The game's soundtrack features an original score composed by a team of producers who collaborated over several years.
It was released in September 2013 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, in November 2014 for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and April 2015 for Microsoft Windows.
PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S versions are scheduled for release in March 2022
