Grand Theft Auto III invents the modern open world
Liberty City goes 3D, and the industry spends two decades catching up
Quick facts
- Released
- 22 October 2001, PlayStation 2 (North America)
- Developer
- DMA Design, Edinburgh and Dundee
- Producer
- Leslie Benzies
- Sales by late 2002
- About eight million units globally (per Take-Two's 10-K)
- US fiscal 2002
- Top-selling game across all platforms, dollars and units (NPD)
- Honors
- IGN PS2 Game of the Year 2001
What happened
On 22 October 2001, Grand Theft Auto III shipped for the PlayStation 2 and turned the series' top-down sandbox into a living, three-dimensional city. IGN's review ran the same day; three weeks earlier, DMA producer Leslie Benzies had walked the press through the ambition in a pre-launch interview. The reception became a coronation: IGN named it PlayStation 2 Game of the Year for 2001, and Take-Two's next annual report recorded the aftermath in regulator-grade language: the top-selling video game across all platforms in the United States for fiscal 2002, the best-selling PlayStation 2 title in North America and Europe since the console launched, and approximately eight million units sold globally by the end of 2002.
Why it matters
This is the hinge of the whole timeline. The studio founded above a Dundee baby shop had just built the template for two decades of open-world games, and the eight-million figure was only the beginning: the series it defined is still the biggest in entertainment.
How we know
Release and reception are documented by IGN's same-day review and its PS2 Game of the Year award, both preserved by the Internet Archive; the pre-launch Benzies interview carries DMA's own contemporary voice. The sales record comes from Take-Two's fiscal 2002 annual report, citing NPDFunworld data, filed with the SEC in December 2002.
Sources
- Doug Perry, IGN. Grand Theft Auto III review (IGN, contemporary, 22 October 2001, archived) (2001) · Reputable sourceweb.archive.org · The domain "web.archive.org" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
- IGN. PS2 Game of the Year 2001 (IGN, archived) (2002) · Reputable sourceweb.archive.org · The domain "web.archive.org" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
- Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc.. Take-Two Interactive annual report (10-K) for fiscal year 2002, filed December 2002 (SEC EDGAR) (2002) · Primary source (author-declared)sec.gov · Cited as a "primary" source (no stronger domain match). · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
- IGN. An Interview With DMA's Les Benzies (IGN, contemporary, 3 October 2001, archived) (2001) · Reputable sourceweb.archive.org · The domain "web.archive.org" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link loads, but its text didn't clearly match the event's terms
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