It might seem like a boastful name, but Rockstar Games really are rockstars in the gaming world. The developer is responsible for arguably the most important and lucrative gaming franchise of all time with the Grand Theft Auto series. While the open-world crime series is what the studio is best known for, it has dipped its toes into a wide range of genres and styles as a publisher since its first game in 1997. While the studio’s output has certainly slowed, with an over eight-year gap between Red Dead Redemption 2 and GTA 6, there’s a backlog of over 40 games in its portfolio. That’s a lot of history to digest, but it’s important to understand the entire scope before we decide which games are the best.
All Rockstar games released
Originally called DMA Design, Rockstar has been developing and publishing games since 1997 and shows no sign of stopping any time soon. Not counting any remasters or rereleases, here is every game Rockstar has developed and published. We split this list based on whether a studio with Rockstar in the name developed or co-developed the game in question.
All Rockstar-developed games
- Grand Theft Auto (1997)
- Grand Theft Auto 2 (1999)
- Wild Metal (2000)
- Grand Theft Auto 3 (2002)
- Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (2002)
- Midnight Club 2 (2003)
- Manhunt (2003)
- Red Dead Revolver (2004)
- Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2005)
- Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition (2005)
- The Warriors (2005)
- Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (2006)
- Rockstar Games Presents Table Tennis (2006)
- Bully (2006)
- Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (2006)
- Manhunt 2 (2007)
- Grand Theft Auto 4 (2008)
- Midnight Club: Los Angeles (2008)
- Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars (2009)
- Beaterator (2009)
- Red Dead Redemption (2010)
- L.A. Noire (2010)
- Max Payne 3 (2012)
- Grand Theft Auto 5 (2013)
- Red Dead Redemption 2 (2018)
All Rockstar-published games
- Monster Truck Madness 64 (1999)
- Earthworm Jim 3D (1999)
- Thrasher: Skate and Destroy (1999)
- Evel Knievel (1999)
- Austin Powers: Oh, Behave! (2000)
- Austin Powers: Welcome to My Underground Lair! (2000)
- Midnight Club: Street Racing (2000)
- Smuggler’s Run (2000)
- Surfing H3O (2000)
- Smuggler’s Run 2: Hostile Territory (2001)
- Max Payne (2001)
- Oni (2001)
- State of Emergency (2002)
- The Italian Job (2002)
- Smuggler’s Run: Warzones (2002)
- Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne (2003)
- Grand Theft Auto Advance (2004)
The best Rockstar games
For the sake of not having half this list just be different GTA games, we’re only listing one game per franchise.