Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
2004 video game
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is a 2004 action-adventure game developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It is the fifth main game in the Grand Theft Auto series and the seventh overall entry, following 2002's Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. Set within the fictional U.S. state of San Andreas (based on California and Nevada) in 1992, the game follows Carl "CJ" Johnson, a former gangster who returns home following his mother's murder. Finding his old street gang in decline, CJ works to rebuild it while clashing with corrupt authorities and rival criminals, and gradually uncovers the truth behind his mother's death.
The game is played from a third-person perspective and its world is navigated on foot or by vehicle. The open world design lets the player freely roam San Andreas, consisting of three major metropolitan cities: Los Santos, San Fierro, and Las Venturas, based on Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Las Vegas, respectively. Rockstar conducted on-site research in each city and consulted Los Angeles natives DJ Pooh, Estevan Oriol, and Mister Cartoon for help imitating the city's culture. The narrative is based on multiple real-life events in Los Angeles, including the Bloods and Crips street gang rivalry, the 1990s crack epidemic, the 1992 Los Angeles riots, and the Rampart scandal. The 75-person development team spent nearly two years creating the game. San Andreas was released in October 2004 for the PlayStation 2.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas” is 2004 video game. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Grand, Theft and Auto, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “2004 video game” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q83265. The Library of Congress control number is no2024046832. 2 of 8 selected statements include explicit references; 8 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2004, 2002 and 1992.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas primary sources, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas archive and Grand research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas”?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.