On September 17, 2013, Rockstar Games released Grand Theft Auto V, a cultural juggernaut that permanently altered the economic gravity of the entertainment industry. Squeezing unprecedented systemic density and visual fidelity out of the twilight years of the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, the fictional metropolis of Los Santos set a new benchmark for open-world design. Its true disruption, however, was financial: grossing $800 million in its first 24 hours, GTA V eclipsed Hollywood blockbusters and cemented interactive media as the premier entertainment force of the 21st century. Through the persistent online ecosystem that followed, Rockstar engineered the modern live-service blueprint, turning a single software release into a multi-billion-dollar digital economy that has seamlessly spanned three hardware generations.