Editing Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (section)

== Release and promotion ==
In October 2003, Rockstar's parent company [[Take-Two Interactive]] announced the next ''Grand Theft Auto'' game would be released in 2004's third quarter,<ref name="IGN Date"/> and it prompted speculation after registering ''GTA: San Andreas'' with the [[U.S. Patent and Trademark Office]] in December 2003.<ref name="GameSpot Patent"/> Rockstar announced the game in March 2004, along with a scheduled release date of 19 and 22 October in North America and Europe, respectively.<ref name="GameSpot Date"/> The first details and screenshots were released at [[E3 2004|E3]] in May<ref name="IGN E3"/> alongside a [[Magazine cover|cover story]] in ''[[Game Informer]]'',<ref name="IGN Cover"/> followed by the [[cover art]] in July.<ref name="GamesRadar Cover"/> Rockstar launched the official website and first trailer in August,<ref name="IGN Trailer"/><ref name="IGN Website"/> followed by the second trailer in September.<ref name="IGN Desktop"/><ref name="IGN Trailer 2"/> In September, Take-Two announced the game's delay to 26 and 29{{nbsp}}October in North America and Europe, respectively, and revealed it would be released for [[Windows]] in early 2005.<ref name="Eurogamer Delay"/> Rockstar commissioned hand-painted advertisements for ''San Andreas'' around the world in late 2004; one in [[Melbourne]] remained partially visible in 2020.<ref name="Beat Mural"/>

In October 2004, an early version of the game was leaked by hackers;<ref name="IGN Leak"/> Rockstar asserted it would "aggressively pursue this matter" and asked for information.<ref name="GamesIndustry Leak"/> The game was released for the PlayStation 2 in October 2004.<ref name="Eurogamer Delay"/> A [[special edition]] version was published for the PlayStation 2 on 8{{nbsp}}October 2005, featuring Rockstar's debut documentary film ''Sunday Driver'', about a [[lowrider]] [[car club]] in Compton.<ref name="Trilogy"/> It also included ''{{visible anchor|The Introduction|The Introduction short film}}'',<ref name="IGN Introduction"/> an in-engine video previously provided on a [[DVD]] with the game's soundtrack.<ref name="GameSpy Soundtrack"/> The 21-minute video chronicles the events leading up to ''San Andreas'', featuring CJ, Sweet, Big Smoke, Ryder, and Tenpenny.<ref name="GameSpy Introduction"/> ''[[GameSpot]]'' recommended the film for fans of the series;<ref name="GameSpot Introduction"/> ''[[IGN]]''{{'}}s Chris Carle enjoyed the voice acting but found the narrative uncompelling and felt the film alone was not worth purchasing the special edition.<ref name="IGN Introduction"/> [[Capcom]] published the game in Japan on 25{{nbsp}}January 2007.<ref name="Joystiq Japan"/><ref name="Capcom Japan"/>