Starting in January, students at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville can take an American history class focused on the Grand Theft Auto series. The course was reportedly planned to include GTA 6 before it was delayed to May 26, 2026.
IGN spoke with history professor Tore Olsson about the class that’s officially called Grand Theft America: US History Since 1980 through the GTA Video Games. The teacher discussed how popular video games can mold our real-world views, like Ghost of Tsushima with feudal Japan. With that in mind, “the class is much more about American history than the games themselves, but GTA provides the framework that structures our exploration of the past,” Olsson said. “My hope is that after the class, students will never look at these games, or modern America, the same again.”
Olsson is “perhaps most excited to use San Andreas” as a teaching tool from the GTA series, as it’s set in a fictional Los Angeles. “It’s probably obvious to many that this drama is an allusion to the LA Riots of April and May 1992, one of the most significant turning points in contemporary U.S. history, but also one that is widely misunderstood,” the professor said. “Explaining the origins and meaning of this violent convulsion is a key goal of my class.”
All of that said, actually playing the GTA games isn’t required for the history course. Olsson doesn’t want to put that financial burden on students and instead will showcase gameplay during classtime. The professor also believes this college course is the first of its kind, with only Wilfred Laurier University in Canada offering a GTA-related class before (though not history-focused).
This isn’t Olsson’s first time utilizing a popular game franchise for a history class. In fact, the professor used the Red Dead Redemption series to tackle US history between 1899-1911 previously.
Looking ahead, Rockstar believes GTA 6 will have the “largest game launch in history,” which isn’t far-fetched. In fact, last year, Circana analyst Mat Piscatella noted GTA 6 could be the most important release ever for the game industry overall. For more, check out everything we know about GTA 6.