Fact Check: Did the Grove Street Families exist in GTA 5?

Grove Street Families did exist in GTA 5, but there's more to it than players might think. If players ever visit Grove Street in the game to relive the memories of GTA San Andreas, they will find the place filled with Ballas gang members.

Although fans know that every GTA game tells a different story than its predecessor, many of them go in hoping they will find some kind of connection to previous entries in the franchise. This is especially true when it comes to familiar locations.

So it is a bittersweet feeling when players see Ballas gang members roaming around Grove Street, a place players once called home in San Andreas. It was where CJ, the game's main protagonist lived.

This article will provide players with more information about the existence of Grove Street Families in Grand Theft Auto 5.

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What happened to the Grove Street Families in GTA 5?

Along with the famed Vinewood Boulevard, Grove Street is one of the few named streets that have been carried over from Los Santos.

However, a street gang known as The Families included a gang known as the Grove Street Families, which was named after a street in Davis rather than the one in Ganton from San Andreas. The gang set was active in the 1990s and disintegrated by 2013.

In Grand Theft Auto 5, Grove Street's former presence in the 3D Universe (in San Andreas) is mentioned.

According to Franklin and Lamar, most of the Grove Street Families' OGs are either dead or have moved on with their lives, possibly becoming wealthy and living out the rest of their lives in some kind of suburb.

Grove Street has a famous and almost mythological reputation among certain Los Santos inhabitants, including Jimmy De Santa. Franklin mentions "events in the nineties," alluding to it while hanging out with Jimmy. Ballas members can also be heard saying:

"The Families were booted out centuries ago."

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Tale of two GTA universes

The timeline of each Grand Theft Auto universe is designed to be completely separate from each other so that no physically appearing characters or storylines overlap, as confirmed by Rockstar Games several times. As a result, the events of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, which is set in the 3D Universe, have never happened in the timeline of Grand Theft Auto 5.

Apart from in-game radio station personalities and celebrities, characters from GTA San Andreas have never been in Grand Theft Auto 5's canon, and past universe characters are viewed as "mythical individuals from a bygone period," according to former Rockstar Games VP Dan Houser.

All of this means that Grove Street Families did exist in Grand Theft Auto 5, but they were not the ones that players met during Grand Theft Auto San Andreas. Then again, players might wonder why there are so many references to Grand Theft Auto San Andreas when these two games are in a separate universe. Well, they might either be just standalone references for the fans or could even be something deeper that players don't know about yet.

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