 Grand Theft Auto V 's central story theme is the " pursuit of the almighty dollar " . Mission content is structured around the lead characters ' efforts to plan and execute complicated heists to accrue wealth for themselves . The team decided to focus on money as the game 's central theme in response to the 2007 – 08 financial crisis ; the effects of the crisis on the main characters are the catalyst for them to conduct heist missions . Houser explained , " We wanted this post @-@ crash feeling , because it works thematically in this game about bank robbers " . The team were encouraged by the positive reaction to the " Three Leaf Clover " mission in Grand Theft Auto IV — in which an elaborate heist is coordinated and executed by the lead protagonist Niko Bellic and accomplices — to develop the story around the heists . Houser said that while the " Three Leaf Clover " mission was well @-@ received , the team had not captured the thrill of the robbery sequence to the best of their capabilities and wanted to focus on achieving that in Grand Theft Auto V. He explained , " We wanted to have a couple of really strong bank robberies ... It felt like that was a good device that we 'd never used in the past . Repeating ourselves is a fear when we 're doing games where part of the evolution is just technological " . 
