Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony

Updated 28 October 2026 · Fan site. Not affiliated with Rockstar Games or Take-Two Interactive.

The Ballad of Gay Tony is the second story expansion for Grand Theft Auto IV, made by Rockstar North. It came out on Xbox 360 on 29 October 2009 and on PS3 and Windows in April 2010 in Episodes from Liberty City. It follows Luis Lopez, bodyguard and business partner of Liberty City nightclub owner Tony Prince.

What is The Ballad of Gay Tony?

The Ballad of Gay Tony is the second add-on story for Grand Theft Auto IV, after The Lost and Damned. It takes place in the same Liberty City and at the same time as the other two stories. Where GTA IV is grim and the biker episode is gritty, this one is set in the city's nightlife and leans into big, loud action.

Who is the main character in The Ballad of Gay Tony?

The playable lead is Luis Fernando Lopez, voiced by Mario D'Leon. Luis is a Dominican-American former drug dealer. He works as bodyguard and business partner to Anthony "Gay Tony" Prince, voiced by David Kenner. Tony is a well-known club owner whose money troubles drive the plot. Complex later named him the coolest LGBT character in video games in a 2013 list.

Story

Tony runs two clubs, Maisonette 9 and Hercules. To keep them open he has borrowed heavily from the Ancelotti crime family and from Mori Kibbutz, and Luis spends much of the game working off those debts. Tony also tries to buy US$2 million worth of smuggled diamonds. The Lost ambush the deal, and the diamonds go missing. This is the same diamond plot that runs through GTA IV and The Lost and Damned.

Luis ends up working for Ray Bulgarin, a Russian crime boss who first owned the stones. Bulgarin later turns on them and grabs the diamonds during a ransom swap for Gracie Ancelotti. Mafia man Rocco Pelosi pushes Luis to kill Tony, but Luis refuses. With help from Yusuf Amir, he wrecks Bulgarin's business and kills him aboard his private jet, escaping by parachute. Luis and Tony reopen the clubs. The diamonds end up with a homeless veteran, who sells them and heads for Vice City.

What is new in The Ballad of Gay Tony?

The episode added parachutes to the GTA IV era, plus an altimeter on screen. New weapons and vehicles were added as well. Missions now give a score for each run, an idea first seen in Chinatown Wars. Scores reward special goals, but they do not block progress.

Side content is broad. There are Drug Wars, triathlon races, BASE jumps and an underground fight club. In the clubs, Luis can work the door, look after VIPs, dance, play drinking games and play air hockey. He can also play golf. Two friends, Armando and Henrique, sell him weapons and supply vehicles. New multiplayer activities were added too.

When did The Ballad of Gay Tony come out on PS3?

Episodes from Liberty City bundled both expansions and did not need a copy of GTA IV. The Windows version was ported by Rockstar Toronto.

Reception

Reviews were positive. Metacritic lists 89 out of 100 for Xbox 360 and 87 for PS3. IGN gave it 9.2 and Eurogamer 8 out of 10. It won Best DLC at the 2009 Spike Video Game Awards.

Legacy

The episode closed the GTA IV chapter. It tied together the diamond story and gave cameos to Niko Bellic and Johnny Klebitz. After it, Rockstar's next console GTA was Grand Theft Auto V in 2013, set in Los Santos.