Grand Theft Auto IV was released by Rockstar Games in 2008 and made the in-game mobile phone a central part of missions, contacts and side activities. Because players heard the text alert so often, the tone spread outside the game as an actual phone ringtone and later as a meme sound on social media and in video edits. It remains popular with GTA fans alongside the GTA V notification, as both instantly signal an in-game message arriving without needing any dialogue or on-screen text to set up the reference for viewers.