Rockstar Games released the first trailer for Grand Theft Auto 6 on Monday — earlier than expected — officially revealing the next entry in the open-world crime franchise after years of anticipation. GTA 6 is the first brand-new Grand Theft Auto game in more than a decade, and expectations are high — GTA 6’s predecessor, Grand Theft Auto 5, has sold more than 190 million copies since its debut in 2013.
GTA 6’s debut trailer, set to Tom Petty’s “Love Is A Long Road,” shows off its dual protagonists Jason and Lucia chasing a different style of American dream in Vice City — the Grand Theft Auto version of Miami, Florida — and locations beyond. Vice City is a location familiar to GTA fans, but it looks radically different in GTA 6; this time, players will commit heists, hijackings, and hijinks in a modern-day context, not the stylized 1980s version of Vice City explored in two previous Grand Theft Auto games.
Grand Theft Auto VI takes the concept of extreme to new heights, vividly magnifying the nuances of American consumer culture in its breathtaking gameplay. Amidst the chaos, the trailer offers fleeting moments of mesmerizing detail, where even NPCs, like the hot lady in the white Louis Vuitton-styled bikini, become captivating symbols of the game’s meticulously crafted world!
In those brief seconds, it’s impossible not to personally fall in love with the sheer beauty and attention to detail that Rockstar Games has infused into every frame of GTA VI.
The new Grand Theft Auto is decidedly contemporary; there’s a strong TikTok and Instagram Live presentation throughout the trailer, but it’s unclear how that element could work its way into gameplay. Rockstar shows off plenty of street-level chaos throughout, and varied locations and aesthetics, including what appears to be newscasts, security camera footage, and police body cam video.
In addition to first official gameplay footage, the debut trailer for Grand Theft Auto 6 also includes a release date/window for the game: 2025. Rockstar did not reveal which platforms Grand Theft Auto 6 is coming to, however.
Rockstar originally planned to release the first trailer for Grand Theft Auto 6 on Tuesday, but footage of the trailer leaked early, leading to its early release.
GTA 6 will be the first GTA game that Sam Houser releases without his brother and Rockstar co-founder, Dan Houser. Dan often wrote the scripts for Rockstar games as well as producing them, and he has a writing credit on every GTA as far back as 1999’s GTA: London 1969 and GTA 2. He left Rockstar in March 2020.
