Rockstar Games has finally unveiled the first trailer for Grand Theft Auto 6, the highly anticipated next installment in its iconic open-world crime series. The trailer’s release was prompted by an early online leak.
The GTA 6 trailer hints at a 2025 release date and takes players back to Rockstar’s fictional Miami setting, Vice City, last seen in 2006’s GTA: Vice City Stories, and the surrounding state of Leonida.
The trailer begins with one of the game’s dual protagonists, Lucia, dressed in a prison uniform, seemingly attending a parole interview. It ends with Lucia and a partner robbing a store. In between, viewers are treated to TikTok-style footage of various illegal activities in Florida, featuring alligators, fast cars, flamingos, strip clubs, and rooftop parties. The trailer alternates between sun-kissed beaches and neon-lit streets, painting a vivid picture of the city’s hedonistic lifestyle.
Lucia is the first female protagonist in an open-world GTA game. While the original top-down GTA game, released in 1997, featured four female avatars, none of them had voices or distinct personalities.
In a press release, Rockstar Games described GTA 6 as “the biggest, most immersive evolution of the Grand Theft Auto series yet.” Sam Houser, the studio’s founder, stated, “Grand Theft Auto VI continues our efforts to push the limits of what’s possible in highly immersive, story-driven open-world experiences.”
Set to the soundtrack of Tom Petty’s “Love is a Long Road,” the trailer marks the beginning of over a year of anticipation building for the game. Originally scheduled for release on December 5, Rockstar decided to launch it 13 hours early after it was leaked on X (formerly known as Twitter), with a prominent watermark urging people to buy Bitcoin.
Previously, Rockstar faced a hack that resulted in about 90 minutes of in-progress footage of the game leaking online. Unverified clips have also surfaced on TikTok, allegedly posted by someone claiming to be the son of a Rockstar employee.
Grand Theft Auto V, the previous game in the series, has sold over 190 million copies since its release in 2013. With its online counterpart, GTA Online, it stands as the single-most profitable entertainment product of all time, raking in more than $7.7 billion (£6.3 billion) for publisher Take-Two.
