The first trailer for the next Grand Theft Auto game will be released this week, giving fans a first official look at arguably the most anticipated game of the past decade.
It is rare to see such a level of hype around a mere trailer, but this game is a very long time in the making. GTA 6 will be the first mainline GTA game since the extremely popular GTA V way back in 2013 – the second-best-selling video game of all time with more than 185 million copies sold.
Rockstar Games’ GTA franchise is the fifth-highest selling of all time, behind only Nintendo’s Mario and Pokémon, Activision’s Call of Duty, and Tetris.
When will the GTA 6 trailer be released?
The trailer will be revealed on Tuesday 5 December at 2pm GMT.
Expect it to be published to the official Rockstar Games YouTube channel, as well as its social channels.
Rockstar announced last month that it would be sharing the trailer in early December, and confirmed the date in a post on X – formerly Twitter – on 1 December.
The post, which shows the silhouettes of four palm trees and three seagulls in front of a sunset backdrop, has been viewed more than 150 million times.
“We are very excited to let you know that in early December, we will release the first trailer for the next Grand Theft Auto,” Rockstar said in a statement last month. “We look forward to many more years of sharing these experiences with all of you.”
The statement continued: “Thanks to the incredible support of our players worldwide, we have had the opportunity to create games we are truly passionate about – without you, none of this would be possible, and we are so grateful to all of you for sharing this journey with us.
“In 1998, Rockstar Games was founded on the idea that video games could come to be as essential to culture as any other form of entertainment, and we hope that we have created games you love in our efforts to be part of that evolution.”
When will the game come out?
Rockstar confirmed the existence of GTA 6 in a press release last year, saying development was “well under way”.
It has yet to announce a release window, though it is expected to come out between April 2024 and March 2025.
This is based on information from a recent investors call at Take-Two Interactive – the company that owns Rockstar.
As PCGames reports, its chief financial officer said during the call: “We are positioning our business for a significant inflection point in fiscal 2025 that will culminate in us delivering new record levels of operating performance next year and beyond.”
This suggests GTA 6 will be released during this financial period, with insiders believing it is likely to be towards the latter end of the window.
Noted GTA leaker Tez2 has said Rockstar’s “aimed-always-changing-not-set-in-stone deadline is holiday 2024” but that development has repeatedly been pushed back, meaning the game may end up being released in 2025.
What do we know about the game so far?
Rockstar has not released any details about the game. However, there was a significant leak last year that saw 53 minutes and 26 seconds worth of test footage uploaded online that resulted in the leaker being arrested.
The leak included some early gameplay footage and animation tests. It appeared to confirm a rumour that GTA 6 will include a playable female character for the first time in the series’ history. There will also be a playable male character, and they are rumoured to be named Jason and Lucia.
It also shared that the game will be set in a fictionalised version of Miami, Florida – as GTA: Vice City was in 2002.
The hacker claimed to have gained access to the data by breaching Rockstar’s internal feed on the Slack messaging app, before attempting to negotiate with executives to avoid further leaks.
After the leak, Rockstar said it was “extremely disappointed to have any details of our next game shared with you all in this way”.
The developer added: “Our work on the next Grand Theft Auto game will continue as planned and we remain as committed as ever to delivering an experience to you, our players, that truly exceeds your expectations.”