Official Grand Theft Auto 6 Trailer Filled With Hints Drops Early With Launch Details

Nighttime shot of cars on a street from the official Grand Theft Auto VI trailer.
Rockstar Games wasn't planning to unveil its highly anticipated first trailer for Grand Theft Auto VI, the next major installment in one of the most popular game franchises of all time, until Tuesday, December 5. Rather than wait, however, Rockstar has released the trailer a day early in response to a now-banned X (formerly Twitter) account beating the publisher to the punch.

"Our trailer has leaked so please watch the real thing on YouTube," Rockstar Games posted on Monday evening. And just like that, one of the most hyped unveils of year (if not longer) became official, and with it some clues about what to expect in GTA 6.

Here's the official trailer...


Barring a massive fake out from Rockstar Games, GTA 6 will take players back to Vice City, a fictitious location based on the actual city of Miami, Florida. It's a familiar setting filled with sunny skies, palm trees, beaches and beach goers, a thriving nightlife, and a giant VICE sign that's revealed at the 40-second mark in the trailer.

Lest anyone is still not convinced, bayous and alligators abound in parts of the trailer. And incidentally, the soundtrack that blares through the one-and-a-half-minute teaser is "Love Is A Long Road" by Tom Petty, who was born in Florida (Gainesville, though, not Miami or Vice City). Coincidence? Not likely (keep reading).

The trailer is heavy on faux social media clips in the style of TikTok videos and livestreaming feeds. Plenty of criminal acts are shown or teased throughout the course of the relatively short trailer too, including armed robbery, police chases, and "dirt bags" on dirt bikes "terrorizing Vice City," as a news banner reads (which flat out confirms the setting, hints be damned). Rockstar also confirms this in a press release.

"Grand Theft Auto VI heads to the state of Leonida, home to the neon-soaked streets of Vice City and beyond in the biggest, most immersive evolution of the Grand Theft Auto series yet," Rockstar Games states.

Lucia and her boyfriend walking out of a liquor store with cash in hand and bandanas over their faces.

Rockstar's introductory GTA 6 trailer also confirms that the game will feature the franchise's first female protagonist as part of a Bonnie and Clyde crime spree, as was previously speculated via leaks and rumors. Her name is Lucia and we get a glimpse of her and her assumed boyfriend walking out of a liquor store with cash in hand and bandanas covering their faces. It wraps up by showing the duo seemingly ready to celebrate by being intimate in a hotel room.

The final screen shows the GTA 6 logo with the caption, "Coming 2025," so there's your open-ended release date There's no precise release date mentioned, but at least now we have a rough estimate. The other big question is, will Rockstar release a PC build at the same time as console? That's up for interpretation.

In the press release, Rockstar says, "Grand Theft Auto VI is coming to PlayStation 5 computer entertainment systems and Xbox Series X|S games and entertainment systems in 2025." Optimistically, the second mention of "entertainment systems" could include PC, though realistically it feels like a long shot at best.

Update: This article was updated with details from the press release.