GTA VI’s first trailer was made before the game was fully formed

Remember watching that first GTA VI trailer back in December 2023? You weren't alone; it broke viewership records almost immediately. What you didn't know is that the game behind it wasn't even close to finished yet.

Remember watching that first GTA VI trailer back in December 2023? You weren’t alone; it broke viewership records almost immediately. What you didn’t know is that the game behind it wasn’t even close to finished yet.

Rockstar North’s Rob Nelson recently told French outlet TroisCouleurs that GTA VI wasn’t “fully formed” when that trailer was released.

If you’re curious how a studio reveals a game before launch without giving away a broken product, the answer here is simple: they didn’t lean on gameplay footage to carry it. They leaned on a song.

The group produced the video based on the song “Love Is a Long Road” by Tom Petty, and Nelson has highlighted that it acted as a sort of guide for the entire process.

That is to say, there is an idea of what it will look like, but putting everything together requires effort. If you take the time to watch the trailer again, you can feel the same hope and fear of the unknown reflected in the choice of music.

Now, you have been given two additional trailers, one of which is a Netflix extended look from August that lasts 27 minutes, and a clearer picture has emerged.

Vice City turned out to be twice as large as Los Santos in GTA 5, and it offers eleven times more towns to discover and a campaign that may require up to 80 hours of your time.

You’ve watched this game get delayed twice, so some doubt is fair. But Nelson and Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick have both repeatedly reaffirmed November 19, 2026, as the release date, and Take-Two’s own investor guidance is now built around it.