In today’s world, there are three guarantees in life: death, taxes and Grand Theft Auto being a cornerstone of pop-culture and media influence.
This sentiment has become more accurate over the last 10 – arguably more than 20 years since Rockstar games released GTA 3 in 2001. Its releases of Grand Theft Auto V in 2013 and Red Dead Redemption 2 in 2018 prove the company to be a marketing powerhouse without effort. For both of their two-year-long waits from trailer to launch, GTA V only released seven trailers; RDR2 only released five; both ended with massive successes for the company.
Beyond my personal anticipation for what kinds of records its next entry will break, how Rockstar has gone/will go about promoting GTA VI remains far more intriguing to me.
Here’s 4 things about GTA VI’s reveal that show Rockstar is still a marketing giant:
- The Trailer Announcement
- Days before the world got to see the trailer, Rockstar kicked off its promotion for the game with a simple graphic of its company logo with a vibrant skyline with palm tree silhouettes teasing the game’s setting of Vice City. Without the trailer even dropping, Rockstar had shown its influence without even flexing a muscle, with this being the most liked gaming related post on X.
- The graphic was recreated several times by different video game brands, using similar color schemes and overall style to push their own announcements. Participants in this trend include Fall Guys, Halo and even Call of Duty. Brands outside of video games also hopped on this, including Sky Sports Premier League.
2. Trailer Viewership
- Shortly after a lower-quality version of the trailer leaked and was taken down, Rockstar threw in the towel and officially launched the trailer for Grand Theft Auto VI on Dec. 4, one day before it was set to release. The company posted the link to the trailer to its 19 million followers on X.
This is where the storm begins.
- The trailer broke YouTube records instantly, including the record for YouTube’s most-viewed video of all-time (non-music) with more than 93 million views in 24 hours. Right now, it sits at a total 144 million views.
For perspective, the GTA V reveal took a decade to hit 100 million views. For me, this is insane to think about in terms of Rockstar’s growth and outreach considering its already large prominence in 2011 when GTA V was revealed.
The trailer’s popularity was no surprise, but I figured the leak was going to hinder it in some way given the state of gaming; obviously this wasn’t the case.
3. Stream Boost for Tom Petty
- Since it was released, the song featured in the trailer, “Love is a Long Road” by Tom Petty spiked 37,000% in streams. Tom Petty had a history of lending his music to the developer back in GTA: San Andreas. Rockstar also honored the artist by planting a “Petty Forever” sticker in the convenience store door at the end of the trailer.
The impact music makes in general in Rockstar games was made on me personally in my time playing GTA V back in 2013 (yes I was 13 don’t judge). Listening to those radio stations over and over was a major source for me discovering my music taste, and I won’t be surprised if others will do the same when this releases.
In an interview with The New York Times, Sulinna Ong from Spotify said “This is another example of how music transcends generations, especially when introduced through the lens of culture like gaming.” I couldn’t agree more.
GTA has a history collaborating with the music industry. From Kenny Loggins DJing Los Santos Rock Radio in GTA V to when Frank Ocean blonde RADIO from Apple Music got its own station in GTAV in 2017 as part of a free update. Its appreciation for Tom Petty’s legacy bybringing a surge of popularity to the artist excites me for what they have in store for the rest of Vice City’s music library.
4. Celebrity Reactions and One Angry Tattoo Model
- Lebron James expressed his hype on Dec. 8, posting “GTA looks INSANE!!! SHEESH.”
- Timothee Chalamet gave his take on the trailer in an interview with IGN.
- Mr. Beast gave Rockstar a shoutout for breaking his record for most views on a YouTube video in 24 hours.
These are it as far as huge celebrity reactions go, but as anticipation persists, I have no doubt more will hop on the train.
- The Florida Joker also made a statement on the game. The tattoo model, who gained fame for his resemblance to the Batman villain in his mugshot, was parodied within the trailer and is now demanding payment from Rockstar.
This is especially funny to me since Rockstar had already gone through the same thing with Lindsey Lohan. She tried to sue Rockstar for using her likeness in key-art featured on the cover of GTA V. (Her case was rejected in 2018)
If Rockstar hadn’t anticipated some reaction from Lawrence Sullivan (his real name), I’d honestly be surprised. Regardless, great way to get extensive publicity that definitely won’t end in a lawsuit.
Even with the short amount of time between announcement and reveal, Rockstar has already built up more media attention that most publishers can only dream of. I find them fascinating in this aspect because they’ve always had a laid back approach to their publicity early on in their promotion cycles and still manage to have an insane amount of influence on the video game industry in addition to pop-culture as a whole.
It’s been just under two weeks since the trailer came out, but the next time we hear about this game could be as far as a year from now. (sigh) Still, it’s hard to contain my excitement for what they have in store in terms of their strategy rolling out more information.
I have a lot more to say about this games use of social media to drive its modern vision of Vice City, but I might save that for a more extensive post.
Thanks for reading,
Peyton.
