Rockstar trailer drop confirms Grand Theft Auto VI is launching in 2025

Rockstar dropped the trailer for Grand Theft Auto VI ahead of schedule to counter a leak and confirmed the title will launch on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X | S in 2025.

The trailer was slated to debut at 9 am ET on December 5 and was billed as one of the biggest video game announcements of the year (and arguably, the decade).

Instead, Rockstar published the trailer at around midnight on December 4 and confirmed it had leaked online. "Our trailer has leaked so please watch the real thing on YouTube," said the studio on X, formerly Twitter, around 10 hours ago.

The trailer itself showcases the state of Leonida, home to the white beaches and neon streets of Vice City. It also introduces what many are assuming is new series protagonist Lucia, who's seemingly had more than a few altercations with the law.

Commenting on the trailer, Rockstar Games founder Sam Houser said GTA VI represents a "new vision" for the franchise. "Grand Theft Auto VI continues our efforts to push the limits of what's possible in highly immersive, story-driven open-world experiences," he added in a press release.

Veering into pure speculation territory for a second, a couple of things stood out about the trailer. The first is the repeated inclusion of a TikTok-meets-Instagram style video platform that has us wondering if Rockstar is going to bake a social media experience into the title itself.

The second is simply how dense the open world itself appears. The brief glimpses on show indicate Rockstar will lean on next-generation hardware to pack more NPCs into its myriad of environments than ever before.

GTA history

Grand Theft Auto has become one of the most successful franchises in video game history, with GTA V selling over 190 million units in around a decade.

That title, the last main entry in the series, launched in September 2013 for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 but has leaped across hardware generations to stay relevant. It remains a huge earner for Rockstar parent company Take-Two Interactive, thanks in no small part to the continued success of multiplayer mode GTA Online.

Take-Two has seemingly been teasing the launch of GTA VI for some time, and in May this year said it expects to deliver over $8 billion in net bookings across FY2025 (March 2024/March 2025). That has some believing GTA VI will launch during that 12-month window, which Take-Two has described as a "a highly anticipated year for our company."