​GTA 6 trailer drops early after online leak, teases 2025 release date

Rockstar Games has revealed the first official trailer for Grand Theft Auto VI, a day before it was planned to be released — after it was leaked online, revealing details of the sixth game in the GTA series.

GTA VI will land more than a decade after its prequel, Rockstar teased, following 2013’s much-loved GTA V. The next game in the series will drop in 2025.

The first trailer for GTA VI was leaked online by fans ahead of its official release, prompting Rockstar to release the trailer 15 hours early. It comes almost two years after Rockstar revealed that its next game was “well underway”.

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Although there’s no mention of a PC release just yet, GTA VI is slated for release on Xbox Series X/S and Playstation 5, and will land alongside its online open-world iteration of GTA Online.

The next game is set back in Vice City - one of the three locations featured in the first GTA game in 1997, and later GTA Vice City in 2002 - a “neon-soaked” fictional version of Miami, said to be a story of “love and crime” between the main character, Lucia, who is the first playable female protagonist in an open world GTA game, and another character.

"Grand Theft Auto 6 continues our efforts to push the limits of what's possible in highly immersive, story-driven open-world experiences," says Rockstar Games’ founder, Sam Houser. "We're thrilled to be able to share this new vision with players everywhere."

The first trailer shows snippets of social media footage in-game, including live streams capturing fast cars, beaches, strip clubs, alligators, police raids, boat parties, and another in-game nightclub.

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In 2018, GTA Online’s After Hours update introduced the option to buy your own nightclub, design how it looked, and book top DJs in-game, including Solomun, Tale Of Us, Dixon and The Blessed Madonna.

In 2021, Rockstar Games linked up with Ibiza’s CircoLoco to create a new record label, CircoLoco Records. Releases so far on the label have come from the likes of Seth Troxler Kerri Chandler, Sama’ Abdulhadi, and Skream.

The trailer for GTA VI is soundtracked by Tom Petty’s song, ‘Love is a Long Road’. It’s currently unclear what music will feature in the game, although past in-game radio stations have been hosted by the likes of Arca and Rosalía, Frank Ocean, and Danny Brown, with a heavy rotation of dance music favourites featuring on the soundtrack.

Check out the trailer below.

Gemma Ross is Mixmag's Assistant Editor, follow her on Twitter