Rockstar will be making its long-awaited return to the gaming market next year when it releases Grand Theft Auto 6, arguably the most hotly anticipated game of all time. The larger-than-life follow-up to GTA 5 will be the developer's first full, new game since Red Dead Redemption 2 back in 2018, so expectations are accordingly high.
Which is a little weird, in a way: Rockstar hasn't actually shown audiences much of GTA 6 beyond some very flashy, well-directed cinematics. In other words, GTA 6 hype is almost entirely carried by the prestige of the IP and Rockstar's impeccable track record—something that can't be said about most developers' marketing experiences. One would think that, after infamous disasters like Cyberpunk 2077, gamers would be more discerning about big-budget, massive-hype projects that don't show all their cards, as it were. Maybe this can be explained by the wellspring of good faith that Rockstar has built up over multiple decades, but even that well could run dry if the next GTA 6 trailer doesn't draw back the curtain on the game's interactive elements.
Grand Theft Auto 6's Third Trailer Needs To Show Some Real Gameplay
So Far, Rockstar Has Only Shown GTA 6 Cinematics
After being leaked early by a hacker, the first GTA 6 trailer was officially released in late 2023, giving audiences the very first looks at Lucia, Jason, and current-gen Vice City. The trailer is slick and sexy, a brief montage of what players can expect from the Grand Theft Auto 6 experience, set against Tom Petty's Love Is a Long Road. It's a similar story with GTA 6's second trailer, released earlier this year, which has a greater focus on Jason, providing insight into his character as well as everyday life in Vice City.
And this is all great: open-world Rockstar games succeed, in large part, on the backs of their compelling settings and characters. But at the same time, it's crucial that audiences see actual gameplay of GTA 6 at some point, since its interactive aspects could be make-or-break. Put another way, it's easy to have faith in Rockstar's writing abilities; it's harder to be confident about its ability to produce compelling gameplay. GTA 5, for instance, was missing several features from GTA 4, including original Euphoria physics and more complex hand-to-hand combat. It will be important to know what Rockstar's design philosophy will be with respect to GTA 6's gameplay, and what the ratio of new to old or excluded features will be.
Luckily, Grand Theft Auto 6 Has the Perfect Blueprint for Its Third Trailer
Rockstar has a history of great gameplay showcases, even though its games aren't exactly mechanically complex. For both GTA 5 and Red Dead Redemption 2, the developer released substantive, professional gameplay trailers detailing their most salient mechanical and structural elements. These trailers were trim, cinematic showcases, encapsulations of each game's interactive bullet-points that don't sugarcoat or obfuscate the truth with artful tricks like editing or dramatic music.
The gameplay showcases also serve as preliminary literary analyses of their respective games. For instance, GTA 5's gameplay trailer touches on the bizarre hypocrisy and absurdity of West Coast US culture.
Something as simple as real-time driving or combat footage, even with the most cursory of comments overlaying it, would go a long way toward illuminating what GTA 6 will actually feel like to play. Furthermore, information about the Vice City sandbox would be crucial toward determining how GTA 6 stacks up against its predecessors. Such a gameplay showcase wouldn't just be good for consumers, either. In all likelihood, it would greatly elevate GTA 6's already-mammoth hype.
OpenCritic Reviews
- Released
- November 19, 2026
- ESRB
- Rating Pending - Likely Mature 17+
- Developer(s)
- Rockstar Games
- Publisher(s)
- Rockstar Games
