All the events surrounding GTA VI, explained: marketing strategy, controversies, and reactions

GTA VI has been a trending topic in recent days, mainly because of the controversies surrounding it since Rockstar confirmed that the game’s release would be delayed by a year (it had originally been slated for 2025). Although we can assume that the major, highly secretive marketing campaign that has started to come to light in recent weeks is also playing a role. A launch that comes 13 years after GTA V was released. Ouch, that one hurts.

Let us take a look at the mistakes and wins tied to Rockstar Games’ new title, as well as the controversies surrounding its launch.

GTA VI’s marketing campaign

Rockstar Games has always had a strong taste for hype. In the case of GTA V, it announced the game in 2011 (two years before launch) by updating its website to show the first icon for the game; the trailer arrived a week later.

The official announcement that GTA VI was in development came in 2022 (although everyone already knew), and just a few months later there was already the first leak showing the game’s mechanics in its alpha phase. The trailer did not arrive until December 2023, timed to coincide with the company’s 25th anniversary. A trailer that also leaked just hours before its official release, prompting Rockstar to publish it that very night. After that, we heard nothing else until the company confirmed that the launch had been pushed back to November 19, 2026.

The next controversy came in mid-2026, when the price was made public: the standard edition at $79.99 and the extended edition at $99.99. However, fans of the franchise were not upset only because of the price tag (which had gone up by €20 compared to GTA V’s launch price), but because that price was for the digital version only. This time, Grand Theft Auto VI will not include a physical disc in its boxed editions, only a code. The community responded instantly:

A nice box to store air in. You can always buy a frame at IKEA and put it inside.

— 0mi (@0mi0K0S0) June 24, 2026

Although Rockstar did not explain why it made that decision, we can understand that what it wants to protect is the game itself and to avoid leaks. Producing physical discs means making millions of copies of the game, which makes the entire process riskier.

Still, nostalgia wins here. We all fondly remember the excitement of opening a game for the first time, seeing the box, the disc, the instruction manual with special cheats… Today, all of that has been lost. Not because of Rockstar, which may simply have been the last straw, but because now games are downloaded from app stores directly onto your console or computer. Just as happens with Steam, Epic Games, PlayStation, Nintendo, or even Amazon Luna. And that is exactly what the public is complaining about: they feel the games are not really theirs, even if they have paid for them.

Even if the industry is changing, not speaking up about this was, in my view, a mistake on the company’s part.

In any case, it has now been confirmed that there will be a physical version, just not on launch day. According to this Polish outlet, a physical version of the game will be available later, allowing users to run GTA VI without needing an access key tied to their PlayStation or Xbox account.

Still, we will have to wait and see what happens. Let us continue with the analysis.

The trailer announcement on Netflix

In a move that many did not see coming, Rockstar announced that the extended version of the latest trailer for the video game would premiere exclusively on Netflix. Once it premiered, content creators would be able to share their reactions on social media. Six hours later, it would be released for free on YouTube.

In other words, if you did not want to wait and wanted the full experience of watching it in high quality, rather than with a content creator’s face reacting on top of it, you absolutely had to be subscribed to Netflix. Another mistake on the company’s part, at least for the audience that has been waiting years for this game to arrive. As a marketing strategy, it is flawless, and the biggest winner here is the streaming platform, since it drives subscriptions, gets millions of users on the platform at the same time, and secures a place in the public’s mind (because everyone will remember that the latest GTA VI trailer premiered on Netflix rather than on YouTube, as had always happened before).

In Spain, several creators reacted live, including Illo Juan and Rubius.

GTA VI leaks and Rockstar responds

While the public was focused on criticizing Rockstar for releasing the trailer on Netflix instead of YouTube, something else was happening: one of the biggest video game leaks ever. A user named Cyberleek began posting clips from the game over several days, showing some of the mechanics and locations that will appear in it.

This left many users unhappy with the game and triggered a wave of comments on social media. Until Rockstar issued a statement on its X account: “To say that having Grand Theft Auto VI gameplay videos leaked in this way has been heartbreaking for our team would be an understatement, and it is clear this was not how we intended people to see the game after all this time.”

There are some people who think that the hack was also part of the company’s marketing strategy, while others simply chose to make memes about it:

-Why is GTA VI not launching on PC alongside consoles?
-So nothing leaks.
-And why is it not coming out physically?
-So nothing leaks.
-And how is that working out for them?
-…

— Mireda Producciones (@MiredaProds) August 24, 2026

For now, there is still a long road ahead before the game officially comes to light on November 19. So do not be surprised if we have to update this article again in a few months.

Given that the official launch is happening right in the middle of peak season… how many people will take advantage of Black Friday and Cyber Monday to buy the video game for the holiday season?