Never wanting to bang to the beat of the same drum as everyone else, Rockstar Games have always done things differently. They turned the Grand Theft Auto franchise from a top-down PS1 prodigy into a massive, 3D, open-world juggernaut that has since developed into one of the most successful videogame franchises in the history of the medium. The way Rockstar promotes its core franchises is very different too, so let’s explore why that is.
With the release date of GTA VI drawing ever-closer, many are puzzled as to why there’s been a drought of trailers and information for the biggest game release of the year. The most-recent trailer flung into view on May 6th 2025, which is 14 long months ago (at the time of writing) and far too long of a wait for more information about the game. However, Rockstar has chosen protracted drip feeds for a reason, they want to flare up the hype without giving too much away too soon.
In the modern games industry, we’re used to receiving news, trailers and gameplay footage frequently to drum up hype and ensure we’re well-informed before the release date comes around. All this information and trailer footage effectively gives away these games and their content, leaving the hype to drain away because we feel we’ve seen and experienced what the game has to offer although it may not be out yet.
Rockstar’s approach makes GTA VI valuable, as they give us morsels to analyse and pine over. We’re never overwhelmed with information by Rockstar’s games because they distribute news about their games strategically to keep the hype rolling along. They want us to savor and anticipate, but they don’t want us overfed, especially when the release date is far into the future.
There’s also no telling when a trailer will drop, which is typical of many developers and publishers, but when Rockstar drops a trailer, millions of viewers will flood YouTube just to get a whiff because Rockstar’s successful track record and the gratifying depth and nuance of their worlds are extremely difficult to ignore.
If we look back at GTA V, trailers and footage were still sparse. Back then, Rockstar were putting new games out on a yearly basis, and their release schedules were much tighter. We received our first taste of GTA V on November 2nd 2011, and another one didn’t surface until over a year later on November 14th 2012. The third trailer took less than half a year to arrive, and it did so on April 30th 2013. We can tell from these trailer release dates that Rockstar wanted us to salivate on the first trailer, and as the release date approached within the 12 month window, they gave us more trailers in a steady and gradual fashion. Character-specific trailers would follow and a big gameplay overview just before the September 17th release date.
Personally, I think Rockstar Games is the best developer in the business because their immense popularity has made them rather mysterious and unpredictable. They truly are like rockstars who decide to perform at huge venues whenever they want because they know that when they do, people won’t be able to get enough and money will swarm in like a humongous land-leveling tsunami.
GTA VI on the other hand, put out its first trailer on December 4th 2023, and the second one on May 6th 2025, indicating a far longer wait for a trailer than we’ve seen from Rockstar before. Again, the reason for this is simple, we gamers eat out of the palms of their hands, and this is ultimately why they don’t bombard us with information like so many developers choose to in the modern videogame industry.
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