'GTA 6' trailer early drop: A timeline of the chaos

What impelled Rockstar to drop the trailer early?
 By 
Kimberly Gedeon
 on 
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GTA 6 screenshot
A timeline of the 'GTA 6' early trailer drop fiasco Credit: Rockstar Games

The GTA 6 trailer dropped earlier than expected, but what, exactly, impelled Rockstar Games to release it ahead of schedule?

Here is a timeline of events, thanks, in part, to Tom Warren from The Verge.

Timeline of the 'GTA 6' trailer drama

  • On Nov. 8, the president of Rockstar Games, Sam Houser, tweeted that GTA 6, one of the most highly anticipated games ever, would tease gamers with a trailer in "early December."

  • On Dec. 1, Rockstar Games got more specific with GTA 6's trailer release date, announcing that it will debut on Tuesday, Dec. 5 at 9 a.m. ET.

  • When the YouTube URL went live on Dec. 4, hawk-eyed observers discovered that the trailer lasted 1 minute and 31 seconds. This may seem short, but according to RockstarIntel, this is the "longest of any reveal trailer by Rockstar Games."

  • At 5:30 PM ET on Dec. 4, X user @Gta6trailerleak released the GTA 6 trailer in a gnarly leak that revealed everything from start to finish.

  • At 6:00 PM ET on Dec. 4, the leaker's account got suspended.

  • At 6:10 PM ET on Dec. 4, Rockstar Games dropped the GTA 6 trailer on YouTube alongside the following tweet:

You can watch the GTA 6 trailer — yes, the official one — below:


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The GTA 6 release date isn't any time soon. You'll have to wait until 2025. As Warren noted in his tweet, GTA 6 is coming to PS5 and Xbox Series S / X, but there's no mention of a PC release.

Topics Gaming

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Kimberly Gedeon
East Coast Tech Editor

Kimberly Gedeon, at Mashable since 2023, is a tech explorer who enjoys doing deep dives into the most popular gadgets, from the latest iPhones to the most immersive VR headsets. She's drawn to strange, avant-garde, bizarre tech, whether it's a 3D laptop, a gaming rig that can transform into a briefcase, or smart glasses that can capture video. Her journalism career kicked off about a decade ago at MadameNoire where she covered tech and business before landing as a tech editor at Laptop Mag in 2020.

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