There was little doubt that the GTA VI trailer would do well in terms of viewership. Still, the debut video of Rockstar’s massively anticipated new game surpassed even the rosiest expectations.
In around 34 hours, it has already broken 100 million views on YouTube, surpassing the all-time views registered by the first GTA V trailer in twelve years. Moreover, it crushed pretty much every launch day record for a new video on the most popular streaming platform, with the notable exception of South Korean boy band BTS (Bangtan Sonyeondan, which means Bulletproof Boy Scouts in English). BTS remains on top with Dynamite, which registered 101.1 million views in 24 hours when it launched in August 2020, and Butter, which beat Dynamite with 108 million views when released in May 2021.
However, the GTA VI trailer handily snatched third place from another K-pop band, BLACKPINK, which had registered 86.3 million views in 24 hours when it first aired in June 2020. When the trailer turned a day old, it had already accrued over 91 million views.
Moreover, Rockstar’s trailer was unfortunately spoiled with a leak. The developer planned to air it at 9 AM Eastern Time, which would have been ideal across the entire globe, but the leak forced them to go live when it was nighttime in Europe as well as the Middle East. This also caused a few members of the development team to bemoan leaks that spoiled such a big reveal moment.
Last but not least, whereas the aforementioned singers don’t really allow other YouTube channels to repost their music videos for obvious reasons, the same isn’t true for games. The GTA VI trailer can also be found on the Gamespot and IGN channels, where it accrued another 20 million views (17 million on Gamespot and 3 million on IGN).
Anyway, there’s little doubt that Rockstar hit the nail on the head with the trailer, which perfectly encapsulated the vibe of Miami (Vice City) and Florida (Leonida) in just a minute and a half. As always, the soundtrack helped a lot, with Tom Petty’s ‘Love Is A Long Road’ already becoming a fan-favorite, just like the lover duo of protagonists Jason and Lucia.
Sam Houser, the founder of Rockstar Games, said GTA VI would ‘push the limits of what’s possible in highly immersive, story-driven open-world experiences’. Considering the studio’s pedigree, we wouldn’t have imagined anything less.
Grand Theft Auto VI is set to launch in 2025 for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series S|X. Take-Two financials point to a Q1 release (January-March), though of course, delays are always possible.
