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It's been a long wait, but the second trailer for Grand Theft Auto VI is now available to watch on YouTube.
Rockstar Games shared a 2:46-minute trailer for its feverishly anticipated new video game days after it confirmed that GTA 6 will be delayed. Originally scheduled to launch sometime later this year, Rockstar Games says the next instalment in the Grand Theft Auto franchise will now release on May 26, 2026.
Rockstar Games unveiled the first trailer for Grand Theft Auto VI — stylised as GTA 6 in the marketing — back in December 2023 in December 2023, confirming the game's return to Vice City, a fictional take on Miami, and introducing Lucia, the franchise's first female lead.
The teaser hinted at a modern-day Bonnie-and-Clyde duo and drew more than 100 million views within 24 hours.
Grand Theft Auto VI will follow a modern-day Bonnie-and-Clyde duo in a fictional version of the US State of Florida
ROCKSTAR GAMES | TAKE-TWO INTERACTIVE
In the caption for the new trailer, Rockstar Games has shared a brief summary of the plotline for Grand Theft Auto VI. It reads: "Jason and Lucia have always known the deck is stacked against them. But when an easy score goes wrong, they find themselves on the darkest side of the sunniest place in America, in the middle of a conspiracy stretching across the state of Leonida — forced to rely on each other more than ever if they want to make it out alive."
This is the first time that Rockstar Games has confirmed the names of both protagonists set to star in the name.
Players will follow a couple, Jason and Lucia, in the next instalment of Grand Theft Auto, which includes the return of fictional city of Vice City for the first time since spin-off game, Vice City Stories
ROCKSTAR GAMES | TAKE-TWO INTERACTIVE
In response to the delay, Rockstar Games parent company Take-Two Interactive saw shares tumble 9% in premarket trading. The franchise is the crown jewel in Take-Two's portfolio, accounting for a significant share of revenue and player engagement, and expectations for the upcoming title have been baked into Wall Street forecasts for months.
Many shareholders believed the launch of Grand Theft Auto VI in the coming months — timed for the blockbuster pre-Christmas shopping rush — would result in an unprecedented boom.
While Grand Theft Auto VI is still widely-tipped to be the biggest-selling game of all-time when it arrives... that launch is now delayed by a further six months.
Delays have become commonplace in modern game development as studios grapple with rising production costs and growing pressure from players to deliver polished experiences at launch.
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According to several analysts, the next GTA game is tipped to be an instant hit with billions of dollars in sales each year. Its predecessor, Grand Theft Auto V, which first made its debut in 2013, has now sold more than 200 million copies, making it one of the best-selling video games of all time.
That title still holds the crown for the best opening week of sales in video game history — raking in $1.15bn (£1.2bn) in five days. It has gone on to become the second biggest game of all-time, although it's still 100 million copies behind the Gold Medalist, Minecraft. Earlier this year, Microsoft added Grand Theft Auto V to its Xbox Game Pass Ultimate service — a Netflix-like subscription with a rotating catalogue of games.
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"We support fully Rockstar Games taking additional time to realise their creative vision for Grand Theft Auto VI, which promises to be a groundbreaking, blockbuster entertainment experience that exceeds audience expectations,” said Strauss Zelnick, Chairman and CEO for Take-Two Interactive Software.
"While we take the movement of our titles seriously and appreciate the vast and deep global anticipation for Grand Theft Auto VI, we remain steadfast in our commitment to excellence. As we continue to release our phenomenal pipeline, we expect to deliver a multi-year period of growth in our business and enhanced value for our shareholders."
The next entry into the Grand Theft Auto franchise is widely-expected to be one of the biggest launches of all-time. Its predecessor, Grand Theft Auto V, has gone on to become the biggest-selling entertainment product in history, with $6 billion in revenue to its name since its launch over a decade ago.
Whenever it comes about, Grand Theft Auto VI looks set to dominate the gaming world, with analysts predicting record-breaking sales of $3 billion in its first year. If whispers about a price rise for the blockbuster title are to be believed, then revenue could be supercharged by the launch too.
The long wait between instalments in the Grand Theft Auto franchise is an outlier in the industry, with other chart-topping series, like Call of Duty, EA Sports FC, and Pokémon, typically launching new games every year.
Experts believe the next instalment in the Grand Theft Auto franchise could break its own record sales numbers. Its predecessor, Grand Theft Auto V, still holds the crown for the best opening week of sales in video game history — raking in $1.15bn (£1.2bn) in five days.
However, it's worth noting that Grand Theft Auto V has now appeared on three console generations, starting with the Xbox 360 and Sony PS3 back in September 2013. An upgraded version of the game launched on the latest crop of video game consoles, Xbox Series X|S and Sony PS5, in March 2022 with support for 4K Ultra HD visuals, ray-tracing, 60 frames-per-second, and 3D audio.
The continued popularity of the game is partly attributed to GTA Online.
But many like Dmitri Williams, a video game business expert and professor at University of Southern California, expect the long-awaited follow-up to perform even better.
He said: "The brand is as strong or stronger than it was before, but additionally the game industry is larger. If it maintains the same slice of the pie, it's going to be big, because it will come from a bigger pie. The games industry is simply massive globally, and is no single genre or platform. It's so large and so varied that even fractions of it are larger than whole parallel industries like movies.”
The next instalment of the popular Grand Theft Auto series will take gamers back to Vice City, which last appeared in 2006's Vice City Stories.
