One of the most surprising things about Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto 6 trailer tease last week was word that it will premiere on subscription-based service Netflix – a move I can’t ever remember another game company doing.
The GTA 6 ‘extended look’ trailer will also be released later on as a ‘normal’ trailer on YouTube and the like, but for several hours, it will be exclusive to Netflix. The question is: why?
“I think Rockstar felt that a Netflix release would be a great way to show off the extended trailer,” Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick told IGN, though he didn’t mention which company approached which or whether a lucrative deal was signed. How Netflix will benefit from the deal is clear – from increased sign-ups – but how Rockstar benefits is not? From a fat load of money?
“I think this is an example of Rockstar trying new things and marketing the title and I hope there’s much more to come,” Zelnick added, clarifying that the GTA 6 trailer will be exclusive to Netflix for six hours.
As to what the ‘extended look’ GTA 6 trailer will show us, that we don’t know. We presume a focused look at gameplay because why make a big deal out of another few-minute montage? Zelnick, however, wouldn’t be budged on sharing details.
All Zelnick said was: “Well, as you’d imagine, I’m only going to say great things about Netflix. If you’re not a Netflix subscriber, you definitely should be one. And as for the trailer itself, it’s coming soon enough that I’ll let you arrive at your own conclusion. I’m sure you’re going to watch it because everyone is.”
Grand Theft Auto 6’s release on 19th November is undeniably the biggest video gaming event of the year and possibly of this console generation. It’s why we’ve seen so many games scuttle out of the way of its arrival, pushing their launches earlier into September or August, or way into early 2027 in order to avoid it. The question now is whether it will be the giganto-hit people predict, and the industry seems to crave, or whether it will for some reason disappoint.
Strauss Zelnick is having a very visible moment in the lead-up to GTA 6’s launch. Last week, he went on record talking about how we’ll all be stream-playing games in three years; how Take-Two’s game sales are “well over 90 percent” digital; and how he doesn’t think the stink created by Rockstar firing union-aligned developers will affect GTA 6 sales.
