Rockstar has finally given us the launch trailer for GTA 6 ahead of its November 19 release date, and it looks spectacular. This shouldn’t be a surprise, considering the developer has been honing its cinematic craft for decades now as it pushes the boundaries of what games are capable of. This 90-second extravaganza is no exception, with its stellar combination of sumptuous landscapes, fascinating characters, and an impressively detailed world.
But if you’ll permit me to put our mounting anticipation aside for a second, this launch trailer also represents the next step in a long journey for Rockstar. Every single blockbuster it has released over the years, whether it be San Andreas or Red Dead Redemption 2, has acted as an exceptional example of what video games can be in the modern era.
To celebrate the imminent arrival of GTA 6, let’s take a look back at Rockstar launch trailers of the past and how they’ve evolved over the years.
Grand Theft Auto 3 (2001)
Nobody expected Grand Theft Auto 3 to revolutionize the medium when it first launched for PS2 back in 2001. The first two games were enjoyably chaotic romps with an incredible sense of attitude, but it wasn’t until the third core entry that Rockstar’s destiny changed forever.
Even 25 years later, its release-date trailer is a confident glimpse into the pixelated grime of Liberty City. It was a living, breathing metropolis that dwarfed anything we’d seen in video games with a lead character in Claude who felt like he didn’t just exist in this world: He lived in it.
There are few narrative scenes in the trailer itself, with the focus otherwise on pulling off sick handbrake turns in luscious cars or blowing away innocent pedestrians with sniper rifles. It is representative of where Rockstar--back then known as DMA Design--and its priorities sat at the time. Despite its archaic presentation at points, the editing remains top-notch and I can’t imagine watching this back in 2001 and not being blown away.
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (2002)
Coming just a year later, Vice City was a profound evolution of everything GTA 3 did well and then some. It had more style, more music, and more confidence in the crime experience it delivered. Even today, the atmosphere that drips from this game simply by going for a drive and switching on the radio is amazing. Toto’s "Africa" on the strip hits different.
While Liberty City was an innovative open world, from a visual perspective it was dark, grey, and consistently industrial without a memorable aesthetic identity. Vice City is a different story, and the trailer is proof of how confident Rockstar can be with an audience of millions already signed up for the ride.
Don’t get me wrong--there is still plenty of excessive violence, police chases, and cars flying across the screen, but it’s presented with a renewed philosophy that can still be seen in how Rockstar produces trailers to this day. It’s all about pulling viewers into its virtual worlds and showing what their own actions will soon inflict upon it.
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2004)
San Andreas marked the first time Grand Theft Auto trailers stopped focusing on what you can do in the open world and instead gave attention to characters and narrative, along with all the different regions this virtual take on California had to offer. Even today, it’s a huge world that begins in protagonist CJ’s run-down neighborhood before introducing us to Los Santos and beyond.
Music also plays a pivotal role in setting the tone, as "Welcome to the Jungle" by Guns N' Roses slowly but surely builds tension until CJ is firing an RPG at helicopters before walking away from explosions like a badass. I haven’t played San Andreas in years, but rewatching this trailer and being hypnotized by the sun-drenched hues of fictional California makes me want to surrender myself to it all over again.
Grand Theft Auto 4 (2008)
This is when Rockstar started getting serious, or at the very least realized it was in a position to elevate the medium in terms of interactivity and storytelling. Beginning right as Nico Bellic steps off the boat and into the arms of his overbearing cousin, the trailer never once leaves his side. GTA 4 is Nico’s story, and Rockstar wants us to know how his first steps into Liberty City and the people he meets and grows close to will change who he is as a person.
I love how we witness him simply walking the streets of Liberty City as a normal fellow who isn’t determined to shoot things up all the time. Things eventually escalate after we’re given brief windows into conversations with characters like Brucie and Playboy X before ending in a shower of epic explosions, but Nico always remains at the center. He is a man without any purpose in life who is unafraid to die for his family, and Rockstar used this as a foundation to tell what is arguably still the series’ most human story.
Red Dead Redemption (2010)
Red Dead Redemption might not belong to the Grand Theft Auto series, but the cowboy epic still saw Rockstar continue to evolve its cinematic presentation with more realistic characters and cutscenes that would naturally bleed into the future. The launch trailer provides a simple yet effective introduction into the game’s fading Wild West as John Marston narrates exactly how he ended up in this sticky situation.
What I love most about it is how Rockstar begs the viewer to ask questions about who these characters are and what their relationship to Marston might be. It’s the first time we had ever seen most of them, yet the launch trailer helped cement outlaws like Dutch, Bill, and Javier into legend. Rockstar knew it had a gun-slinging masterpiece on its hands here, with Red Dead Redemption taking inspiration from countless cowboy classics only to soon become one in its own right.
Grand Theft Auto 5 (2013)
The launch trailer for GTA 5 is awfully similar to what Rockstar just dished out with GTA 6. It's a brief, stylish, and supremely confident glimpse into a boundary-breaking world with a cast of characters we’d grow to love and despise in equal measure. The studio knew it was about to release one of the biggest video games of all time, and even 13 years ago, we were following each new piece of pre-launch information with feverish anticipation.
I remember watching breakdowns of the launch trailer picking out specific details in the open world or trying to figure out how the individual stories of Michael, Trevor, and Franklin would be connected. Graphically it seems a smidge antiquated by today’s standards, but by the standards of the time, it was unbelievable.
Red Dead Redemption 2 (2018)
And now we’ve arrived at the present day. Well, kinda. Video games take a really long time to make. Red Dead Redemption 2 was the last major project released by Rockstar, but as I rewatch the launch trailer, I’m convinced it could have come out yesterday. Arthur Morgan is the lead of a mature, introspective story about a society that is leaving the lawless times of mysterious outlaws behind. The weight of this era and everything our troubled hero is set to go through is conveyed immaculately in just a single minute.
It also has the benefit of being a prequel to one of the best video games ever made, but as a consequence must make us warm to characters we know will eventually become our sworn enemies. Managing this alone is a monumental achievement, not to mention how this trailer made us want to spend hundreds of hours in a world we didn’t know much about.
What blows me away most, though, is how GTA 6 still feels like a massive leap forward when it comes to visual and mechanical complexity, despite releasing during an era where so many other games are hitting an awkward technological plateau.
Nobody does it like Rockstar, and GTA 6 once again feels poised to change gaming forever if it can stick the landing. In a decade’s time, I imagine we’ll be reminiscing about this launch trailer and precisely how it made us feel ahead of release. Only a month to go, so I’ll see you in Leonida!