Just about a day after Rockstar Games finally released its wildly anticipated first trailer for Grand Theft Auto VI on YouTube, the publisher has also uploaded it to X/Twitter following a fair bit of drama.
Rockstar, it should be noted, has had a hell of a 24 hours, initially planning to unveil the first GTA 6 trailer early on Tuesday. But, it leaked Monday afternoon (something the devs clearly did not appreciate), spurring the team to release the trailer on YouTube shortly after.
Despite the context of all that hubbub, X/Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino still chimed in to publicly ask Rockstar to post the trailer to that social media platform. "@RockstarGames — gaming is one of our most popular topics," she wrote. "Drop that trailer here — give the people on @X what they want!!"
.@RockstarGames — gaming is one of our most popular topics. Drop that trailer here — give the people on @X what they want!! https://t.co/sU3hHk9pgQ
— Linda Yaccarino (@lindayaX) December 5, 2023
Her plea accompanied a post that compared the views of the trailer on YouTube to the views of Rockstar's post on X/Twitter announcing that the trailer was up. That information, as a community note pointed out, is misleading, though, as views on X/Twitter are counted by scrolls rather than actual engagement, as opposed to YouTube views. In short, it's the difference between scrolling past a post on your timeline versus taking the time to watch the trailer in full.
What's more, many X/Twitter users reported not being able to see Rockstar's post of the trailer when viewing a reply to it. That made for some speculation that X/Twitter was intentionally limiting the trailer's reach.
Twitter is limiting the reach of Rockstar Games GTA Vi trailer post with the YouTube link. While you can view it directly, you can't see it if you're viewing a reply. It seems to be retaliation for not posting the trailer video on Twitter. pic.twitter.com/FtS6iu2Lk1
— Alejandra Caraballo (@Esqueer_) December 5, 2023
And while it might not be related to all of this, but feels relevant to note, X/Twitter owner Elon Musk spurred quite a few jokes after saying he wasn't a fan of GTA because he "didn’t like doing crime": "GTA5 required shooting police officers in the opening scene," he added. "Just couldn’t do it."
It's unclear if Rockstar had always planned on posting the trailer to X/Twitter - especially considering that various companies have been suspending ad placement and easing back on the platform altogether after Elon Musk backed an antisemitic conspiracy theory - or if their plans were thrown off by the leak. Regardless, Rockstar unveiled the trailer on X/Twitter with a casual, "Hello @X, watch Grand Theft Auto VI Trailer 1."
Hello @X, watch Grand Theft Auto VI Trailer 1 pic.twitter.com/smzxOLhh4o
— Rockstar Games (@RockstarGames) December 5, 2023
It's only the latest bit of news in the whirlwind that has been the internet since GTA 6's trailer dropped, which swiftly surpassed trailer views for the reveal trailers of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Red Dead Redemption 2, and Cyberpunk 2077 combined. It's currently sitting at 88 million views on YouTube, although I'm pretty sure that number will be outdated quickly enough.
In the meantime, fans have been ferociously hunting for any theories they can find, obsessing over protagonist Lucia, and finding a number of references to real-life events. And if you haven't already watched it enough times, you can watch it again below.
Alex Stedman is a Senior News Editor with IGN, overseeing entertainment reporting. When she's not writing or editing, you can find her reading fantasy novels or playing Dungeons & Dragons.
