GTA 6 Needs The Next Trailer Soon Before It Drifts Away From Memory

It’s been a month since Rockstar unveiled Grand Theft Auto 6 to the world. While the first prologue may have been spoiled due to a random, glory-seeking “netizen,” the ninety-second teaser trailer shattered records within 24 hours of its release. Over 100 million views and 8 million likes within a day, numbers that the predecessor’s trailer achieved over the years speak volumes about the anticipation levels of this game.

The trailer only gave us a glimpse of what’s to come and was a fantastic presentation. After hitting the replay button several times, all the memories of my time with the franchise came flooding back; I realized that this brief teaser had me excited for the next entry in Grand Theft Auto. To keep this universal anticipation and excitement in the spotlight, Rockstar needs to unveil the next batch of official information soon.

It Took A While But The GTA 6 Teaser Grew On Me

So as I mentioned above, I watched the trailer on replay for quite a while; it wasn’t particularly out of love for it but more on that later. Grand Theft Auto 6 failed to pull me in immediately with that teaser trailer but the more I saw of it, the more it made me think. After a while of some solid critical analysis and going through the series’ past entries, my views began to shift a little. 

Once the trailer worked its magic on me, it was all about watching it on repeat, reminiscing about the good ol’ days in Vice City on the PS2 (Demolition Man, anyone?), watching the reactions of various content creators to GTA 6, and observing the hype within this community.

This might sound a bit dramatic but moments like these bring about a sense of togetherness and bonding. Something you experience amongst your close ones in real life, in MMOs with other players, and during massive reveals such as this one. One experience I can draw a parallel to is when a new expansion comes out for Final Fantasy XIV; everyone on the server sets out on quests creating swarms of characters traversing the various maps and locales.

But that’s not all that happened. Those ninety seconds of Grand Theft Auto 6 took me back to when I got my PlayStation 3 with GTA 5. While I’ve played every GTA since the third entry on PS2, I never finished a game until the fifth part. In hindsight, it feels weird considering the massive amount of time I invested in those titles but I digress. 

GTA 5 became my most-played game between 2014-2015 and seeing the teaser for Grand Theft Auto 6 made me want to grab a flight to Los Santos. So I did and now I’ve clocked almost 100 hours into it on Steam. Part of me used to think that I was perhaps wearing some rose-tinted glasses when it came to GTA 5 but that wasn’t the case. There’s still a good amount of time before GTA 6 arrives, so I will revisit the past entries in the franchise once I’m done with this trio.

But now it’s time to elaborate on why the trailer didn’t impress me at first despite its presentation and achievements.

The Phenomenal Teaser Of GTA 6 Didn’t Hide Its Lack Of Depth

Teaser trailers serve the purpose of generating hype and excitement. They make it so that people eagerly anticipate the next reveal. Though Grand Theft Auto 6 fantastically presented itself with just ninety seconds of footage, it felt a bit lacking. 

Grand Theft Auto has always been about the story, characters, and the open world. In recent installments, there’s also the online counterpart. This teaser gave us a little glimpse at how deep the characters of Lucia and her partner are going to be but this came in conflict with the social media “reels” shown in the footage. I know GTA has always been about satirizing the region it’s set in but the trailer conveyed a sense of disconnection at first.

After deciding to watch and compare the teasers of Grand Theft Auto 6 to its predecessor, the latter carried more weight. Michael’s speech during that time had an impact and showed depth. Combining that with the shots of Los Santos before slapping the logo on as the screen fades to black delivers far more of a punch than the overly excited vibe of GTA 6’s social media feeds. 

The point I’m trying to make here is that Rockstar could have shown Vice City’s wild populace in a way that didn’t feel disconnected from the rest of the trailer. Beyond that, it should have given us more about Lucia and Jason instead of making it so that the teaser turned into a reference showcase instead of something with actual substance.

Having that said, I knew for a fact that the game would have all the things that I didn’t find in the trailer. Despite the phenomenal visuals, the teaser just didn’t click for me until I had a change in perspective. With the current state of the industry, I believe that all trailers, including teasers, should incorporate gameplay in addition to cinematics that give a sizeable chunk of hints about the plot and related elements.

While the first reveal of GTA 6 may have lacked in certain departments, I hope the next teaser resolves these problems. Not only will it continue the excitement but will provide greater insight into the dual protagonists, their motivations, and more.

My Tempered Expectations Can’t Lower The Excitement For GTA 6

Indeed, people often overhype things. They build all these expectations, constantly elevating a product to higher planes. When the time comes, said product fails to live up to all those unrealistic expectations because it’s just not what the people built it up to be. Starfield is the latest example of this with how many users now realize its low quality. Star Citizen is probably going to fall into the same boat given the amount of money it’s amassed with no release in sight.

Do not buy Red Dead Redemption
byu/dtv20 inreddeadredemption

With Grand Theft Auto 6, it’s a given that the game will be a paramount success for Rockstar even if it doesn’t break new ground. With the name it’s made over the years, the company has a staunch following which will propel any product to the peak of success. Plus, Rockstar doesn’t compromise on quality when it comes to crafting new experiences. I wish the same could be said for its remasters; with how big of an atrocity the GTA Definitive Edition trilogy & RDR projects were, it’s unfortunate.

Moving on from those missteps, Rockstar hasn’t missed a single shot with new releases since the launch of Grand Theft Auto 3 for the PS2. That title revamped the franchise, turning it from a top-down beat ’em-up into a third-person, open-world game. It ranked in the 90s on Metacritic and from that moment onwards, every GTA entry has scored a 90+ with stellar reviews and record sales.

GTA V shattered records left and right followed by Grand Theft Auto 6 scoring millions of views with its 90-second footage. Too many 90s in this part of my piece, maybe it’s a premonition for the upcoming game being a hit. But even outside of the series’ successes, Red Dead Redemption 2 showed a similar level of promise. 

Even after all this, I’m keeping my expectations tempered to prevent setting myself up for disappointment. My main goal is to thoroughly enjoy Grand Theft Auto 6 for what it brings to the table without creating delusions in my mind. However, that does nothing to lower my excitement as I continue to wreak havoc across Los Santos in anticipation of Lucia and Jason’s arrival.

Final Thoughts

It’s impressive how many things people, including myself, have to say about Grand Theft Auto 6 after only one teaser. This game is set up for success with the amount of resources going into it. When I boot up GTA 5, my entire session is filled with questioning how each of its elements is going to be improved. The mission design, narrative, characters, world, visuals, and more. 

Only time will tell how the final product will be; till then, I’m looking forward to the next trailer. Rockstar, I’d appreciate it if you don’t make us wait too long for that.