Showing the GTA VI trailer at The Game Awards is silly – Grand Theft Auto VI

Last Wednesday, Rockstar confirmed that they will give us the first trailer for “the next Grand Theft Auto” in early December. This, of course, set the entire Internet on fire. Not just because people are extremely excited about finally seeing official images of GTA VI in high resolution and getting confirmation that the game is set in the Vice City area. Forums around the world began to fill with speculation about when exactly we will see it. One popular theory is during Geoff Keigh’s show The Game Awards ley on Dec. 7 (Dec. 8 for most of us here in Europe), as his productions have become known for having some of the biggest reveals every year. I think that would be a big mistake. Let me tell you why.

Celebrate the great year we’ve had
The show is still called The Game Awards, and Keighley keeps repeating that its main purpose is to celebrate the games we’ve played over the past 12 months. Of course, that hasn’t stopped him from revealing Death Stranding 2, Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon, Hades II, Alan Wake 2, the Xbox Series X and more over the years, but showing off GTA VI would take it to another level.

It doesn’t matter if it was at the beginning, middle or end of the show. Having the GTA VI trailer at The Game Awards would take the spotlight away from everything else there – be it awards or other trailers. Every outlet would focus on writing about Grand Theft Auto VI and studying the trailer, while millions of people left the stream to share their thoughts on social media or whatever it might be. Did Alan Wake 2, Baldur’s Gate III or The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom win the game of the year? Few would know. The unveiling of the expansion of God of War: Ragnarök arrives at the bottom of your newsfeed. We would quickly forget the new idiot who tried to get on stage to shout something about GTA or politics. Okay, the latter would be great, but you get what I mean.

GTA VI would simply overshadow everything else on the show. This would also cause many developers and publishers to question whether it is worth spending so much time and money on future The Game Awards shows. Speaking of time and money…

Rockstar doesn’t need The Game Awards
Grand Theft Auto V continues to sell about 5 million copies every quarter, so “everyone” knows what GTA is. Everyone who tunes into The Game Awards already knows that GTA VI is on the way, so why should Rockstar “share the spotlight with inferior games”? Both Rockstar and Take-Two have been showing for years that they don’t need help from others in the game industry to promote their games. Grand Theft Auto V and Red Dead Redemption 2 were easily announced on Twitter with record-breaking engagement, and the fact that Sam Houser confirmed that the GTA VI trailer was has more than 173.5 million views on X a week after posting, really proves that the whole world will know seconds later if the trailer just debuts there. So why bother showing up at The Game Awards?

I actually think it’s more likely that the trailer will be shown during the NBA Championship on December 9. This would attract the attention of more mainstream gamers and the general public, while the rest of us saw it on X, Facebook, YouTube, etc. Then again, GTA VI doesn’t need anyone’s attention, so I wouldn’t be surprised if Rockstar follows the same recipe as Red Dead Redemption 2 with a teasing countdown a day or two before the trailer appears on the studio’s YouTube channel.

To make a long story short, the Grand Theft Auto VI trailer debuting at The Game Awards would not only ruin the rest of the show, and with it the hurt industry. It would be a waste of time and money for Take-Two and Rockstar because they could get just as much attention by doing everything themselves. So don’t do the stupid thing, Rockstar. Just leave The Game Awards alone and post the trailer a few days before or after the biggest party of the year.