One former Rockstar Games developer who worked as an animator on GTA 5 has given a little bit of insight into why the studio has remained so quiet about GTA 6, and he suggests it could be a very clever marketing tactic.
Over on his YouTube channel, Mike York says that Rockstar is “very secretive about what they do,” but that in itself is “a really cool tactic, in a sense.” While you could imagine that waiting so long to release another trailer for your highly anticipated blockbuster could kill hype somewhat, York suggests that leaving fans to their own devices essentially leads to them creating marketing for the game without Rockstar even having to lift a finger.
Talking about Rockstar’s secretiveness, he explains: “It creates allure, and it creates mystery, and it creates people talking about it without them having to do anything, right? The more they’re silent, the better it is, because the more people will be antsy and want to talk about it, and kind of have this feeling of not knowing what’s going to happen. They could easily release the trailer date and be like, ‘Hey, this is when the trailer’s coming out,’ but they don’t do it, and they don’t do it on purpose.”
York notes that this leads to “these really cool theories” that fans come up with to try and figure out more information and hints about new trailers. He specifically points to the recent theory fans had as they turned to the moon for answers on when the next GTA 6 trailer might drop as an example of this. That one, uh, didn’t work (although I’m not sure how many of us are surprised).
York doesn’t work at Rockstar anymore, but he does say that from his time there, he and his fellow colleagues enjoyed seeing what fans came up with – not just for game news, but ongoing riddles within released games, like the fabled Mt. Chiliad mystery in GTA 5. “All the developers over there are geeking out about it, trust me,” he adds.
That said, he also admits that “a lot of these things are kind of like trolls; it’s a mystery to nowhere,” even going as far as to say that the aforementioned Mt. Chiliad mystery is “probably not solvable.” Either way, though, attempting to solve things like this and desperately work out when the next GTA 6 trailer will drop brings the community together and keeps them engaged and hyped for years on end.
GTA 6 recently won the Most Wanted Game award at the Golden Joystick Awards, but for something to tide you over in the meantime, be sure to check out our picks for the best games of 2024.