Grand Theft Auto VI Trailer 1
On December 4, 2023, Rockstar Games published the first official trailer for Grand Theft Auto VI, ending years of speculation about the next entry in the series. Running one minute and thirty-one seconds, the trailer marked the public debut of the fictional state of Leonida and its two protagonists, Jason Duval and Lucia Caminos.
From its opening moments, the trailer sets Leonida up as a fictionalized take on Florida, anchored by the city of Vice City, GTA’s long-running stand-in for Miami. Sun-bleached beaches, palm-lined streets, and a coastline dotted with mansions, motels, and neon signage establish an atmosphere that leans heavily on nostalgia for the series’ 1980s-set predecessor while updating it for a modern setting. Alongside Vice City, the trailer offers glimpses of the wider state: swampland reminiscent of the Everglades, rural backroads, and stretches of coastline that hint at the scale of the map to come.
At the center of it all are Jason and Lucia, shown together throughout the footage in a way that immediately signals their partnership is central to the story. Rockstar would later confirm Lucia as the first woman to headline a mainline Grand Theft Auto title as a lead protagonist, a detail that gave the reveal added significance beyond the usual excitement around a new entry in the series.
The reveal itself became a story in its own right. Rockstar had scheduled the trailer for December 5, but an unauthorized leak the day before forced the studio to publish it roughly a day early, at 3:07 p.m. PT on December 4. Even under those circumstances, the trailer broke records, reportedly reaching around 93 million views within 24 hours on YouTube, making it, according to press coverage at the time, the most-viewed non-music video ever in a single day.
What the trailer does not do is explain the plot. There’s no dialogue setting up the story, no named supporting cast, and no confirmation of a release date beyond the game being in development. Its job was simpler: prove Grand Theft Auto VI was real, put a face to its two leads, and give players their first real look at Leonida. Everything else, from the map’s true scale to the wider cast surrounding Jason and Lucia, would come later, starting with the second trailer in May 2025.