Netflix’s Grand Theft Auto extended look provided key insights into the upcoming game — but the streaming platform did not place the 26-minute trailer front and center.
Today, August 27, Netflix published “GTA VI: An Extended Look,” a 27-minute extended trailer sharing as-yet-unseen footage from Rockstar Games’ upcoming title, which is slated for a November 19 release. As the most in-depth official look into Grand Theft Auto VI yet, Netflix’s trailer launch has been highly anticipated by gamers across the globe, and the extended look delivered with clips of gripping gameplay and new insights into the game’s narrative and lore. It was also relatively difficult to find, with Netflix users having to search for the trailer instead of being prompted to watch it on the streaming platform’s home page.
Netflix’s official extended look into GTA VI will be exclusive to the streaming platform for six hours, after which it will be published on Rockstar’s official YouTube account. Netflix has not disclosed how much it paid for these six hours of exclusivity. In the past, the company has heavily promoted other exclusive media events, such as last year’s NFL Christmas Gameday broadcast, on its home page. The GTA extended look is a pre-recorded trailer, rather than a live event broadcast by Netflix.
Once it begins, the GTA VI extended look takes a minute or two to move from dialogue cutscenes into action, but the trailer was full of excitement once things get moving. In addition to fast-paced gameplay footage featuring collaborative play between the game’s main characters — a Bonnie-and-Clyde-like criminal couple named Lucia and Jason — it was chock-full of references to today’s modern digital culture, with an IRL livestreamer showing up in one mission. A character named “Boobie” featured heavily in the first showcased mission.
Netflix’s GTA VI extended look also included examples of the fake-brand ads that the Grand Theft Auto series has become known for, featuring commercials for advertisers including a fake drug named “Angstipan” and a fast-brand reminiscent of Arby’s.
Some of the excitement around today’s Netflix reveal was muted by the ongoing controversy surrounding unofficial leaks of GTA VI gameplay footage by a user known as CyberLeek over the past two weeks. Rockstar officially responded to the leaks through a social media post yesterday, apologizing for the game’s long development timeline and thanking the GTA community for its support.
“We are very excited for everyone to see the extended look tomorrow,” the statement said. “It has taken longer than we wanted to get it ready, but as with everything we do, we know we need to exceed your expectations, and we are determined to deliver at the level you expect and deserve.”
Netflix is taking advantage of the excitement around GTA VI to promote its gaming-inspired content. After watching the extended look, the platform prompted me to watch Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, and the trailer’s official page also prompts viewers to watch game-inspired series like Arcane, Splinter Cell: Deathwatch, and Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft.