Netflix is the exclusive home of the GTA VI trailer for six hours on Thursday.
Netflix has paid an undisclosed but likely ludicrous amount of money to be the exclusive host of a new, extended-look Grand Theft Auto VI trailer on Thursday, August 27 — for a total of six hours. After that period of time has expired, the trailer will go live on Rockstar’s YouTube channel, where the masses will be able to watch it without a streaming subscription.
The trailer is titled Grand Theft Auto VI: An Extended Look, and it will be available on Netflix at 3PM ET on August 27. If you have a Netflix subscription, you can find the trailer’s landing page right here and set a reminder to watch it now. If you need a Netflix subscription, here’s the sign-up page with plans ranging from $9 a month to $27 a month.
The trailer will then hit the Rockstar Games YouTube channel at 9PM ET on Thursday. There, it will be freely viewable by anyone with the link. Of course, a YouTube Premium subscription will ensure your GTA VI advertisement isn’t interrupted by additional advertisements.
The extended look is landing amid a flurry of leaked GTA VI gameplay videos that Rockstar has been attempting to stifle. Maybe instead of watching those and breaking developers’ hearts, check out this hot new Dazed feature about the fashion and styling in Rockstar’s version of Florida. And then sit tight for Grand Theft Auto VI: An Extended Look on Thursday, whether on Netflix or YouTube.
GTA VI is set to land on November 19, starting at $80.
Netflix’s big bet
In the end, Netflix will be the exclusive host of the new GTA VI trailer for just six hours in the afternoon of a random weekday in August, before the audience simultaneously and permanently moves its attention to YouTube. (And that’s not to mention all of the off-screen uploads that are going to flood social media, like, immediately.) It’s a bold and slightly strange bet for Netflix, and it could even look desperate under the right light.
Netflix has spent the past two years gutting its nascent video game division, most recently shutting down beloved Oxenfree studio Night School, which it purchased in 2021. That initial acquisition kicked off a larger spending spree on video game talent at Netflix, including the foundation of an internal AAA team in 2022. However, since assuming control in 2024, Netflix Games head Alain Tascan has shuttered or sold all of the company’s video game studios except one. There’s also still a team that signs deals with external studios, but overall, Netflix has significantly and quickly scaled back its gaming pipe dreams.
The Grand Theft Auto franchise is a unique beast, an outlier in terms of popularity, cultural impact and economic sustainability. No other video game could generate the same amount of hype around a long preview video, and Netflix wouldn’t care to bag a limited-time exclusive on a trailer for any other series. GTA VI is a phenomenon, and that’s what Netflix is trying to cash in on here, rather than actually expanding or supporting its video game efforts. This is all about the streaming wars, which are heating up.
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