Mark your diaries: the trailer for Grand Theft Auto 6 will land in December

Rockstar Games has announced that the first trailer for its upcoming Grand Theft Auto 6 will be shown in December 2023.

Studio co-founder Sam Houser made the announcement in an X statement, following a Bloomberg report that suggested the game could be revealed within the next few days.

"Next month marks the 25th anniversary of Rockstar Games," Houser’s statement begins.

"Thanks to the incredible support of our players worldwide, we have had the opportunity to create games we are truly passionate about - without you, none of this would be possible, and we are so grateful to all of you for sharing this journey with us.

"In 1998, Rockstar Games was founded on the idea that video games could come to be as essential to culture as any other form of entertainment, and we hope that we have created games you love in our efforts to be part of that evolution.

"We are very excited to let you know that in early December, we will release the first trailer for the next Grand Theft Auto. We look forward to many more years of sharing these experiences with all of you."

That’s about as big as games industry announcements get. The Grand Theft Auto series has been motoring along at unsafe speeds since 1997, and under Rockstar’s stewardship since 1998. In that time it’s cemented itself as just about the biggest game franchise on the planet – and of course, one of the chief causes of frown lines on censors’ foreheads.

Prior to this first official showing of GTA 6, all we have are unconfirmed reports about its possible location in the GTA universe and who its protagonists might be. Given that GTA V was set in Los Santos, some gamers are speculating that it might be time for a return to Vice City, Rockstar’s pastiche of Miami.

In 2022 Rockstar was hacked, and work-in-progress assets from “the next Grand Theft Auto”, as the studio confirmed in a statement which also detailed disruption to live services like GTA Online as a result of the hack.

The last game in the series, GTA V, has sold over 185 million units to date, across all platforms.

Image: Rockstar Games