Will the Grand Theft Auto 6 trailer break records for viewing numbers? It seems entirely possible, given the incredible interest even now, 24 hours before it’s due to go live.
Rockstar Games uploaded a video premiere for “Trailer 1” to YouTube that includes a countdown to launch at 6am Pacific / 9am Eastern / 2pm UK on December 5.
But eagle-eyed viewers also noticed the GTA 6 Trailer 1 runtime was revealed via a method of exposing a glitch on YouTube’s end. On mobile, while unsubbed from the Rockstar Games channel, view the video preview through the YouTube app’s search. Notice the little tag that reads “upcoming” on the bottom right, and the runtime should pop up over it.
There may be spoilers ahead!
Just in case you don’t want the runtime spoiled, we’ve added a spoiler tag above.
The runtime of the GTA 6 Trailer 1 is one minute and 31 seconds. That should afford plenty of time for a decent look at the game. Perhaps we’ll even get a release date and launch platforms.
Remarkably, tens of thousands of people are already queuing up to watch Trailer 1. At the time of this article’s publication, nearly 24 hours before go time, 43,172 people were waiting to see what may well end up as the biggest video game trailer of all time.
There are nearly 2,000 people watching IGN's own GTA 6 trailer countdown and actively chatting right now, if you fancy getting in on the fun.
In November, when it announced a December window for the GTA 6 trailer, Rockstar said: "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.
"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."
With excitement reaching fever pitch, IGN has reported on how it looks like Rockstar teased the GTA 6 Trailer 1 release date on a GTA Online T-shirt released nearly half a year ago.
GTA 6 has been rumoured ever since the release of Grand Theft Auto 5 just over a decade ago. It was reported on loosely in a 2020 Kotaku report about Rockstar's efforts to alleviate crunch culture at the studio, and was confirmed in a press release back in 2022, with the studio saying that development was "well underway." Later that year, in-development footage of the game was leaked in a massive breach, with authorities eventually arresting a British teenage hacker in relation to the incident.
A release window between April 2024 and March 2025 has been speculated since earlier in 2023, when publisher Take-Two Interactive projected massive financial gains in that fiscal year that would be difficult to attain without the boost from the enormously profitable series.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.