Netflix is the exclusive home of the GTA VI trailer for six hours on Thursday.
Netflix paid an undisclosed but likely ridiculous amount of money to be the exclusive host of an expanded new look. Grand Theft Auto VI trailer on Thursday, August 27 – for a total of six hours. Once this period has expired, the trailer will be uploaded to Rockstar’s YouTube channel, where the general public can watch it without a streaming subscription.
The trailer is titled Grand Theft Auto VI: An Expanded Preview, and it will be available on Netflix at 3 p.m. ET on August 27. If you have a Netflix subscription, you can find the trailer landing page here and set a reminder to watch it now. If you need a Netflix subscription, here is the signup page with plans ranging from $9 per month to $27 per month.
The trailer will then be released on the Rockstar Games YouTube channel on Thursday at 9 p.m. ET. There, it will be freely consultable by anyone with the link. Of course, a YouTube Premium subscription will guarantee your GTA VI advertising is not interrupted by additional advertisements.
The expanded look lands amid a flurry of leaks GTA VI gameplay videos that Rockstar tried to suppress. Maybe instead of looking at them and breaking developers’ hearts, take a look at this new thing. Dazed article about fashion and style in the Rockstar version of Florida. And then sit still Grand Theft Auto VI: An Expanded Preview Thursday, whether on Netflix or YouTube.
GTA VI set to land on November 19, starting at $80.
Netflix’s big bet
Ultimately, Netflix will be the exclusive host of the new GTA VI trailer for just six hours on the afternoon of a random weekday in August, before audiences simultaneously and permanently shifted their attention to YouTube. (And that’s not to mention all the off-screen uploads that will flood social media, immediately.) It’s a bold and slightly odd gamble for Netflix, and it might even look desperate in the right light.
Netflix has spent the past two years gutting its fledgling video games division, most recently shuttering beloved studio Oxenfree Night School, which it purchased in 2021. That initial acquisition sparked a larger spending spree on video game talent at Netflix, including the creation of an in-house AAA team in 2022. However, since taking control in 2024, Netflix Games head Alain Tascan has closed or sold all but one of the company’s video game studios. There’s also still a team signing deals with outside studios, but overall, Netflix has significantly and quickly scaled back its gaming pipe dreams.
The Grand Theft Auto franchise is a unique beast, an exception in terms of popularity, cultural impact and economic sustainability. No other video game could generate this much hype around a lengthy preview video, and Netflix wouldn’t mind offering a limited-time exclusivity on a trailer for another series. GTA VI is a phenomenon, and that’s what Netflix is trying to cash in on here, rather than expanding or supporting its video game efforts. This is about the streaming wars, which are intensifying.
