“Grand Theft Auto 6” was already set to make history in the video game world — but now it’s making a hot prerelease spin through Hollywood as well.
On Aug. 27, Netflix will debut an “extended look” at one of the most anticipated games of all time. While the first two “GTA 6” trailers bowed on YouTube and social media platforms, Rockstar Games decided to give Netflix exclusive access to new footage before going wide with the content online six hours later.
With record-breaking success for trailer one (which has reached 288 million views on YouTube since its release in December 2023) and trailer two (176 million views since it dropped in May 2025), the Netflix partnership likely wouldn’t have been necessary to draw the same massive crowd for the third. But Take-Two Interactive’s Rockstar chose to team with the streamer for a reason beyond its very large audience: to signal to the larger entertainment industry that “GTA 6” (which has already reached “unprecedented” sales since opening pre-orders June 25) is a major entertainment tentpole, not just a video game.
“I think that that’s a pretty brilliant way to look at it,” Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick tells Variety, when asked if that was the motivation for Rockstar’s “extended look” deal with Netflix.
