Rockstar Games pulls back the curtain on ‘Grand Theft Auto VI’ after leak - NBC News

In “Grand Theft Auto VI,” even a life of crime requires good communication.

“Relationships are about communication, Jay,” Lucia Caminos tells her partner in crime, Jason Duval, as the game’s dual protagonists speed down the roads of Vice City, running late to an outing. Jason apologizes.

The exchange between the characters was featured in a 27-minute video preview for the long-awaited sixth installment of the game, which Rockstar Games unveiled in a hyped-up online event Netflix hosted Thursday.

The teaser, which was captured entirely from in-game video on PlayStation 5, offered fans a closer look at a title that has been more than a decade in the making.

But what was intended to be a blockbuster moment for the franchise was complicated by a hack last week in which material from the game was leaked to the public.

The online user claiming responsibility for the hack cited frustration with the video game industry’s shift away from physical media and toward digital ownership — a growing source of tension between publishers and players. Fans have also complained about the delayed rollout of the game, as well as the cost.

Rockstar Games acknowledged the leak in a statement Wednesday, calling it “heartbreaking” for the team. “And this is obviously not how we intended for you to see the game after all this time,” it wrote.

“We are very sorry that everything has taken as long as it has,” the statement continued, “from getting the game finished (nearly there!) to sharing more details and official gameplay, and providing the community with everything you want to know.”

The company encouraged fans to “wait a bit longer” to experience “GTA VI” for themselves on Nov. 19, when it arrives on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.

Netflix has not commented on the leak. In the lead-up to the exclusive preview, it leaned into the game’s passionate fan base.

Netflix has doubled down on its commitment to the gaming space in recent years. It previously partnered with Rockstar to bring “Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy — The Definitive Edition” to subscribers via the Apple App Store and Google Play and in the Netflix mobile app.

Brandon Riegg, Netflix’s head of nonfiction series, called the fan excitement around the game “unprecedented.”

“Grand Theft Auto reveals have become cultural moments in their own right,” he told Netflix’s online publication, Tudum.

The game’s newest installment will allow players to toggle between the perspectives of Jason and Lucia, who exhibit a Bonnie-and-Clyde dynamic as the player follows their story.

The preview began by showing the pair getting caught up in a drug bust, in which Jason pauses to pet a dog on their way into a pickup that ends in a shootout with police. Later, the dual protagonist perspectives come into play during a police chase when Lucia takes the wheel while Jason shoots out the window.

Outside of their life of crime, the first look gives a glimpse at the range of leisure activities available to the player — including shooting basketball, diving in the ocean, weightlifting, jet skiing and dancing at a strip club.

The developers behind the game told Dazed magazine that the “GTA VI” world will be “more grounded and reactive than before,” meaning non-player characters will react appropriately to players who walk down the street with rifles.

“GTA VI” will also feature changes in the protagonists’ physical condition akin to the system in Rockstar’s acclaimed “Red Dead Redemption 2.” That means, for example, Jason and Lucia can gain or lose weight, build muscle and incur physical markers of exhaustion.

Rockstar employees told Dazed that it took years of on-the-ground exploration in Florida to shape the game’s world, which is set in the fictional U.S. state of Leonida (based on Florida), with Vice City being inspired by Miami.

Rupert Humphries, Rockstar’s senior vice president of narrative, said: “We will meet with ex-criminals, law enforcement, club promoters, gun dealers and anyone notorious or influential who’ll take our calls. We hang out, get a feeling for the place, listen to the stories, cross-reference that with books and journalism, and try to get to the heart of which characters will bring the city we are creating to life.”

By Thursday afternoon, gamers were already analyzing the feature.

Some were enthusiastic about the new setting, with a user in a Reddit thread writing: “They really nailed Florida. It looks great outside of that nothing that makes me want to rush to cop it.”

Several fans marveled at the interactions in the preview. “LUCIA AND JASON ACTUALLY FEEL LIKE A REAL COUPLE IN GTA VI,” a fan page wrote on X. “The Extended Look shows small everyday moments between them. Rockstar seems to be putting a lot more focus on their relationship this time.”

Others criticized aspects of the game, like Jason’s voice. “The main character sounds so bored and monotone,” another Reddit user wrote. Some gamers also voiced their continued frustration about the price tag, which starts at $79.99.

Before the Netflix online event, Rockstar had also invited a small group of content creators and media to a “hands off preview,” meaning no one played the game, but they got an early glimpse of it.

“It’s notable that, for its very first gameplay presentation to the press, what Rockstar chose to show wasn’t a dramatic set piece; it was a slice of the world,” the gaming publication IGN wrote in its preview report. “It was a ballsy move that showed an eagerness to signal to players just how much awaits them in this new, bigger, and better criminal playground.”

“The biggest takeaway?” the publication wrote. “Those streets are going to be home to the best type of chaos.”

Angela Yang is a culture and trends reporter for NBC News.