It’s been seven years since Grand Theft Auto 5 was released. While DLC and updates to GTA Online have held fans over for a while, some are beginning to wonder when the next game will make an appearance. Well, if one online theory is correct, Grand Theft Auto 6, or at least an announcement, could be right around the corner.
One Reddit user believes that Rockstar plans to announce Grand Theft Auto 6 during the Super Bowl on February 7th. While even they admit it’s a long shot, they believe the possibility exists.
An alleged leak from 2019 claimed that Grand Theft Auto 6 would take place partly in Florida and center around the Latin American drug trade. This is central to the theory presented by Reddit user ItsTreDay1, who points out that Super Bowl 55 will take place in Tampa, Florida. The previous Superbowl took place in Miami, Florida, the inspiration for GTA: Vice City. A Florida-set GTA 6 might mean a return to Vice City, although a GTA stand-in for Tampa is also an option.
On top of that, there were the references to GTA: Vice City during last year’s Super Bowl. During the big game, the NFL used fonts and graphics similar to the ones used on Vice City’s box art. This included team names written in Grand Theft Auto’s signature fonts. Another graphic was almost identical to the game’s logo, while a third referenced GTA’s iconic box art. These were likely nods to the connection between Miami and GTA. Still, it’s possible something more was going on.
And ItsTreDay1 has another piece of evidence to support their claim. Canadian singer-songwriter The Weeknd is scheduled to perform at the Super Bowl Half Time show. Last year, The Weeknd’s Blinding Lights music video briefly showed an arrow-shaped sign reading, “GTA 6 Trailer.” The sign was only visible for a few frames, one of several floating across the screen. Still, it was enough to attract the attention of GTA fans.
It turns out that the video took the words on all of the signs from YouTube comments about the song. Several commenters thought Blinding Lights would be a great fit for a GTA 6 trailer, leading to its mention in the music video. However, that would not be the craziest viral marketing scheme ever. There’s clearly overlap between fans of The Weeknd and Grand Theft Auto.
Now, for some, this theory might be drifting a bit too close to tinfoil hat territory. Reddit is full of game announcement speculation, and only rarely are they even close. Even ItsTreDay1 realizes this is a pretty big longshot. Still, it is not entirely impossible that Rockstar would be interested in a cross-promotion. For all anyone outside Rockstar knows, the studio might even have intended to announce the game during last year’s Super Bowl. It’s not like there weren’t loads of other delays in 2020.
Grand Theft Auto 6 is currently in development.
Source: Charlie Intel, ItsTreDay on Reddit