Netflix’s GTA 6 Exclusive Seems Doomed

At long, long last, a fresh look at GTA 6 is coming later this month–if you have a Netflix subscription. More than a year has passed since Rockstar last uploaded a proper trailer for its highly anticipated open-world game, and on August 27, it’ll be a Netflix exclusive for several hours–or several minutes, knowing the current state of the internet.

The other concern around Netflix hosting this extended look at GTA 6, is if it can even handle the influx of traffic. Previous GTA 6 trailers pulled in millions of views on YouTube, and with all of the hype behind it, Netflix’s servers could be under a massive strain when it people sign in to see the new GTA 6 footage. It wouldn’t be the first time that that the streaming platform has buckled under the weight of its users, as the infamous Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul fight saw it struggle to livestream that sporting spectacle. Widespread buffering issues and crashes made it almost impossible for many people to properly view the bout, and GTA 6 is much bigger than watching a retired boxer go several rounds against a divisive sports personality.

Let’s be real: People are already making plans to rip that trailer and post it online as soon as possible, all in the service of chasing down social media views that could potentially be very lucrative and draw eyeballs to their accounts. It’s not exactly a novel idea, and even though Netflix has several systems in place to protect its intellectual property, there are ways around it via browser plugins or an old-fashioned camera aimed at a TV screen. If you stream it, they will rip it!

What this means is that you’ll likely see a flood of videos hit sites like YouTube. I’m no psychic, but if gambling sites allowed it, you could make free money by starting a betting pool for guessing what kind of an over-the-top thumbnail people will have prepped for their GTA 6 trailer reaction video. It’s worth noting that YouTube’s Content ID system could see these channels hit with copyright strikes as well, but there are ways around this.

While they vary from video to video, YouTubers have resorted to tricks like changing audio pitch, cropping videos, and adding overlays to game the system.

Given the loose enforcement on platforms like X, in particular, don’t be too surprised to see the entire trailer pop up there during Netflix’s window of exclusivity. The site has become a haven for stolen content over the last couple of years, with one notable example being the leak of the animated movie Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender, earlier this year. Within hours of its upload, copies of the film spread like wildfire across sites, spoiling what was intended to be the grand relaunch of the fan-favorite IP.

But for everyone else, that Netflix exclusivity won’t be too long! Once the trailer is uploaded properly to YouTube, the official version will likely be at the top of any search results for it. Overall, this is an interesting departure from your standard video game marketing and possibly a sign of things to come as Rockstar explores a new frontier.

Video games have begun to draw the attention of massive corporations like Disney over the years–which has a sizable investment stake in Epic Games, the company behind Fortnite–and GTA 6 could be the first of many high-profile games prioritizing new platforms over the standard YouTube model of promotion.

Who knows? The next look at The Elder Scrolls 6 or Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet could require you to sign up to Disney+ or Apple TV to get a sneak peek at it.