The Grand Theft Auto 6 announcement graphic has become the new CD Projekt Red apology as brands scramble to snag some hype of their own

Grand Theft Auto 6 trailer announcement template without text.
(Image credit: Rockstar Games)
Recent updates

BREAKING: Following a leak, the first Grand Theft Auto 6 trailer dropped early.

In case you missed it, a little-known developer called Rockstar finally revealed that its first trailer for Grand Theft Auto 6 would be dropping on December 5. With little more than a graphic with warm sunset tones, palm trees, and the words "Trailer 1, December 5, 9 AM ET," the developer set fans into an absolute frenzy.

I don't know how I didn't see it coming, but that template has proved prime fodder for tons of others to hop straight on the hype train. The days since Rockstar's reveal have seen CD Projekt Red apology levels of mimicry and memery. While the Cyberpunk template was mostly utilised by fans—especially since attempts by actual developers, like in Guilty Gear's ArcSystemWorks' case, were not received too well—this one has been co-opted by numerous developers.

Fall Guys' Mediatonic seems to have been one of the first to hop on the trend with their own rendition, giving one of their stages the same pinky-purple hue to announce a trailer coming on December 6. Other games like Halo Infinite, Overwatch, and Call of Duty swiftly joined in with GTA 6-themed announcement posts of their own, with the first two on December 4 and the latter on December 6.

It's even managed to expand beyond videogames, with the freakin' official São Paulo City account tweeting about the country's Samba Day using the Rockstar format. If that's not a sign of how much reach such a simple graphic has had, I don't know what is.

It makes sense for so many brands to be jumping in for their own slice of the hype pie, especially with something that's quickly becoming incredibly recognisable with relatively little effort. There'll no doubt be plenty more Rockstar replication moments in the future. For now, we have Grand Theft Auto 6's first trailer landing tomorrow (December 5) at 6 AM PT / 9 AM ET/ 2 PM GMT to pick apart frame-by-frame. We're definitely all going to be doing that, right?

Mollie Taylor
Features Producer

Mollie spent her early childhood deeply invested in games like Killer Instinct, Toontown and Audition Online, which continue to form the pillars of her personality today. She joined PC Gamer in 2020 as a news writer and now lends her expertise to write a wealth of features, guides and reviews with a dash of chaos. She can often be found causing mischief in Final Fantasy 14, using those experiences to write neat things about her favourite MMO. When she's not staring at her bunny girl she can be found sweating out rhythm games, pretending to be good at fighting games or spending far too much money at her local arcade.  

Read more
GTA 6 trailer
GTA 6: What we know about Rockstar's return to Vice City
GTA 6 — Lucia and her boyfriend kick in the door of a convenience store during an armed robbery, guns in hand.
Rockstar launched an official Discord server yesterday, and it's already a jungle in there
Grand Theft Auto 6 trailer still - woman in the front seat of a car, looking out the back window while holding a wad of cash
The specter of a GTA 6 delay haunts the games industry: 'Some companies are going to tank' if they guess wrong, says analyst
Grand Theft Auto 5
GTA 5's next-gen update finally has a March PC release date a mere 3 years after it prettied-up the console versions
A man with purple hair and face tattoos poses for a mugshot in the GTA 6 trailer.
Playable GTA 6 map nuked without warning by Take-Two lawyers: 'My guess is that the map was probably a little too accurate'
Michael sunbathing in GTA V
3 years later, GTA 5’s Enhanced edition finally comes to PC, and it’s somehow 22GB smaller than GTA 5 Cool Original flavour
Latest in Grand Theft Auto
gta 6 trailer
Publishers 'don't want to be anywhere near' Grand Theft Auto 6 when it launches: 'It's proving to be very stressful'
A man with purple hair and face tattoos poses for a mugshot in the GTA 6 trailer.
Playable GTA 6 map nuked without warning by Take-Two lawyers: 'My guess is that the map was probably a little too accurate'
Grand Theft Auto 6 trailer still - woman in the front seat of a car, looking out the back window while holding a wad of cash
The specter of a GTA 6 delay haunts the games industry: 'Some companies are going to tank' if they guess wrong, says analyst
A man holding a gun drives a boat as money flies out the back in GTA Online
Rockstar hornswoggles lapsed GTAO players with $3 million welcome-back offer that actually requires you to spend money to get most of it
GTA 5 characters
GTA 5 publisher takes legal aim at account-selling site for allegedly raking in 'millions in revenue', while recruiting hackers to keep its cogs turning
GTA 5 Enhanced
Grand Theft Auto 5 Enhanced is a bitter-sweet return to Rockstar's money-making machine
Latest in News
A Viera looking confused in Final Fantasy 14.
Old armor continues to fall victim to Final Fantasy 14's bizarre two-channel dye system, unless you're super into changing the colour of teeny-tiny eyelets: 'Why even bother at this point?'
Starfield: Shattered Space
By the time Bethesda was on Starfield, you'd 'basically get in trouble' for breaking schedule, says former dev: 'A lot of the great stuff within Skyrim came from having the freedom to do what you want'
Otter AI Meeting Agent
As if your work meetings weren't already fun enough, now Otter has a new all-hearing AI agent that remembers everything anyone has said and can join in the discussion
Monster Hunter Wilds' stockpile master studying a manifest
As layoffs and studio closures continue to deathroll the western AAA industry, analyst points out 5 of 8 major Japanese companies hit all-time share prices this year
Warhammer 40,000: Darktide Ogryn
Warhammer 40,000: Darktide adds a psychic horde murderzone mode and makes Ogryns even smashier
A woman wearing a VR headset with dramatic, colourful lighting across the background
'World’s smallest LEDs' could lead to accurately lit screens with 127,000 pixels per inch and much more immersive VR