GTA 6 pre-orders will open Thursday, June 25, developer Rockstar Games announced today.
Rockstar also released the cover art for Grand Theft Auto 6 in a dedicated reveal trailer – the first significant movement from the game in quite some time. Here's the full GTA 6 cover art:
Rockstar clarifies: "Pre-orders for Grand Theft Auto VI will officially begin on June 25 on digital storefronts and at other select retailers."
The cover art for GTA 6 follows Rockstar convention. Graphic novel-style illustrations fill tiled chunks of the cover with character and literal characters, with my favorite being the bi ol' alligator smack in the middle. That's the real main character, right there. The expected fleet of vehicles – helicopters, bikes, speedboats, motorcycles – and sexy people complete a wreath of madness below protagonists Lucia and Jason.
The main differences compared to GTA 5's cover are the more tropical theme and the numbering. Rockstar's blown out the Roman numerals for six and made them an element of the background this time. And let us reiterate: there's a gator this time.
We're still awaiting word on GTA 6's pricing and special editions. Speculative talk of a $100 baseline for GTA 6 has generally died down, but many are still bracing – and, purportedly behalf of the whole struggling games industry, even arguing – for an $80 sticker price.
Owner Take-Two will surely seek to balance profit per copy sold with plans for GTA 6 online, which will want to bring in as many players as possible for the long-tail monetization that has really earned Rockstar its billions.
"I don't know where GTA Online performance goes after the release of GTA 6," says Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick, but he sure doesn't expect it to drop off.
