The Great Grand Theft Auto VI Trailer Caper

Earlier today, a twitter account called "trailer leaker" (@Gta6trailerleak) sprung to life and posted a single tweet. It contained the word "$BTC" (Bitcoin) and, as the account's name suggested, also the full Grand Theft Auto VI launch trailer, leaked a day ahead of time.

Anyone wanting to watch the trailer was now able to! Of course they'd have to watch a grainy, low-res version with the words "BUY $BTC" watermarked across the entire thing, but if they wanted to, it was there.

Not long after, the account promised that if it attracted 10,000 followers, they'd post a version without the watermark. Before that could happen, however, the account was nuked from orbit, showing that while they care nothing for racist abuse on the platform, whoever is still in the chair at Twitter support can at least react to copyright claims:

You gotta wonder who the leaker was, and what's going to happen to them given the way the hammer dropped so fast on them. Of course I'm also willing to entertain the idea that, given the other zeitgeisty stuff in the trailer (like copious use of TikTok), the crypto-heavy "leak" was just part of the marketing plan all along, because not long after @Gta6trailerleak's demise came this:

What a weird sequence of events. Anyway, trailer looks great! I was wondering how they were going to handle Vice City in the modern age, given so much of the original game's appeal was that it was so damn 80s. I guess they just figure they're going to make this one so damn 2023 instead.