It’s been a long, long wait for fans, but preorders for the highly anticipated video game Grand Theft Auto VI, the first new version in the best-selling game series in 13 years, begin June 25 on the PlayStation and Microsoft stores, according to a release and short video posted June 18.
True to the game’s heavily Florida-inspired feel, the revealed cover artwork depicts guns, a sports car, a speeding boat, a motorcycle, and a helicopter, as well as a hungry alligator, a flamingo, and a woman in a bikini.
Rockstar Games, the company behind the pop culture juggernaut, has not released pricing information yet. The game is scheduled to be released on Nov. 19, after two delays.
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The last trailer, which racked up 20 million views within a few hours of being released more than a year ago, had a distinctly Florida vibe. It’s crammed with beautiful seaside locations, palm trees, seagulls, scruffy houses on stilts, neon-covered downtown areas, white, orange, and green license plates, gators, beer, boats, fishing, iguanas, the indescribable golden sunlight of a Florida sunset, and a main character named, of course, Duval.
Watch the Grand Theft Auto VI trailer
GTA VI loaded with Florida settings
“The glamour, hustle, and greed of America captured in a single city,” Rockstar Games’ website says about Vice City, the main hub of the game that’s basically Miami with the serial numbers filed off. But the new game brings five more locations to visit, each one capturing the feel of a different part of the Sunshine State.
“Each neighborhood has something to offer, from the pastel art deco hotels and bright white sands of Ocean Beach, to the bustling panaderías of Little Cuba and the bootleg brands of the Tisha-Wocka flea market, out to the VC Port, the cruise ship capital of the world,” Rockstar said.
Other locations include “Leonida Keys,” the gator-filled “Grassrivers,” “Port Cellhorn” filled with “cheap motels, shut-down attractions and empty strip malls,” and a familiar-looking massive cruise ship, the industrial town “Ambrosia” that features a local sugar refinery and a biker gang, and “Mount Kalaga,” a national park along the state’s northern border.
This and the previous trailer also contain multiple references to real-life events from the Sunshine State. Fans noticed quick glimpses of viral Florida characters resembling the “Florida Joker,” a naked man watering his garden, a woman twerking on top of a moving car, and more.
What is Grand Theft Auto?
Started in 1997, Grand Theft Auto refers to a series of action-adventure video games that allow players to dive into the seedy underworld of different cities and rise through the criminal underworld through, basically, auto theft and lots of violence. They are known for their very adult themes, top-of-the-line animation, and A-list voice actors, including Ray Liotta, Dennis Hopper, Samuel L. Jackson, William Fichtner, James Woods, Debbie Harry, Axl Rose, and Peter Fonda.
Until Minecraft tipped the scales, the decade-old Grand Theft Auto V was the best-selling video game of all time, with nearly $8 billion in revenue since its release. It holds seven Guinness World Record titles, including the highest revenue generated by an entertainment product in 24 hours: $815.7 million in first-day sales.
What is Grand Theft Auto VI about?
Along with another jump in animation quality, GTA VI features something new: two protagonists instead of one, a man and a woman.
According to the trailer description, “Jason and Lucia have always known the deck is stacked against them. But when an easy score goes wrong, they find themselves on the darkest side of the sunniest place in America, in the middle of a criminal conspiracy stretching across the state of Leonida — forced to rely on each other more than ever if they want to make it out alive.”
When does Grand Theft Auto VI launch?
The game, originally scheduled for 2025, is set to launch on Nov. 19, 2026, for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S consoles.
C. A. Bridges is a journalist for the USA TODAY Network-Florida’s service journalism Connect team. You can get all of Florida’s best content directly in your inbox each weekday by signing up for the free newsletter, Florida TODAY.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Grand Theft Auto VI preorders announced for Florida-inspired game
Reporting by C. A. Bridges, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida / Palm Beach Post
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By C. A. Bridges, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida | USA TODAY Network
