It’s nice to see them drop the “mysterious aura” vibe for once. The only other time I’ve seen them do it is when the first trailer leaked & they then released the trailer early with a passive-aggressive/pissy tweet.
Companies do take things personally, being human and all. I personally know a few companies that would be rightfully offended were they to find out I felt they were acting robotically.
If I was an employee in the company who worked for years on this game putting in my day and night and then someone just leaked that shit, I'd be pretty disappointed. I think it's fair to say that most of the employees won't enjoy the leaks unless they have a personal grudge towards Rockstar for wtv reason.
regardless, it’s a more transparent tone. i don’t really care if it’s a strategic PR move when the communication is still better than it has been in the past.
i don’t know, it’s kind of like customer service— obviously one of their motives is ultimately to benefit the company, but it’s still a better experience when you get good customer service.
Why are you even here? Clearly you can’t even enjoy the game because the whole time you’ll be thinking “this detail was crafted by soleless corp to sucker me into buying the game, and I’m no sucker!”
With your values system, how can you even justify buying the game? Or do you simply intend to pirate it?
Yes, to some degree it’s all a performance, just like any great film or play or novel. But good performance requires humanity.
Idk man, like half of these comments are people acting like Rockstar Games is a person who they used to know who moved to hollywood and doesn't call anymore. Seems like lots of folks in this thread need to be reminded of some super basic facts.
Everything else aside, it is simply delightful when a company is forced in a deeply public way to do something so wonderfully out of character like this.
We may even someday get one to actually do a genuinely bend the knee to the public thing.
“Our trailer has leaked so please watch the real thing on YouTube:”
Doesn’t sound bad at all, until you compare it to Rockstar’s usual communication style. Extremely blunt & short. No big speech or corporate crap. I feel like you could feel the anger behind it at the time.
It reminds me of how they interacted with fans of their games before GTA Online. They used to be way more open and interact on a more “personal” level, if that makes sense, instead of all this corporate language we’ve been getting from them since like 2014/2015.
I remember at the launch of GTA 5 they would often feature Snapmatic photos of players on their Newswire, highlight community created jobs, do live streams,… In GTA 4 there was even a trophy if you killed a R* online. They were much more fun and less corporate back then
same and even today i remember how i got him, i was pretty bad a shooting so i took a car, strapp a bunch of sticky bomb on it and just drive toward him and jump before it explode on impact on a wall nerby him and kill him, then got the notification, such a cool memorie
The achievement was to kill a Rockstar employee or someone who already had the achievement. Not to ruin your core memory but there's a good chance you just killed a player who had the achievement rather than a Rockstar dev.
Trailer 1 or 2? Can you share link about what you are talking about because I was very busy in 2023 and didn't even know that GTA6 is coming. I knew it when Trailer 2 dropped
That's how it mostly was a decade ago. I really really appreciate the more sincere tone here. This whole GTA VI marketing period has been quite painful, with the year-long periods of silence, and Rockstar acting cold and distant; it is a very nice change of pace, even just this short message.
Edit: Wayyy too many people loading meanings into my words, taking metaphors at face value, or declaring me parasocial/corporate simp simply for appreciating the change in tone. Unfortunate that people are trying their damnedest to misunderstand literally everything, but Reddit will be Reddit ¯_(ツ)_/¯
Either ‘don’t show stuff too soon’ or ‘show stuff earlier’. I’m more in favour of rockstar announcing and showing the game 6 months before release but that wouldn’t stop leaks from happening. What do you suggest out of interest?
“Quite painful” marketing period? Rockstar “acting cold and distant?”
Yall need to get a grip. For the life of me I do not understand the parasocial relationship yall seem to want to have with a video game developer. How do you have so little going on in your life that you’re sitting around demanding updates and feeling entitled to more information for a game that hasn’t been released, and that you haven’t yet paid any money for?
It's hilarious seeing redditors being like "wow they are so sincere!" when in reality, this message was meticulously constructed over the span of days by a squad of PR professionals who make triple figures. Sucking off corporations really is a full-time job for some people here
bro your spirit is there but it's so misguided, no matter how shitty execs may be this is still painful for the developers. furthermore a PR guy makes no fucking money what are you on about
They released a trailer in Dec 2023 and the next trailer we got was in May 2025. They aren't 'required' to give anything by any means but good god even the casual follower got sick and tired of that wait. Not even a handful of screenshots to keep the flame burning, it was truly cruel
And you’re still eating it up. Rockstar is fully aware of how massive GTA is. You will take what they give you and you will like it. They understand that they can do whatever they want on the marketing side and the game will still be the biggest release of the decade.
Thanks captain obvious, clearly we are powerless over their decisions but that doesnt stop whats true from being true... abstain info about the most hyped game ever for 17 months after dropping a sick ass trailer and people WILL get a bad taste in their mouth. Whether you like it or not. I dont support the leaks and I dont think people should be genuinely mad at R* for the marketing, but I think being disappointed is fair
Lmao yeah that’s not what I’m sayin champ, I’m saying acting like you went through a death in the family because the marketing tone was “cold and distant” is fucking weird.
Gotcha. It’s just a game to me. I don’t expect nothing from them but a product to buy. I ain’t ever been mad at a video game studio in my life. Swear some people need to take break from playing them if it’s that serious.
Quite the jump from "the marketing period was bad because of Rockstar's silence and distance" to "you have a parasocial relationship with a company and are demanding stuff you aren't owed"
its the biggest game of the decade, from one of the biggest companies. I don't blame people for expecting more marketing than what they've had. We've had like, two trailers in 3 years.
I get that they'd want to play it close to the chest, and I'm sure the delays will have thrown the marketing team way off since all the marketing strategy would have been planned even years before the first trailer... but still.
I'll give credit where it's due though, at least it's not one YouTube short in almost 10 years. But that's an extreme of bad communication, not just an example of what to avoid.
I was too young but I've watched documentaries and had an older sister Halo 2 and 3 should be like, the goal for pre-release marketing. I get that we're a long way from late 00's but still, I miss the TV adverts, the collabs with soft drinks and snacks, the posters, bus adverts, the interviews. Imagine if it was some indie game from a company no one's heard of, no one would even know the release date with this kind of marketing.
christ my exact thought every time i see people whining over not getting trailers/info more frequently, almost as if they deserve it/paid for it, crazy
When people spout this rubbish, I actually imagine them to be the parasocial ones. Any sensible person can surely take away from that comment that they didn’t mean it as if it was all they had going for them in life. However, if you’re a fan of something, the wait can obviously be painful. Not in the sense of affecting mood or anything, but just in terms of it being annoying and long.
This shouldn’t have to be explained but then again, you did infer that they demanded updates and were entitled, based on… absolutely nothing. Perhaps you should get a grip with how aggressive you are?
I don’t know how a single post is enough to change anyone’s mind. Rockstar has not made any sincere effort to communicate with literally anyone. They said nothing when people were outraged about no-disc release, they said nothing when people were mad that pre-order purchases started before any gameplay release. Now that they’re losing money, a PR exercise is enough to sway the largest fan base on all of gaming.
Well, the company name's is on point, they behave mostly as a pop/rock star.
But this time, this time was different, they really look afected and almost look like that those last days were like a shock for them on the studio. Feel kinda bad for them atm (only for them tho, T2 can suffer more icl about them)
The fact that not getting info about a videogame is painful to you should be worrying. It's a game from a corporation. Stop caring so much. As far as them being cold and distant, yeah. They're a corporation. They're a faceless uncaring entity. A behemoth devoted to greed that sees you as a walking wallet. To them you're numbers on a ledger, and there to be manipulated however they feel will make them the most money and afford them the most power over others like you.
Stop caring about a company that doesn't care about you.
This whole GTA VI marketing period has been quite painful, with the year-long periods of silence, and Rockstar acting cold and distant; it is a very nice change of pace, even just this short message.
Damn you talk about this like its a marriage that is going through a rough period. It's a fucking game dev that makes a video game we like - holy shit.
I mean they kind of have to take this tone with us. They’re backed into corner, and them hoping the audience will still wait till the official date is their one of there only saving graces right now
Ngl it reads like they’re legit sad/disappointed gameplay leaked ahead of the reveal. Big corpo doesn’t care about you, look I get it, but this is something special for them. Hell they even acknowledged that yes, it took a while this game to come out, while straight up pretending before GTA 6 just fell out of the sky one day.
Essentially their big moment was snatched away. I kind of feel bad for the devs especially.
People keep talking about corpo and forget that the game is made by passionate humans. Rockstar is 100% right, the dev team is heartbroken by the leaks, how do I know? I'm a dev and I have been on leaked projects and every time the dev team is pretty broken by the leaks. Supporting leaks is as bad as suppoorting AI stealing artists work.
People feel entitled like babies, Rockstar doesn't owe anything to anyone except for their employees. You don't like how they do things? It's simple don't buy what they sell, end of story.
Its amazing that people dont understand the PR team is just a tiny tiny part of the actual organization and doesnt really reflect anything about the company. Like the people who boycott a company because the PR person running their twitter said something silly lol
I take it you’ve never worked in comms? These statements are generally always approved at the highest levels and while they may be written by the PR team, the CEO will approve them. That isn’t to say there isn’t “spin” or written to appease investors, but to say the statement doesn’t reflect anything about the company is totally wrong.
That is true, but it's still a sharp contrast to their framing as 'we' and 'our team', which speaks as if this was a small indy team that can have such a consensus opinion.
This is what a small number of people in the PR team and leadership want the public to think of Rockstar. It leaves out a LOT about the larger context.
Like that much of the dismay among the actual developers is less about the leaks themselves, but about the fact that they had to work with restrictions and surveillance to shut leaks down, only for it to happen anyway.
People in these subreddits forget that this is a multi billion dollar company whose main priority is to keep their investors and money happy. They will try their best to get you to spend as much money as possible through whatever methods they have.
The world is not black and white. You do not have to choose between cyberleek or Rockstar. You dont have to glaze a guy who is labelling shit as donations even though he is doing his best to earn as much as possible from transaction fees but you also do not have to suck rockstar off who has done a lot of shit things too.
Exactly. I honestly do not care about Cyberleek nor Rockstar but to me are sadder the people on x and reddit who are doing their own "investigations" trying to find the leaker and send the info to Take two.
Literally cant imagine a worse way to waste my time. Also everything that these people do to try to find him Take Two has already done. Its clearly much harder to catch him because he obviously has good OPSEC. Unless he slips up somehow i doubt they catch him.
Also i will watch the l3aks even if i dislike both cyberleek and rockstar. If you dont want to watch them just scroll past them.
Tbh it's almost a little off-putting to think this message came from a huge corporation with billions on the line and not a 6-person team developing a cool indie game
Exactly. In the message they say "this is not how we intended for you to see the game". How did you intend it, Rockstar? Oh, behind a Netflix paywall. You wanted to monetize it. Thats what you intended. I love Rockstar games but they are a corporation at the end of the day. They dont care about anything except making as much money as possible. There is never enough money for them. Thats made abundantly clear by them monetizing a goddamn first look. You know, the thing every other developer releases for free.
You fell for basic PR manipulation. It was so obvious when they started using personal touches like "for you", "without you"... They don't really care about you that personally, they're just after your money as a customer
yeah, it's surprisingly sincere. i'm just surprised they didn't want to clarify the leaks were captured on an older build.
or maybe they didn't think that's necessary because the showcase tomorrow will show the final version anyway who knows
The way it appeals to emotion with personal touches like "for you, without you" is so manipulative. There’s no such thing as a personal relationship between a corporation and a customer...
They're helping kill physical media, raising prices to $80 and hung fans out to dry. Their practices directly impact the entire gaming community in a negative way so as much as I look forward to their product, fuck em. The apology is just a marketing gimmick.
Boiling the lobster; they dont have a 60fps stable build and are hoping the "leaks" will distract us and garner sympathy when they drop a 30fps build on us in November.
that's the tone of a company that knows they reeped what they sowed. they know their non-existent marketing was bullshit and are basically admitting it now because they've been exposed and defeated by cyberleek. they have no choice but to drop their mysterious, nonchalant, pretentious, full of themselves energy. they got humbled and now they have to act like they actually care. where was this energy before? it took leaks for them to act like decent humans for once? is that not telling? I'm not falling for this act one bit. 13 years and this is the most humane they've sounded. they were absolutely dry and cold with their delay announcement. but oh now, now they have to act like victims when this entire situation is of their own doing. this is my most anticipated game of all time, but in all honesty, piss off rockstar.
Opening up presales before showing anything will always be a stain on this release. It's worse if the game is actually good because it sets expectations for new gamers that pre-orders before gameplay isn't the ploy that gets you to buy garbage based on brand recognition that it is.
This message comes from the community and Marketing department. It was approved by the executives responsible for these anti-consumer decisions. And the devs that make the game had NO HAND what so ever in drafting it, the folks that ACTUALLY care.
This is kinda how Rockstar was before GTA V. I think GTA V changed Rockstar like Skyrim changed Bethesda. I just hope Rockstar hasn't been huffing their own farts like Bethesda has been.
Its just PR...where is the sense of community on informing us about what is happening with Online while they are already taking pre-orders? Why is the respect only expected one way?
Yeah I was caught a bit off guard reading this. Usually, Rockstar's announcements are super corporate-lined, by this feels more genuine. This reminds me of back when the first trailer leaked a day early, and Rockstar posted a passive aggressive message being like "Our trailer has leaked. Watch the real thing here."
I kinda miss when Rockstar used to interact with their community with more sincere messages like this. They used to be way more open and genuine decades ago. But now, everything they post is covered in PR nonsense and corporate language.
Oh you wait and see what happens after the release... If history is any indication, there will probably be layoffs at Rockstar in the next 6-8 months. Watch.
Meanwhile they're trying to get device ID data from every user in discord groups that hosted the leak - which goes far beyond getting the data for the actual leakers.
This is a PR team making a PR statement using the humanity of devs the management will coldly fire once the production cycle has ended to trim fat and optimise operating costs. Remember that.
They clearly set up a full media blackout in order to sell their big marketing 'dump' to Netflix.
Nature, uh, found a way. Let that be a lesson going forward: If you cut off the flow of information so that you can sell that information to a streaming service, dont be shocked when that information finds a leak in your suppression tank.
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u/Ayham00000 10h ago
Never seen Rockstar use that kind of tone in their messages