In today’s modern age, where technology and how we “interact” with it are measured in various ways, we often look at a certain kind of success merely by view count. That goes double when you put things on the internet in places like social media and YouTube, where views, likes, and shares can determine how “viral” your thing went. Today, we’re talking about GTA 6 and the trailers it’s put out so far. While fans are waiting on the third trailer to debut, people on Reddit realized that the game’s first trailer has literally double the views of the second trailer. Should it be that way, though?
The simple answer is “yes,” but there is nuance to this. Oh, and no, it’s not just a case of “well, the first trailer has been out a year longer!” Time actually isn’t the biggest factor here, especially since the second trailer has been out for almost a year itself.
As many noted in the comments, the biggest reason for the first trailer being such a “massive viewing magnet” is hype. This was literally the FIRST look at GTA 6, period. You also need to remember that before the first trailer ever dropped, Rockstar Games had that MASSIVE leak that got the whole game community talking, as they were wondering “how this would look in its final form,” and game devs coming together to support Rockstar by noting that the alpha footage that was leak was “how many games look in that stage.”
Thus, when the trailer did drop, and it showed off the beauty of Vice City and the greater state of Leonida, players and critics alike wanted to examine it repeatedly to see all that they could spot. It was also the first chance to look at the main protagonists of Jason and Lucia, and that was another key reason to re-watch the trailer multiple times.
As another commenter noted, the first trailer was also locked exclusively to YouTube, and thus, everyone had to go there to watch it. With the second trailer, Rockstar Games spread it out a bit more. So, if you add up all the social media views alongside the YouTube views, the numbers could actually be a lot closer.
The question, though, is how the third trailer will do. Many think it could easily surpass the first trailer because Rockstar will have its “marketing machine” behind it. It’ll depend on what is shown in the trailer, including whether they show gameplay or if they focus on the story campaign once again.
