Rockstar Games recently unveiled a 90-minute trailer for Grand Theft Auto VI. Within a single day, it had been watched 90,421,491 times, making it the most viewed videogame reveal on YouTube in 24 hours, according to Guinness World Records. Many millions more have watched it since.
Such excitement was to be expected. The Grand Theft Auto franchise has long been a smash hit – sales of the crime series have reached 410 million copies, firmly placing it in the top five best-selling franchises of all time, behind Mario, Tetris, Pokémon and Call of Duty.
It’s easy to see why, too. The games allow players to indulge their dark side, letting them loose in a vast environment to enjoy an open-world adventure with few rules. Across the series, gamers can steal cars and planes, rob banks and people, engage in shoot-outs and fight it out with cops. It’s also possible to get drunk, watch TV, go to the cinema and play a game of tennis or golf… before running red lights and running over pedestrians.
Wholesome it ain’t, but the carefree approach is only part of the story. During the course of such mayhem, the series has taken a satirical swipe at American culture, explored social issues and spawned a genre of its own. Importantly, the games, as uncomfortable as they can be at times, are also laden with humour, having been developed with tongues firmly in cheeks. They’ve been created to
