GTA 5 first trailer release date: A trip down its marketing history

GTA 5 was undoubtedly the most influential game of its time. The series continues to dominate the gaming market and frequently tops the sales charts. Rockstar Games laid a solid foundation for the title before its release. From announcing the game to releasing the first trailer and the follow-up activities, the OG fans still praise Rockstar’s strategy for releasing Grand Theft Auto 5.

However, these things happened over a decade ago, and most new players are unaware of them. This article briefly discusses how Rockstar Games marketed Grand Theft Auto 5 starting from its first trailer release.

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A brief history of the launch timeline of GTA 5

On November 2, 2011, Rockstar Games released the first trailer for GTA 5. The YouTube video Grand Theft Auto V Trailer currently has over 1.9 million likes and 92 million views, making it one of the most-watched video game trailers in YouTube history.

However, the gaming community was already hyped for the trailer as the studio teased it on October 25, 2011, via X (formerly Twitter) with a simple #GTAV hashtag and a link to its official website.

A few of the first Grand Theft Auto 5 screenshots (Image via Rockstar Games)

After releasing the first trailer, Rockstar Games went silent for several months. However, it released several in-game screenshots between the period of July 2012 and October 2012 to bring back the hype again. On October 30, 2012, the studio announced that Grand Theft Auto 5 would be released in Spring 2013.

In the following period, Rockstar released several other trailers for the game. Their release dates are as follows:

• Trailer 2: November 14, 2012
• Character introduction trailer: April 30, 2013
• First gameplay trailer: July 9, 2013
• Grand Theft Auto Online gameplay trailer: August 15, 2013
• Final trailer: August 29, 2013

The last was a GTA 5 gameplay trailer that demonstrated various aspects of the game and gave the community hints about what to expect from the title.

During the aforementioned period, the studio released several other screenshots and constantly updated its website to keep the community up-to-date. Rockstar Games also did real-world advertising by painting murals and covering popular monuments with game-related posters.

While the American game developer initially planned to release the game during the spring of 2013, it had to delay the release due to some production issues. However, on January 31, 2013, Rockstar announced that Grand Theft Auto 5 would be released on September 17, 2023.

The GTA 5 development process took nearly five years, and it was finally released on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on the aforementioned date. Despite having an unusual midnight release, the title made over $800 million on the opening night.

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Now that the studio has announced the GTA 6 trailer release date, fans are eager to see how Rockstar promotes the upcoming game.