The advertising window for GTA 6 will be narrower than any game Rockstar has released before.

The basic argument goes like this:
- Rockstar is (part of) a publicly traded company (TakeTwo)
- Publicly traded companies are beholden to shareholders
- Shareholders expect the company to use their invested (and earned) capital in the most efficient way possible
- Rockstar understands the popularity of the GTA IP and has decided that investing in a long marketing push would not provide enough benefit, and would cost more money, than a condensed marketing push closer to the release of the game.

Many people are confused as to why Rockstar hasn't given us anything relating to Grand Theft Auto in more than a year, but I must ask you to step back and ask yourself the question "what do they have to gain?". As a franchise, Grand Theft Auto is leaps and bounds one of the most popular, most valuable IPs in entertainment history. Since Q4 of FY 2015 GTA has made no less than $129m a quarter, peaking at an astonishing Q3 2022 revenue of $310m in a single quarter - and this isn't including the initial $1.5b made on the sale of the game following its release.

I understand many feel negatively towards the idea that Rockstar is a company that's primary responsibility is to continue making products, and providing services, that continue to increase revenues, while simultaneously finding ways to reduce costs, but that is just how publicly traded organizations work in our current economic system. Not to mention, if you've ever been part of a massive project that is spread out across continents (literally) I am sure you understand the kinds of things that are most likely happening "behind the scenes" at Rockstar. They aren't spending time and money on advertising because they are allocating resources towards actual development and ensuring the timeline they are aiming for is met. The amount of boring "stand up" meetings that happen every morning within various teams at Rockstar are what ensure that the project stays on track, they don't need (or want) fans to know about anything until they are confident that the product they are showing is exactly what they want it to be. I am unsure if they use SCRUM/Agile project management structures, but I am certain there is some kind of system in place that has a primary purpose of keeping teams on track. Not to mention, in our modern media environment, with our current average attention spans, it is more pragmatic to condense marketing in order to keep that hype train rolling. Saves money, doesn't waste time.

To conclude, I'd just say that Rockstar doesn't need to have a long advertising period, and they know that. They aren't worried about it because they also know that they are making a game that will be groundbreaking. While leadership has changed throughout the years at Rockstar, I cannot imagine that they will fumble this bag, they know that there is $10b+ to be made over the coming years if they do it right - if you buy into the idea that these organizations just do everything for the money (which is partially correct, but don't equate the organization with all of those who make up the organization) I hope that the forecasted possible earnings will help convince you that they are doing whatever it takes to not fuck this up because they want that coin. As far as the initial trailer, I honestly think that it has more to do with it having been their 25th anniversary than anything else.

Take a breath, hearing nothing is probably the best case scenario, it proves that they are confident enough about their timeline that they don't feel the need to expose anything about the game that they don't need to expose. This is giving them the awesome opportunity to build an incredible, complex piece of art that will be able to be shared with fans when they are ready for it to be shared. I very badly want to get something about the game too, so this might just be cope in order to soothe myself, lol.

Does anyone else care to chime in, or does anyone else disagree and is willing to write out why that is?

Hope everyone is having a great day (which many should, TakeTwo confirmed the same 2025 timeline!).

Sources:
- TakeTwo Earnings
- Previous experiences working on large scale, cross-functional projects
- Vibes