The Game Awards 2025 is just around the corner, and with the annual celebration of the year’s best video games come never-before-seen looks at what’s next. And when it comes to that question of “what’s next” for the video game industry, there’s no answer more obvious than the launch of Grand Theft Auto 6. Video game companies have planned their releases around GTA 6’s various release dates, with Rockstar’s delays giving any game that was releasing in the vicinity of the most anticipated video game ever a sigh of relief. While Grand Theft Auto 6 is a fair bit away once again, many fans are craving another look at the open-world game to soften the blow — though said look really shouldn’t be expected to come via The Game Awards.
Rockstar Games Has a History of Doing Its Own Thing
In recent history, Rockstar has continued its trend of unveiling its games away from the biggest shows of the year. It hasn’t needed E3, PlayStation or Xbox Showcases, Gamescom, The Game Awards, or any other stage to amplify its reach. Rockstar knows that whenever it makes an announcement, even if it comes on a random day and time of the week, gamers will instantly flock to its socials and spread the trailer like wildfire. Grand Theft Auto 6’s trailers thus far prove this, with the game’s debut footage released days before The Game Awards 2023, and the second look at the game coming earlier in May alongside a big information blowout. This approach applies to other Rockstar releases as well.
Red Dead Redemption 2, for example, was a surprise reveal, coming shortly after Rockstar changed its social media profile pictures to tease that something was coming. Rockstar released deep dives for the game on its own socials, dodging gaming events much like it has done for GTA 6’s marketing. The same exact approach was taken for Grand Theft Auto 5’s announcement in 2011, with the game’s reveal and its first trailer coming directly from the Rockstar Games website as opposed to being a shocking announcement at a showcase of some kind. Rockstar has largely avoided having a presence at gaming events for a decade and a half, as while it may show up to highlight remasters or GTA Online updates, it handles any looks at its upcoming games personally. Rockstar has never shown a trailer for one of its upcoming games at The Game Awards before, so there’s no reason to believe it will do so now.
Grand Theft Auto 6’s Delay Announcement Should Lower Expectations For a Trailer 3
Unless someone has been living under a rock, they’ll have heard about Grand Theft Auto 6’s latest delay, which saw the game moving from May to November of next year. This pushback to give Rockstar time to polish the game and make it as bug-free as possible was a letdown for many fans, with hope for a Trailer 3 springing from that disappointment. However, if the game is basically an entire year away from its release, there’s no reason to start building hype now. Rockstar clearly has high standards for every piece of material it releases for GTA 6, and rushing out a trailer purely to cheer fans up — as opposed to waiting until closer to release where it will actually serve a marketing purpose — doesn’t make all that much sense. GTA 6 Trailer 3 releasing anytime soon becomes even less likely when looking at Rockstar’s wording in the latest delay announcement:
- When Grand Theft Auto 6 was delayed out of 2025 and into 2026, Rockstar said that it “looked forward to sharing more information soon.” Sure enough, four days after the delay, the second trailer was released.
- With Rockstar’s latest delay announcement, there was no such promise about new information being shared in the near future. Instead, the studio simply apologized and assured players the extra wait would be worth it.
It’s now been weeks since the delay to November 19, 2026, was announced, and there has been no trailer, nor any indication that one is imminent. While there is a small chance that Rockstar repeats history and shadow drops a trailer days before The Game Awards, and an even smaller chance that it breaks from previous trends and features its game at TGA itself, players should be prepared for Trailer 3 to both no-show the event and be kept under wraps for the first few months of 2026. Overall, the odds of Grand Theft Auto 6 Trailer 3 being shown at The Game Awards are not good at all.
Systems
Released
November, 2026
ESRB
Rating Pending – Likely Mature 17+
