After a remarkably long period of inactivity on this front, Rockstar Games finally shared a new update about GTA 6, revealing its June 25 pre-order date and the official cover art.
While this isn’t the new trailer that fans have long been asking for, it is another morsel to devour for the GTA community on the internet, which has been starved of new information for over a year.
The GTA 6 cover art doesn’t deviate from that of its predecessors but instead follows the same tiled design that has become an iconic trait of the long-running series. However, there are more commonalities between the new cover art and those we have seen in the past than you may notice initially.
The observations below propose interesting theories and thus could possibly give us more insight into the game before its console launch on November 19.
Important things in GTA 6 cover art you probably didn’t notice
1. New cover girl
Since GTA 3, the first 3D title in the series, each mainline entry has featured a “cover girl” who has appeared on the box art but also, in most cases, on one of the respective game’s loading screens. Fans got their first look at GTA 6’s version of the cover girl when Rockstar recently revealed the forthcoming game’s official cover art.
Since 2001, 8 of the past 11 entries in the series, including spin-offs, have featured a cover girl on the box art. From GTA 3’s Misty to GTA 5’s selfie-clicking blonde, various different women have appeared in this role.
2. Series tradition involving helicopters
Another cover art trait that has been consistent since GTA 3 is the presence of a helicopter in the top-left corner. Only certain spin-offs, namely GTA Advance, GTA 4: The Lost And Damned, and GTA 4: The Ballad Of Gay Tony, didn’t have this recurring feature. However, even among them, the compilation edition of the latter two games did have a helicopter in the usual spot.
Taking forward this long-running tradition, GTA 6 also features a helicopter at the top-left of its cover art. Interestingly, it looks like the Sea Sparrow, an amphibious helicopter, which has been a part of every GTA game set in Vice City. Although this vehicle does appear in GTA Online, its inclusion in the new game’s single-player campaign would mark the first time it has appeared in the series since 2006’s Vice City Stories.
3. Protagonists return to cover yet again
Protagonists of GTA’s early 3D games were presumably a shy bunch. While GTA 3’s Claude didn’t speak at all throughout the entire game, Tommy Vercetti and Carl Johnson are saved from the public eye, similar to Claude, by their exclusion from the cover art.
But this thing changed with GTA 4, which put its main character, Niko Bellic, at the center of the game’s marketing. It was the first entry in the franchise to feature the protagonist on the cover art. After that, GTA 5’s trio of Michael-Trever-Franklin also graced the cover of their game. And now, GTA 6’s Jason Duvall and Lucia Caminos have followed suit.
4. Raul Bautista in Lance Vance colors
One major observation highlights how Raul Bautista in GTA 6’s cover art looks very similar to how Vice City antagonist Lance Vance is depicted on the 2002 game’s cover. Both are sporting a white jacket, a pastel shirt, a pair of sunglasses, and even ear jewelry. Additionally, both of them are also carrying a gun.
On Rockstar’s official website, Bautista is described as a key character in GTA 6. In one of the glimpses, he is also shown with Lucia and—what looks like—Jason as they are apparently making an escape after executing a heist. Once again, this is much like how Lance Vance operates through most of the campaign in Vice City, by helping Tommy Vercetti in a few missions before finally betraying him in the end.
Due to such undeniable similarities between these two pivotal characters, fans have been theorizing Bautista’s role as the possible antagonist in GTA 6. Keeping in mind how betrayals have long been a crucial part of GTA’s storytelling over the years, this theory won’t appear as implausible. However, this seems way too obvious a hint and, hence, I think it may be a red herring from Rockstar to distract the fans from the actual plot.
5. Takes heavily from GTA Vice City’s cover art
It’s not just that Raul Bautista and Lance Vance are the only common thing shared between GTA 6 and GTA Vice City’s covers. If you look longer, you may notice that the former’s cover art is heavily inspired by that of the latter. There are a total of 7 identical features between these two game covers, as marked by the colored circles and as detailed below:
- Red: Helicopter in the top-left corner
- Orange: Sports motorcycle in the top-right corner
- Green: Cover girl holding a drink
- Yellow: Both are key characters in their respective games, Boobie Ike in GTA 6 and Ricardo Diaz in Vice City. Similar to Diaz, Ike may also be a mission-giving character.
- Purple: A yellow-colored sports car, probably the Pegassi Infernus (known simply as Infernus in Vice City).
- White: Raul Bautista and Lance Vance in very similar outfits.
- Brown: A boat speeding across the water. While Vice City featured a Squalo, the boat on GTA 6’s cover has the name “Clarion” slapped on its side.
6. Fauna has a prominent place
No GTA game had ever featured a catalog of land animals until GTA 5. It was also the first in the series to feature an animal on its cover art, which was Franklin’s pet dog named Chop. Now, GTA 6 has gone one step ahead and put two different animals deeply connected to the state of Florida, the real-life inspiration behind Leonida, which are an alligator and a flamingo. As a result, it’s the first time wild animals have appeared on a GTA cover.
After GTA 5, the Rockstar Games dev team further honed its skills in depicting fauna in-game through Red Dead Redemption 2, where these animals became a bigger part of the gameplay with the introduction of mechanics such as skinning. Judging by that, it seems like similar gameplay mechanics may make their debut in GTA at last.
Final thoughts
Thanks to Rockstar dropping the official cover art and the pre-order date, fans who were worried about another delay are hopefully feeling relieved. As far as those who want a new trailer are concerned, they may get their wish answered as well around the time GTA 6’s pre-orders open on June 25.
Suffice to say, there is an incredible summer filled with GTA 6 marketing upon us, and it is poised to significantly dial up the hype surrounding the highly anticipated game. Between now and the launch date, it’s going to be an exciting period for GTA fans and gamers in general.
