So we know that GTA 6 has a marketing deal with Sony and the PlayStation 5, and that Rockstar has been engaging with real-world locations to get the word about its latest sandbox game out into the world ahead of its 19th November launch. But it seems the reach of Rockstar’s marketing arm has no limit, as brand new gameplay footage cropped up in a quite unexpected place last night: the latest episode of South Park.
On Wednesday night (28th October), the latest episode of South Park (which is currently going by the name ‘South America’, as a jab at President Trump and his insistence on renaming landmarks and locations) aired on Comedy Central, and it included a quick snippet of new gameplay for GTA 6. Eurogamer has seen the episode, and can verify the authenticity of the footage. Rockstar Games is thanked in the credits, too.
As for context for the gameplay footage, it pops up when Cartman, Kyle, Stan, Randy Marsh (with a more youthful appearance, thanks to events earlier in the series), and Butters’ father Steven Stoch are sitting around the table as a woman presents the footage to the assembled crew. The setup is that the woman has managed to obtain ‘smuggled’ footage of Grand Theft Auto 6, the release of which poses and existential threat to the USA as it launches around the Midterm elections. “November is coming,” she says. “And everyone’s freaking out because we have to choose who will be in charge when we’re all dealing with something that we are not prepared for!”
We cut to the gameplay. “See the world-building?” asks the woman, as a German Shepherd poos on a crowded beach. “Look at that, the graphics are seriously next-level. It’s a dog, taking a poop. And people can pick up the dog poop! You can throw things at the person with dog poop. And if they choose to fight back, you can pick up the dog poop, and actually attack them with the dog poop. That… is what’s coming in November.”
The boys, predictably, are impressed. We only really see Jason picking up some poo and then attacking a pedestrian with it, but hey – it’s something right? GTA 6 has been a recurring part of South Park’s most recent season, as the whole world holds its breath for November. “Don’t worry,” characters repeatedly say, “everything will be better in November… that’s when GTA 6 comes out.” Indeed.
There’s been a lot of information about GTA 6 to take in lately: whether it’s the whispers of a PC version arriving in Q1 2027, the massive PS5 file size, or the fact Rockstar workers are voting to unionise over the release window of the game, it’s a busy time for the game. Don’t expect that hype to die down as we edge closer to GTA 6’s release: it’s going to be a massive thing for games, and modern culture as a whole.