GTA 6’s Netflix deal forces us to ask: can you pirate an advertisement?

Let’s be real, come August 27, the Grand Theft Auto 6 “extended look” is not going to be exclusive to Netflix for six hours as advertised. It’s going to be exclusive to Netflix for however long it takes for someone to record it and distribute a torrent.

You wouldn’t download a car, but would you download an ad for a game about stealing cars?

It would be, I’ve now had to consider, technically piracy to do so. After all, Netflix probably paid good money for the privilege of being the first to show the world GTA 6 gameplay, although we can only guess, because the financial terms of the deal haven’t been disclosed.

Aside from whatever funds exchanged hands, GTA publisher Take-Two’s motivation for the deal is to signal that GTA 6 is a cultural event that transcends the gaming scene. And Netflix gets to be associated with that cultural event.

I get Netflix’s angle. I don’t get Take-Two’s, unless the payday was astronomical. Everyone already knows GTA is a big deal, and it’s plain disrespectful to GTA fans to turn the gameplay trailer they’ve been waiting for into a money-making opportunity, especially given that many of them have already pre-ordered the game.

Having to wait six hours to watch a trailer is a relatively minor inconvenience, all things considered, but monetizing a trailer is just tacky. It certainly doesn’t reinforce Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick’s claim that GTA 6 is an “incredible bargain” at $80-$100. It suggests, instead, that we should brace for maximum nickel-and-diming and FOMO exploitation.

I suppose this is how it goes when you really don’t have to worry about your reputation. There’s not much Take-Two and Rockstar could do to hurt GTA 6’s sales at this point. They’ve already got a labor scandal going, and if there is a line that can’t be crossed, it’s a couple celestial bodies removed from a tacky gameplay reveal.

When the GTA 6 extended look debuts on Netflix on August 27, we’ll watch it and report on its contents here, but I imagine a quick scan of social media will allow you to illicitly experience the marketing beat early, if you’re the sort of outlaw who dares to watch pirated videogame trailers.