Trump has already ‘made an appearance’ in GTA VI (in his own way). However, the game’s developers are pretending he does not exist.

Gamers around the world have been waiting for this moment for thirteen years. Ahead of the official release (scheduled for 19 November 2026 following two delays), the gameplay of Grand Theft Auto VI – the highly anticipated new instalment in Rockstar Games’ successful and controversial series – was revealed in detail on Thursday evening during an exclusive premiere on Netflix, which was later also released on YouTube. Industry experts and fans have reacted very positively to the game’s visuals and features, which are even richer and more realistic than in the previous instalment. There’s violence, heists, cars to steal, a vast playable map and a dark storyline. Additional features include the option to modify characters’ physiques through exercise and diet, and the protagonists, Jason and Lucia, who alternate between reckless escapes and bloody shoot-outs.

Millions of gamers are eagerly awaiting the release date. It is to be expected that among them is the Polish MP Witold Tumanowicz, who in November 2025 spoke in Parliament about the game’s delay, describing it as “a massive scandal”. The anticipation for the event is so great that it has even forced some companies to postpone the release of their own titles so as not to compete (and perhaps lose miserably) against GTA VI. Its development has been arduous and extremely costly: in May 2025, IGN confirmed that Rockstar had spent over a billion dollars on the game, although some sources even put the figure at two billion. To make matters even worse, various clips taken from a leaked version of the game were circulated by hackers on social media without authorisation. 

The story is set against the backdrop of Vice City, a fictional American city where organised crime reigns supreme and – as the trailer suggests – so do influencers who are perpetually live on social media. It is a scathing portrayal of America’s darkest underbelly (to lend greater credibility to the story, the team consulted former criminals, law enforcement officers, club promoters, arms dealers and “anyone well-known or influential enough who was willing to help”, said screenwriter Michael Wiafe). However, it seems this does not cause much of a stir in Washington – quite the opposite, in fact. 

In June, Donald Trump even decided to get involved. “We really did save America before GTA 6,” reads a post published by the White House, complete with the tycoon on the game’s cover and the name which – coincidentally – is no longer “Grand Theft Auto” but “Make America Great Again”. Yet another instance of the tycoon meddling in American pop culture, which was not particularly well received by users.

Anticipation for the game has also been felt within the military. So much so that more than a hundred army soldiers in Georgia have been offered four days’ leave to play the video game, on one condition: that they renew their enlistment. Of the 130 members of the 3rd Infantry Division, stationed at Fort Stewart, to whom the offer was made, only 20 soldiers have so far responded positively, thereby agreeing to a new enlistment for a period of between two and six years in order to have a few days’ break to devote to shoot-outs and drug dealing (via the console, of course). Lieutenant Colonel Angel Tomko confirmed to NBC News that the aim of the special leave is “to have a unique incentive programme that ties in with the soldiers’ interests”, adding that the battalion command “wanted to get the soldiers so excited that they’d be keen to renew their enlistment”. Enlist and you can have fun on the PlayStation. 

Yet the White House’s interest in the video game does not appear to be reciprocated. In an interview with the New York Times published to coincide with the trailer, Rockstar’s developers said that GTA VI will not explicitly address either Donald Trump’s election or the COVID-19 pandemic, to avoid the game “ageing badly in a rather clumsy way”, explained Rob Nelson, co-head of Rockstar North (a subsidiary of Rockstar). “We therefore need to weigh things up and ask ourselves: what possesses that timeless quality capable of speaking effortlessly to human follies and weaknesses in which everyone can see themselves reflected, and which will be remembered as part of this era?” he continued. Ignoring Trump is therefore the only way to create a more enduring game. However, it cannot be ruled out that the president, having renamed a lake from scratch, might decide to use AI to insert himself into the game and make America great again from there.

So, no Trump in Vice City, then. But Shakespeare, yes. As production on the game progressed, its predecessor, GTA 5, effectively became a stage for one of the English playwright’s most famous works. It’s called ‘Grand Theft Hamlet’, and it’s a documentary available on Mubi that blends the chaotic world of video games with passages from Shakespeare – not only from ‘Hamlet’ but also from ‘Macbeth’. The concept was developed by Sam Crane and Mark Oosterveen, actors who had lost their jobs due to the pandemic, and the film has received widespread critical acclaim on Rotten Tomatoes.