GTA 6 Marketing Campaign: Every Tactic So Far, From the Vice City Sign to a $150 Million Claim

Rockstar Games is spending "at least a minimum of $150 million" on marketing Grand Theft Auto VI, Miami-Dade Commissioner Rene Garcia said at a county meeting, according to The Miamian. Garcia called the figure his own research, and neither Rockstar nor Take-Two has published a marketing budget.

The number came up because Miami is where the campaign is most visible. With the game due on November 19, 2026, this is what Rockstar has done so far, and what is still waiting on a vote.

The Welcome to Vice City sign and the Miami Heat

A "Welcome to Vice City" sign was installed on the roof of the Kaseya Center on September 22, where it can be seen from flights into Miami International Airport. Rockstar is paying Miami-Dade County $975,000 for it under a seven-month agreement, and paid for the sign's production and installation as well. The price sits just under the $1 million mark above which the county commission has to approve a contract.

The arena's team is part of it. The Miami Heat will play the Milwaukee Bucks on November 18, the night before launch, in a game billed as "A Night in Vice City", with a custom court and a new Vice City uniform. "For one night only, the HEAT trade Miami for Vice City," the team's promo says.

Banners, beach chairs and the airport plan

The City of Miami has approved up to six large GTA 6 banners downtown, worth up to $1.2 million, in a window that opens on October 15. Miami Beach has authorized negotiations worth up to $4 million to put Vice City branding on beach chairs and umbrellas, but that agreement is not signed and its October 15 start will "most likely not" hold, a city official told reporter Joel Franco.

The largest ideas have not happened. An 11-page county deck dated June 29, which The Miamian obtained through a public records request, lists concepts for county property. The airport page, titled "Arrive in Vice City", proposes a display aircraft in a full Vice City wrap, a themed baggage claim and limited-edition luggage tags. Other pages propose wrapped Metromover trains, a Port Gellhorn mural at PortMiami, custom manhole covers and a "Vice City Radio Lab" at the Main Library. The deck's own disclaimer calls every concept preliminary.

Image: Miami-Dade County's "GTA VI × MDC" concept deck, a public record published by The Miamian.

Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz and Commissioner JC Bermudez came out against the airport idea on September 3. County commissioners are due to decide on October 20 whether the mayor's office can keep negotiating a deal worth more than $1 million.

Murals, billboards and an airship

In Brooklyn, a hand-painted mural of Jason and Lucia is going up at Wythe Avenue and North 11th Street, the corner that carried a Grand Theft Auto V mural in 2013. The painter, Colossal Media, confirmed the job on Instagram: "Twenty-two years ago, we painted our first campaign with our very first client, @rockstargames. Two decades later, we're back at it for GTA 6."

Image: the Brooklyn mural in progress, via TechWiser.

A second mural, reading "We Love Vice City", is being painted at 400 NW 26th Street in Miami's Wynwood district. Rockstar has not said it is behind that one. A printed wrap is also going up on the Paris ring road.

A Goodyear airship carrying the GTA VI logo and the words "Vice City" left Ohio on October 12 heading south. Neither Rockstar nor Goodyear has published a route.

Trailers and the Netflix premiere

After two trailers, in December 2023 and May 2025, Rockstar released Grand Theft Auto VI: An Extended Look, a 27-minute gameplay showcase that premiered on Netflix on August 27, six hours before it reached YouTube. Rockstar called it a "first-of-its-kind partnership". Netflix counted 31.1 million views and said it reached No. 1 in 87 of the 93 countries it tracks.

Music, merchandise and hardware

The music rollout ran over three days in September. Eight artists, Travis Scott and Morgan Wallen among them, posted GTA 6 artwork on September 15, Spotify billboards appeared in Los Angeles, New York and Miami on September 16, and Grand Theft Auto VI: The Album was announced on September 17, with 34 tracks due on launch day. Rockstar followed on October 8 by naming six of the game's radio stations.

The same day, the Grand Theft Auto VI Collection of "apparel and collectibles" went on sale at the Rockstar Store, with tees, hats, a keychain, a money clip, a Zippo lighter and a sticker pack. Sony announced two limited-edition DualSense controllers on September 3, in black and white, at $84.99 each and out on November 19.

What is still to come

Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick described the approach to GamesIndustry.biz in May, as quoted by TechTimes: "Thirteen years ago we were still buying network television. We won't be buying a lot of network television."

The Miami banners can go up from October 15, and the county vote is on October 20.

Main image: the Welcome to Vice City sign on the Kaseya Center, photo by Grand Theft Auto 6 Alerts, via The Miamian.