GTA VI sets a new record a year before its release

Grand Theft Auto VI released a new trailer last week. Check it out and see what record it broke. Also, the 2025 Video Game Hall of Fame inductees were announced. See who made the cut. All this and more. Let’s go!

The 2025 Inductees into the Video Game Hall of Fame

Each year, the Strong National Museum of Play adds to its Video Game Hall of Fame. The museum says that it “recognizes individual electronic games of all types—arcade, console, computer, handheld, and mobile—that have enjoyed popularity over a sustained period and have exerted influence on the video game industry or on popular culture and society in general.”

Here are the 2025 inductees:

Defender

Goldeneye 007

Quake

Tamagotchi

Congrats to the 2025 inductees.

Grand Theft Auto VI steals a record

A week after announcing that Grand Theft Auto VI was delayed until May of 2026, developer Rockstar gave fans a new peek at the game in the form of a second trailer. 

Fans could not wait, as Rockstar claims the video received 475 million views across all platforms in its first 24 hours, making it the biggest trailer launch of all time. The previous champion was the Deadpool & Wolverine trailer, which had 365 million views in its first 24 hours. 

Rockstar says that the trailer was captured on a PlayStation 5, and that it was “equal parts gameplay and cutscenes.” The new trailer shows a storyline that looks like a modern day Bonnie and Clyde, with the game’s two main characters (Jason and Lucia) robbing local banks and planning their next big score. Rockstar’s description of the game paints a similar picture:

Jason and Lucia have always known the deck is stacked against them. But when an easy score goes wrong, they find themselves on the darkest side of the sunniest place in America, in the middle of a criminal conspiracy stretching across the state of Leonida — forced to rely on each other more than ever if they want to make it out alive.

To say people are anxious for this game is an understatement. Apart from nearly half a billion views in its first day, multiple game publishers put off announcing release dates of their games until they knew when GTA VI would arrive. Fans are trying to figure out which parts are actual gameplay and which are cutscenes. IGN broke down 89 details from the new trailer, while Game Informer detailed nine of the characters that appeared. 

Check out the trailer above. Are you excited for GTA VI? Let us know in the comments.

Side Quests (more stories worth reading)

🔹 We spent the night with Blue Prince. Will we continue with it? To quote Facebook, it’s complicated. 

💸 A U.S. trade organization warns that video game consoles could cost players 69% more under Trump’s current  tariff proposals.

📈 Nintendo expects the Switch 2 to sell 15 million units in nine months.

🏆 Arcs won big at the Golden Geek awards. 

👏🏾 A week after a majority of the contributors of Giant Bomb reportedly quit, the company was sold by Fandom to its contributors, making Giant Bomb an independent, creator-owned site. And yes, all the people who quit in the last few weeks are coming back. 

⛪ Robert Prevost was named Pope Leo XIV last week, becoming the first “gamer pope.”

🐬 There is a new Ecco the Dolphin game in the works, as well as remasters of the first two games. 

👻 How a “haunted” Nintendo 64 video game cartridge terrified children around the world.

👩🏻‍⚖️ Changes are coming to Palworld as a result of their ongoing litigation with Nintendo and The Pokémon Company.

🌠 Destiny 2 is going full-on Star Wars in their next expansion. 

📊 Oblivion Remastered is already the third-best-selling game of 2025 in the United States. 

📅 A few games received release dates, including Mafia: The Old Country (Aug. 8), Gears of War: Reloaded (Aug 26, and available on PlayStation), and a new Battlefield game (March 2026).

🎮 All the games in the Final Fantasy VII remake trilogy are coming to Switch 2. 

🎴 Popular trading card games Pokémon and Lorcana announced new sets last week. 

⚖️ The FTC lost its appeal against Microsoft for their acquisition of Activision Blizzard. 

 ✊🏽 Nearly 200 Overwatch developers at Blizzard formed a new union. 

New Releases this week: 

Check out our article on 11 New Games to Play in May.

5/13: The Precinct (PlayStation, Xbox and PC)
5/15: DOOM: The Dark Ages (PlayStation, Xbox and PC)
5/15: Yasha: Legends of the Demon Blade (PC)
5/16: Capcom Fighting Collection 2 (PlayStation, Xbox, Switch and PC)

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