As of May 16, 2026, Rockstar Games has released exactly two official GTA 6 trailers — Trailer 1 in December 2023 and Trailer 2 in May 2024. That second trailer just marked its two-year anniversary on May 6th, and fans have been waiting for Trailer 3 ever since. Based on everything pointing toward the next two weeks, the wait may finally be over.
The clearest signal: a Best Buy internal email leaked this week, purportedly showing that GTA 6 pre-orders are set to open May 18, 2026, with the window closing May 21. The same email implies a trailer launch is tied to the pre-order activation — a standard Rockstar move that maximizes commercial impact. If the Best Buy timeline is accurate, we could be watching Trailer 3 before the weekend.
Take-Two Interactive has also scheduled a major earnings call for May 21, 2026. CEO Strauss Zelnick has publicly committed to beginning GTA 6's marketing campaign "this summer," and Trailer 3 is the obvious starting gun. With six months left until the November 19 launch, the timing is exactly right — early enough to sustain momentum, late enough to be genuinely close.
What should we expect Trailer 3 to actually show? Based on the two-year silence and the confirmed features we've yet to see footage of: GTA 6 Online gameplay is the biggest open question. Rockstar has said almost nothing about the multiplayer component beyond confirming it launches alongside the story mode on November 19. Trailer 3 is the logical moment to show Online for the first time.
Story content is also due an update. Trailer 2 introduced Jason and gave us more of Vice City's world, but the antagonist remains a silhouette. Six months before launch is when Rockstar historically gets more specific about narrative — expect a scene or two that expands on Lucia and Jason's relationship and potentially a more legible villain reveal.
One thing is certain: when Trailer 3 drops, it'll be Rockstar doing it on their own terms, without a PlayStation or Xbox showcase wrapper. An insider told GameRant this week that the reveal will be a standalone Rockstar drop, not tied to any third-party event. Watch the Rockstar Newswire and keep your notifications on — it will happen without warning.
