Billboards went up in Los Angeles and New York this week, and they’re carrying the GTA 6 artwork that a group of musicians posted yesterday. The name on them is Spotify.
Travis Scott, Future, Morgan Wallen and a handful of other artists each put out their own piece of art that looked a lot like Rockstar’s house style. None of them said what it was for. That cryptic tease now appears to involve Spotify, which makes the streaming service the next major platform that looks to be working with Rockstar Games on GTA 6’s marketing.
The obvious read might be the small one
Plenty of people took the artwork as Rockstar hinting that these artists will have music in the game. Fair guess. But Spotify showing up suggests the thing could be bigger than a tracklist reveal.
One theory going around is that the artists could put out exclusive music for GTA 6. There’s precedent for it: Rockstar did exactly that with Dr. Dre for a GTA Online update a few years ago.
The other possibility is a marketing role for the platform itself, with Spotify dropping exclusive previews of music that could end up in GTA 6 before the game arrives. None of this has been confirmed by Rockstar or by Spotify. It’s speculation built on billboards.
The integration theory is a stretch, but it isn’t impossible
Some have also floated the idea that GTA 6 could include some form of Spotify integration, letting you pipe your own playlists into the game.
Hard to picture. Rockstar spends enormous money curating music for its games and pours real effort into building its radio stations, and handing the aux cord to a third party cuts against all of that. Possible? Sure. Likely? That’s a different question.
Either way, something is going on between Spotify and Rockstar around GTA 6.
Rockstar has run this play before
The studio teamed with Netflix to debut the first GTA 6 gameplay trailer, and the premiere became the most-watched thing on the streamer during its first week. Rockstar Games personally pitched that idea to Netflix, so a similar arrangement with Spotify wouldn’t come out of nowhere.
Miami is getting its own treatment too. Rockstar is planning all kinds of unprecedented marketing there, and signage is being built in the city right now.
GTA 6 hits the two-months-out mark this Saturday. Which means the teasing has a shelf life, and Rockstar could stop dangling and say what the Spotify thing actually is by the end of the week.
