After all the hype for a GTA 6 announcement in March, a fake livestream and trailer got fans in a frenzy, before it was inevitably proved as totally fake. The creator behind the fiendish plan has now revealed all.
It all started after rumors and ‘leaks’ claimed the big reveal for the next Grand Theft Auto would take place on March 25, which of course didn’t happen at all, rather unsurprisingly.
Regardless, it left fans hungry for information, so the fake livestream and trailer couldn’t have come at a better time for its creators.
The Twitch channel ‘GTAVI’ came online on March 29, complete with a well-made logo, a countdown, and links to Rockstar’s website and Twitch Prime.
A few key details gave it away, but some fans were reeled in regardless, holding out on the small chance it was real. Then came the trailer, equally well-made, but equally fake.
YouTuber and designer ‘JoeDesigns’ has now revealed how they put the whole thing together. After a friend of his had the idea, since they had access to the ‘GTAVI’ username on Twitch, it was time to put together the designs.
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates on Esports, Gaming and more.
They used burner accounts to pass the message around about the stream on social media, Reddit and forums, which helped give it an initial kickstart.
At first though, the stream didn’t get much traction, but after various sites and YouTuber ‘MrBossFTW’ reported on it, it soon cracked 1,000 concurrent viewers. So the pranksters released the fake trailer, which although decent, even the designer himself admitted the logo transition was decidedly amateur.
- Read More: GTA Online update: Tempesta Casino reward
Unfortunately for the trolls, the prank never made it all the way to April Fool’s day, as they spotted the official Rockstar Games account was in the stream, and knew their time was limited.
The team of pranksters then posted a short message to confirm it was all just in good fun for April Fool’s, and cut the stream short as they didn’t want to spawn any backlash.
“We did not expect it to get this huge,” the message reads, “and deeply apologize to firstly Rockstar Games for misleading the dedicated fans who also greatly love the series.”
For these dedicated fans, the wait goes on, with Rockstar still saying absolutely nothing about what they have planned next. Although an actor’s CV seemingly confirmed that GTA 6 is in development, there’s still no official word.