GTA VI has become its own parody

Let me plainly state the premise out of the gate here: Grand Theft Auto VI and its marketing are exactly what GTA III, San Andreas, Vice City, IV, and (of course) V would make a parody out of. The series of Grand Theft Auto has been in my life as long as I’ve been playing games. It is also a brilliant concept that built an empire and caused controversy everywhere it would go, something that I hold the series closely for because I think a good parody needs to do that in some respect to even be successful.

I’ve argued for long enough that the premise of the Grand Theft Auto series, at least since that top-down London experiment failed, has been about holding a funhouse mirror up to the society it is built in, and particularly the ridiculous world of the United States. Hyper capitalism, cult of personality politicians, crazy people, rampant drug and gun use, and uncontrolled consumerism; don’t worry, I’m not about to pull out Wolfie Smith’s communist manifesto. If you look at any of the series in the last 20-25 years, you’ll find that throughout and in fist-fulls.

Last week, Rockstar announced a partnership with Netflix to showcase an extended look at the upcoming Grand Theft Auto VI on the 27th of August via the streaming service. That alone is it! That should have people laughing Take-Two’s bosses out of the building via a window with Sam Houser and Jennifer Kolbe held in medieval stocks. Putting an exclusive trailer, even if it is only for a short time, behind a paywall for a service people have already voiced their displeasure with is pulling away the mirror to just put these people in their place.

If you look at the series as a whole since the “3D” and HD eras kicked in, the series is a constant and never-ending criticism of hyper-capitalism, the consumer culture, the vapid sub-surface picture of reality in reality TV, the unmitigated lies of the “American Dream,” and so much more in a crime sandbox mostly about gangsters. Ammu-Nation is a criticism of gun culture; Lazlow is a parody of this “media personality” you see hosting X show or Y radio program, and Cluckin’ Bell and Burger Shot are a satire of fast food like McDonald’s, KFC, and Burger King. None of which I should have to explain to anyone.

Grand Theft Auto, at its core, is a critique of all of these things, and I am not saying you can’t enjoy the series. I’m not saying you can’t enjoy the game when it comes out, nor am I saying anything negative about GTA VI. Unsurprisingly, very few people have played it; no one is able to review it and give you that “play it, don’t play it” perspective, and it honestly doesn’t matter at this point. People are pre-ordering a game only available digitally – morons!

However, my point is that if Grand Theft Auto VI was in the world of San Andreas, if it were in the world of IV, if it were in the world of V and its many-many rereleases, Grand Theft Auto VI would be the parody. In itself, I’m not criticizing the marketing, the hype certain people have built up for themselves, or almost anything from a fan perspective. What I will bemoan, however, is this cynical showcase of what Grand Theft Auto has been criticizing, insulting, and downright reflecting at consumers for long enough that these same consumers now fall head over heels for the very same series.

I know we’re in a literacy crisis and as a result media literacy crisis, but this just feels insulting now. Of course it is going to work. Of course Grand Theft Auto will break even within three months if not three days. Of course the subsequent online mode will turn over a profit hand over greasy fist, but you would hope people would be critical enough of something they are excited about to recognize this.

My problem, moreover, is the fact that this trailer, the actions by Take-Two (raising the price), this digital exclusive thing all practically devalue any critiques that GTA VI will have of capitalism. It itself won’t, but as a full picture I have a feeling it truly devalues the art (complain about the description if you want) of what Grand Theft Auto as a series tries to do. And of course, it isn’t just the capitalist/consumerism aspect that is being affected by this. I think it is devaluing all criticism the game is going to make.

Let’s put it this way: The radio show in Liberty City Stories, “Heartland Values with Nurse Bob,” isn’t exactly inviting Dr Phil in for a cameo. Having Cris Formage on “Entertaining America” on WCTR isn’t inviting the captain of Scientology and dwarfism, Tom Cruise, in to do a bit part. Just as the Watch_Dogs 2 mission “A High Price to Pay” has FIB Agent Steve Haines actor, Robert Bogou, playing Gene Carcani and not Martin Shkreli to play a parody of himself. Mostly because he was in prison, but also the fact that the joke isn’t as funny when the person doing the punching-up joke is, in fact, also the recipient of that joke.

So when Grand Theft Auto VI inevitably does a few jokes, commentary lines, critiques of capitalism and consumerism, the joke won’t land as well because it is something that the game’s own marketing has already done. One line about companies raising prices, and you can just look at the receipt for how much you paid for GTA VI. One line about putting things behind a paywall and streaming service (what’s the under/over on that?), and we look at this incident.

There are times when it is funny when the person is in on the joke, like when Robert Downey Jr plays Iron Man. Then you have times where it is unfunny when the person is “in on the joke;” see Elon Musk in Iron Man 2 or that time he was in Rick and Morty. The core of those moments, though, is that it is about those individuals. A multi-million dollar (billions in profit) piece of entertainment making you the joke by the way it expects you to engage with it, then criticize you for it afterwards, isn’t getting you in on the joke.

Paying $80 to “be in on the joke” isn’t being in on the joke anymore but simply being the punchline of it. It no longer makes the parodies within Grand Theft Auto VI, that happen to fill the world to feel lived in, no longer feel like parodies but self-confessions of what it really is. Don’t get me wrong, enjoy it when it releases, enjoy what it does, but remember how much you are valued and how your intelligence is treated as the consumer these in-game radio bits, these ads, these TV parodies have been preaching for decades.

Grant Theft Auto VI has itself become the PIßWASSER, Grotti, Übermacht, Shitzu, BAWSAQ, Juank Air, and so on; it has become the parody before it has even released. There are no two ways about it now. There were always going to be those things creeping in, like raised prices and other bits of hyper-capitalism that the series was always commenting on, but it is certainly strange for it to all come at once.