Rockstar Games has staged an extended gameplay showcase for Grand Theft Auto 6, streamed via Netflix and captured entirely on a standard PlayStation 5, following weeks of unauthorised leaks.
Players will control Jason and Lucia, switching between them and texting whichever character is not currently active, with the ability to request help on missions or simply spend time together.
Ignore those texts, or fail to come home, and the relationship suffers, turning a crime game into something closer to a long-distance relationship simulator with guns.
Getting out of shape, criminally
Characters now need feeding and exercising to avoid falling out of condition, a mechanic that sits oddly alongside strip clubs, cartel violence and car theft, though that friction is arguably the point.
One leaked clip shows a stolen car containing a passenger live-streaming from the boot while the player flees police, a detail that suggests Rockstar has fully absorbed the internet age into its satire.
A leak that paid for itself
The unauthorised footage was reportedly released by a figure calling themselves "Cyber Leak", who used the attention to promote a cryptocurrency and appears to have profited from doing so.
Rockstar called the release heartbreaking, though the scale of the game's map suggests the leaks have barely dented what remains to be discovered at launch.
Will others follow?
With a development budget said to approach a billion dollars, Grand Theft Auto 6 is being treated by some in the industry as a possible saviour for a struggling market.
This is a singular project with a singular budget, and its success or failure will say very little about whether other studios should copy Rockstar's approach.
Publishers are already rearranging release calendars to avoid its launch window, a tacit admission that nothing else stands to compete for attention once it arrives, while Grand Theft Auto Online's continued strength on Steam hints at just how lucrative the inevitable online mode could become.