In a mere 22-hour span, the inaugural teaser for Grand Theft Auto VI has amassed a staggering 85 million views, shattering the previous record held by a video from the esteemed MrBeast, making it the most-viewed YouTube content within 24 hours. It's worth noting that this ranking excludes musical offerings, yet the fervor surrounding this much-anticipated gaming revelation suggests the potential to surpass even those milestones. Currently, the leading YouTube video within the 24-hour timeframe is the music video accompanying BTS's "Butter," a K-Pop sensation, with a viewing count of 108 million.
The anticipation for Grand Theft Auto VI (GTA 6) has been fermenting over a decade. The preceding installment in the franchise, Grand Theft Auto V, graced the gaming world over a decade ago in September 2013. According to Guinness World Records, it not only claimed the title for the "highest revenue generated by an entertainment product in 24 hours" but also garnered a staggering $815.7 million on its release day through the sale of 11.21 million copies. It stands as the second-best-selling video game in history, only trailing behind Minecraft.
Rockstar Games, the venerable publisher steering the Grand Theft Auto legacy, had originally slated the trailer's release for a Tuesday morning debut. However, an inadvertent leak on X (Twitter) a day prior prompted Rockstar to unveil the trailer ahead of schedule, concurrently addressing the leak and ensuring its removal.
Acknowledging the leak, Rockstar conveyed on X: "Our trailer has leaked, so please watch the authentic version on YouTube." The X post itself garnered 1.1 million likes and amassed 82 million views.
Excluding music videos, the previous holder of the 24-hour YouTube views record was MrBeast. His August video, orchestrating a global face-off among contestants representing "every country," attained 59.4 million views on its inaugural day. In another of the twenty-five-year-old YouTuber's more prevalent creations, he meticulously replicated the Netflix sensation "Squid Game" without causing any harm during filming. Given the theme of Grand Theft Auto, one can only hope that MrBeast refrains from emulating a bank heist or a prison escape.