Rockstar Games is staying true to its tradition of unconventional marketing campaigns for GTA VI – and has pulled off its latest stunt. A gameplay mechanic has now been revealed in the latest episode of South Park.

“The graphics really are on a whole new level,” announces the narrator: “Can you see this world-building?” What viewers are actually seeing at that moment is exclusive gameplay footage from GTA VI. However, they didn’t tune in to watch another trailer for the highly anticipated game. Instead, they were watching the latest episode of the cult show South Park. The game is due for release on 19 November.

Rockstar Games had already caused a stir with its decision to release the first gameplay glimpses exclusively on Netflix. It seems to have paid off: the 27-minute video was the most-watched ‘film’ in its release week, according to the streaming platform’s viewing metrics. Now the developer has gone one step further.

“This is what’s in store for us in November”

In the South Park episode “Guinea Pig On A Stick”, around 20 seconds of exclusive in-game footage from GTA VI was shown on Wednesday, showcasing a new gameplay mechanic. This is in keeping with the TV series’ usual toilet humour – though we’ll leave it at that in terms of content.

“This is what we can expect in November,” says the voiceover artist in the background of the scene. She is none other than Tish Hicks, who also provided the voiceover for the GTA V gameplay trailer back in 2013. The voice actress is credited alongside the creators at Rockstar Games.

GTA VI follows WoW and Red Dead Redemption 2

This isn’t the first time video games have been featured in South Park: The best-known example is probably the 2006 episode “Make Love, Not Warcraft”, which was dedicated to World of Warcraft. Rockstar games have also featured in the TV series before – for instance, Red Dead Redemption 2 appeared in the two 2018 episodes “Time to Get Cereal” and “Nobody Got Cereal?”.

The developer had already confirmed this mechanic previously. Now, fans of the series, eagerly awaiting the release, saw it in action for the first time. GTA VI could be the biggest game release of our time – and has already been compared to the iPhone. However, not everyone will be allowed to play it: unsurprisingly, the title has not been given a youth rating.