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GTA 6's first TV ad cut the shower scenes and dropped the Xbox logo

It ran during NBA opening night on 20 October. Same launch trailer, a few seconds shuffled around, and only a PlayStation logo at the end.

Jason and Lucia holding each other at sunset by the water, a helicopter overhead
Image: Rockstar Games
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If you were watching basketball on Tuesday night, you might've caught it. GTA 6's first proper TV ad went out on 20 October, during NBA opening night, and people spotted it in the Knicks and 76ers game and a couple of others.

It's the launch trailer from the week before, cut down for TV. Nothing new is revealed. But if you've watched that trailer as many times as we have, the edits jump out.

The shower got trimmed

The launch trailer has three quick shots of Jason and Lucia in the shower. Kotaku counted two of them gone from the TV version, with the first one left in. GameSpot says there's a shorter cut that drops them and a longer one that keeps them, so it may depend on which slot you saw.

Rockstar hasn't said why. It's a prime-time sports broadcast, though, and the YouTube trailer sits behind an age gate. The guns and the car chases all stayed in.

Jason and Lucia at sunset, the kind of moment that did make the TV cut
Jason and Lucia at sunset, the kind of moment that did make the TV cutImage: Rockstar Games

The time that freed up went to shots that were already there. The plane shot runs longer, so does the moment where Jason punches Lucia's arm, and you get a few extra frames of Lucia jumping from a truck onto the plane's landing gear.

The bigger change is at the end. The TV version closes on a PlayStation logo and doesn't show Xbox at all, even though the game is out on both on 19 November. Fan accounts put that down to Rockstar's marketing deal with Sony, which would be a normal thing for a paid partner's TV spot. Neither company has commented.

So if you're on Xbox, don't worry. Nothing's changed about the release. It's just Sony's ad.

Kotaku expects the same spot to show up again during the Miami Heat game GTA 6 is sponsoring on 18 November, the night before launch.

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