A former Rockstar Games developer has provided a rare look into the meticulous process behind the studio’s celebrated trailers. While most publishers utilize major industry events like Summer Game Fest or Gamescom for announcements, Rockstar has famously pivoted to a more elusive and independent marketing strategy.
In a recent interview, David O’Reilly, a former employee who worked on Grand Theft Auto 5, Red Dead Redemption 2, and early development of GTA 6, revealed the high-stakes environment inside the studio when a trailer is in production. “When a trailer is coming out, it’s a big deal,” O’Reilly stated. “Everybody knows about it and if there’s a bug for a trailer-focused thing, that is number one priority. It’s all hands on.”
O’Reilly explained that the team identifies specific camera shots for the trailer and then intensely refines everything visible within those frames. “When you’re making a trailer, they look at where the camera’s gonna be and everything in that view is getting madly polished,” he said. “Everything not in that view is not being madly polished yet, so the whole world doesn’t look like that.”
This targeted development method is why discrepancies can exist between promotional footage and the final game. O’Reilly described the trailer as “the projection of what the entire full game is going to be like,” rather than a finalized, locked-down version of the world. “You can’t view that as ‘That’s locked down now and that’s how the final game will be,'” he cautioned. “You’re asking the company to show you the final game in a trailer when it’s not finished.”
This insight helps contextualize Rockstar’s unique marketing approach. After years of having a presence at events like E3, the developer now commands the news cycle with surprise announcements on its own schedule. This was demonstrated with GTA 6, where the second trailer and a collection of screenshots were released without warning, even following news of a potential delay.
O’Reilly’s explanation highlights the immense, collaborative effort required to create these impactful marketing materials, offering a glimpse behind the curtain of one of the industry’s most secretive and successful studios.
