Patch Notes <\/strong>is a weekly newsletter bringing you the best of Polygon, sent on Fridays and published on the site on Sundays. You can <\/em>subscribe here<\/em>.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Breaking news at 11: Grand Theft Auto 6<\/em> is going to be a very big deal<\/em>. Okay, that\u2019s not exactly new information. It doesn\u2019t take an industry analyst to tell you that Rockstar\u2019s open-world behemoth will likely smash records. This week, Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick said GTA 6<\/em>\u2019s preorder numbers were \u201cunprecedented and astonishing.\u201d An educated guess can tell you that a lot of people will be calling in sick on Nov. 19.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n But GTA 6<\/em>\u2019s success won\u2019t be determined solely by charts and graphs. This week, Rockstar finally started rolling out the red carpet for GTA 6 <\/em>by announcing that we\u2019ll get our next look at the game on Aug. 27. That\u2019s typical, but the unusual part is that it will premiere on Netflix first, before coming to YouTube six hours later. It\u2019s a bizarre bit of corporate synergy that isn\u2019t going over well with fans, but it makes something crystal clear: Take-Two is out to engineer a cultural moment, the likes of which the video game industry hasn\u2019t seen since Halo 3<\/em>.<\/p>\n These days, a video game launch isn\u2019t much of a big deal. The whole world isn\u2019t going to stop for Resident Evil Requiem<\/em>\u2019s release date, and even a genuine smash hit like Crimson Desert<\/em> is unlikely to get much mainstream attention outside of enthusiast circles. But once upon a time, video game launches were the stuff of primetime news. I still remember my local news station covering the launch of the PlayStation Portable (or the \u201cPCP,\u201d as an anchor called it), and showing footage of long lines snaking around malls. It looked, and felt<\/em>, like something important was happening.<\/p>\n The peak of that phenomenon came in 2007, thanks to Halo 3<\/em>. Microsoft famously went for broke with the shooter, spending over $40 million on marketing. Neill Blomkamp directed a series of live-action trailers, one of which was unveiled by the Discovery Channel. Mountain Dew created a new flavor called Game Fuel to celebrate the launch. Master Chief was on Burger King wrappers. Corporate partnerships elevated Halo 3 <\/em>into an inescapable phenomenon. It all culminated in news teams rolling out to midnight launch parties as if they were covering the Met Gala.<\/p>\n Mainstream moments like this are a dying breed in the world of video games. You can still find World of Warcraft<\/em> characters on Fanta bottles, but it\u2019s rare for a game launch to feel like a moment in history. Look at the recent launch of Halo: Campaign Evolved<\/em>. Rather than drawing the attention Halo 3 <\/em>once received, it quietly launched to typical sales, mixed user reviews, and reported layoffs for Halo Studios. My mother has yet to call me to ask who this \u201cMaster Chef\u201d guy is.<\/p>\n That simply won\u2019t do for GTA 6<\/em>. The bizarre Netflix partnership signals that Take-Two doesn\u2019t just want its cash cow to be a good game that sells well; it wants people who don\u2019t play games talking about it, too. We\u2019re potentially headed towards the kind of all-encompassing cultural moment that forces David Muir to talk about it on air. You\u2019ll rush out to 7-11 to get your Ice City Slurpee. Politicians will urge voters to grand theft auto to the polls this midterm season.<\/p>\n That is, of course, if Take-Two can actually brute force a moment. The backlash to the Netflix announcement already suggests that fans won\u2019t universally guzzle up every PR stunt like a refreshing can of Game Fuel. There\u2019s a world where the same playbook that once worked for Halo 3<\/em> comes off as cloying at a time when players are more wary of corporatized brand partnerships. Can too <\/em>much hype backfire? Probably not. Any annoyance is very unlikely to impact GTA 6<\/em>\u2019s sales or dent its main event status. Either way, we\u2019re about to find out if a video game can still stop the world.<\/p>\n![\"Master](\"https:\/\/static0.polygonimages.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/chorus\/uploads\/chorus_asset\/file\/23038561\/halo_3_ae.jpg?q=49&fit=crop&w=825&dpr=2\")
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