'GTA 6' trailer early drop: A timeline of the chaos

The GTA 6 trailer dropped earlier than expected, but what, exactly, impelled Rockstar Games to release it ahead of schedule?

Here is a timeline of events, thanks, in part, to Tom Warren from The Verge.

Timeline of the 'GTA 6' trailer drama

• On Nov. 8, the president of Rockstar Games, Sam Houser, tweeted that GTA 6, one of the most highly anticipated games ever, would tease gamers with a trailer in "early December."

Tweet may have been deleted

• On Dec. 1, Rockstar Games got more specific with GTA 6's trailer release date, announcing that it will debut on Tuesday, Dec. 5 at 9 a.m. ET.

Tweet may have been deleted

• When the YouTube URL went live on Dec. 4, hawk-eyed observers discovered that the trailer lasted 1 minute and 31 seconds. This may seem short, but according to RockstarIntel, this is the "longest of any reveal trailer by Rockstar Games."

• At 5:30 PM ET on Dec. 4, X user @Gta6trailerleak released the GTA 6 trailer in a gnarly leak that revealed everything from start to finish.

• At 6:00 PM ET on Dec. 4, the leaker's account got suspended.

Tweet may have been deleted

• At 6:10 PM ET on Dec. 4, Rockstar Games dropped the GTA 6 trailer on YouTube alongside the following tweet:

Tweet may have been deleted

You can watch the GTA 6 trailer — yes, the official one — below:

The GTA 6 release date isn't any time soon. You'll have to wait until 2025. As Warren noted in his tweet, GTA 6 is coming to PS5 and Xbox Series S / X, but there's no mention of a PC release.