Florida officials and Rockstar Games are having conversations to turn parts of Miami into Vice City for Grand Theft Auto 6's marketing campaign.
As initially reported by The Miamian, Miami-Dade County has had formal conversations with Rockstar Games about a Grand Theft Auto 6-themed takeover of Miami to promote the upcoming game. The report initially noted that Rockstar was the one that approached Miami-Dade with its ideas, but the article was later edited to clarify the city was actually the one who submitted a pitch deck.
While no plans are officially in place yet, the ideas pitched by the city are wide-ranging, ambitious, and likely absurdly expensive. One such idea includes transforming a section of Miami International Airport to serve as a "welcome" area for Vice City, complete with Vice City signage, limited edition luggage tags, themed luggage carts, a photo backdrop, and even a display aircraft wrapped in the game's purple color scheme.
Officials also proposed various activations around Miami's beaches, parks, and ports, creating unique events with DJs, food, exotic vehicles, photo ops, drone shows, murals, and much more. Outside of actual events, there are even ideas to have Rockstar take over the city's busses and trains with Vice City branding on the actual locomotives and stations associated with them. On the smaller side, there was also a pitch for Vice City-branded manhole covers and utility boxes.
The city created a number of proposals that would actually permanently help Miami in the long term, such as the creation of more bus shelters, quality of life improvements for its parks, and more. One of the more unique suggestions included the construction of a "radio lab" at a library in downton Miami. This would give visitors access to recording and editing equipment to produce music, podcasts, and more.
In a statement to The Miamian, Carlos Suarez, a spokesperson for Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, confirmed that they've had conversations with Rockstar Games, but there are no concrete plans in place at the moment.
“Nothing has been formally agreed to or approved, and any idea would have to go through the appropriate review and approval process," said Suarez. "Given Miami-Dade's clear influence on the game, we think there could be a unique opportunity to generate revenue for the County while showcasing Miami-Dade to a massive audience.”
It wouldn't be surprising if Rockstar uses the city of Miami to promote GTA 6 as part of its expansive marketing campaign, but it seems unlikely that it would go forth with all of these ideas. Not only are they expensive, but they may not all make sense for what Rockstar is envisioning for its advertising campaign.
The final marketing push for GTA 6 will ramp up today when Rockstar premieres an extended look at the game on Netflix. If you don't have Netflix or simply don't have time to watch, IGN will be doing a live blog with all of the big news from Rockstar's reveal. Additionally, a few new details were revealed yesterday including tidbits about specific gameplay mechanics and Rockstar doubling its size in order to produce GTA 6.
Cade Onder is a freelancer for IGN's news team. He covers all things entertainment, including gaming, film, and more. You can find him on Twitter @Cade_Onder.
