GTA VI's Miami takeover hits blimps and beaches, but some county commissioners aren't fans

With just over a month until launch, Rockstar has turned real-life Miami into a billboard for Grand Theft Auto VI. Not everyone in county government is happy about it.

According to GameSpot, the campaign that started with the GTA VI logo being airlifted onto Miami’s Kaseya Center has grown into a citywide push. People have spotted GTA-style cars on the streets, a Vice City blimp over the city and branded beach chairs and umbrellas on South Florida beaches. Big ads have also turned up in Chicago, New York’s Times Square and on Hollywood Boulevard.

The pushback: Several Miami-Dade County commissioners questioned taking Rockstar’s money to promote a game built around crime. “We’re depicting Miami like a murder capital,” Commissioner René Garcia said, as quoted by the Miami Herald. Commissioner Micky Steinberg added that she felt the county “should not be moving forward.”

The other side: Mayor Daniella Levine Cava’s office expects the partnership to bring in millions, and her chief of staff called the activations a “love letter” to the city. Commission chair Anthony Rodriguez, who sponsored the legislation authorizing the talks, told colleagues: “This is a fictional game. We are all adults in this community.”

The mayor can approve deals under $1 million without a commission vote, which is how the $975,000 Kaseya Center project went through. Further deals for airports and seaports are still up for debate.

Release: GTA VI launches November 19 on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. If you missed it, the official launch trailer is up on Rockstar’s site.

PPR take: Rockstar has always built Vice City out of Miami’s flash and its excess, so a little local friction is almost on brand. A blimp over Biscayne Bay is about as GTA as marketing gets.