Game Informer (GI), one of the longest-running and most widely circulated video game publications in North American history, has held a distinct position in the coverage of the Grand Theft Auto (GTA) franchise for more than two decades. From its sprawling cover-story breakdowns of Grand Theft Auto V (GTA V) and Red Dead Redemption 2 (RDR2) to its post-revival reporting on Grand Theft Auto VI (GTA VI), the magazine has consistently translated Rockstar Games' marketing reveals into long-form journalism, feature analysis, and structured location/character breakdowns. This report examines GI's role as a games journal, its historical Rockstar cover stories, and its specific contributions to GTA VI coverage during 2023–2026, including its post-Gunzilla relaunch (Moreau, 2024; Roth, 2025; Harte, 2025).
Founded in August 1991 by retailer FuncoLand as an in-house newsletter, Game Informer grew under GameStop's ownership (2000–2024) into one of the most-circulated magazines in the United States, peaking at over 8 million copies in 2011 — ahead of Time, Sports Illustrated, and Playboy (Tassi, 2011; Wikipedia, 2025a). Its editorial reach was tightly coupled to GameStop's Power Up Rewards loyalty program, granting it unusual subscriber scale among gaming magazines (Jones, 2021). The publication built a reputation for cover-story exclusives — multi-month embargoed deep dives produced in collaboration with publishers, where GI editors would visit studios and produce a magazine-length feature alongside accompanying online "hub" content. This format made GI a preferred outlet for Rockstar Games' large reveals (Favis, 2020).
In August 2024, GameStop abruptly shuttered the magazine, deleted its website and digital archive, and laid off the entire staff after 33 years and 368 issues (Moreau, 2024; Park, 2024). The closure was described by PC Gamer and Kotaku as a destruction of one of the most significant archives in games journalism (Gach, 2024; Park, 2024). In March 2025, Off the Grid developer Gunzilla Games acquired the Game Informer brand, rehired the laid-off staff, restored the digital archive, and resumed print publication in June 2025 — positioning GI to resume coverage of major releases including GTA VI (Roth, 2025; Washenko, 2025).
Game Informer's relationship with Rockstar is most visible through its cover stories. The November 2012 issue (GI #235) carried a Grand Theft Auto V cover with the first detailed feature on the game, including studio interviews with Dan Houser and Leslie Benzies, the confirmation of three protagonists (Michael, Trevor, Franklin), and a breakdown of the new Los Santos map. The cover feature, written by editor-in-chief Andy McNamara and senior staff, served as the de facto international reveal of the game's structure and was reprinted and translated in many gaming outlets (Wikipedia, 2025a; Jones, 2021).
GI repeated this pattern with Red Dead Redemption 2 in the November 2017 issue (GI #295), which contained an extensive interview-based feature with Rockstar leadership. That feature was reported by then-senior editor Matt Bertz and is widely cited as the first significant editorial preview of RDR2's open world, honor system, and Dutch van der Linde gang dynamics. Rockstar's preference for GI as a launch partner reflected both the magazine's GameStop-backed distribution and the editorial freedom GI gave Rockstar to control narrative pacing on its reveals (Jones, 2021; Wikipedia, 2025a). GI also awarded Grand Theft Auto IV (2008) and Red Dead Redemption (2010) its Game of the Year awards, reinforcing the editorial relationship between the publication and Rockstar's flagship franchises (Wikipedia, 2025a).
Unlike GTA V and RDR2, Grand Theft Auto VI has not received a traditional pre-launch GI cover story. The magazine's August 2024 closure coincided with the period between GTA VI's December 2023 reveal trailer and its May 2025 second trailer, removing GI from the most active marketing window (Moreau, 2024; Wikipedia, 2025b). However, following the Gunzilla relaunch in March 2025, GI quickly returned to GTA VI coverage. The most significant post-relaunch piece, "Rockstar Shows Off Six Major Areas Of Vice City In Grand Theft Auto VI" by Charles Harte, was published on 6 May 2025 alongside the second trailer and broke down the six confirmed regions of the state of Leonida: Vice City, Grassrivers, the Leonida Keys, Ambrosia, Mount Kalaga National Park, and Port Gellhorn (Harte, 2025). This article is cited by Wikipedia and other outlets as a primary source for GTA VI's geography (Wikipedia, 2025b).
GI's GTA VI coverage cluster also includes character breakdowns of Jason Duval and Lucia Caminos — the latter being the series' first non-optional female protagonist — analyses of the trailer's satirical depiction of Florida Man and influencer culture, and reporting on the November 2025 delay to 19 November 2026 following Rockstar's firing of 34 employees amid unionisation efforts (Wikipedia, 2025b; Harte, 2025). Editor-in-chief Matt Miller has framed GTA VI as one of the magazine's central coverage priorities for its relaunched era, with reporting emphasising development context, leaks (including the September 2022 teapotuberhacker breach), and the game's projected first-year sales of 40 million units (Wikipedia, 2025b; Washenko, 2025).
GI's role in the GTA VI cycle is structurally different from its role in GTA V or RDR2. Where the magazine once functioned as Rockstar's primary long-form reveal partner, the 2024 shutdown and 2025 relaunch repositioned it as one outlet among many, competing with IGN, GamesRadar+, Eurogamer, and Polygon for breakdown traffic. Nonetheless, its restored digital archive and rehired staff give it continuity of voice that newer outlets lack, and Wikipedia continues to cite GI as a reliable primary source for GTA VI location and character details (Wikipedia, 2025b; Roth, 2025).
Favis, E. (2020) 'Editor-in-Chief Andy McNamara leaves Game Informer after 29 years', Washington Post, 30 June. Available at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/2020/06/30/editor-in-chief-andy-mcnamara-leaves-game-informer-after-29-years/ (Accessed: 14 May 2026).
Gach, E. (2024) 'GameStop Shuts Down Game Informer, The Longest-Running Gaming Magazine In The US', Kotaku, 2 August. Available at: https://kotaku.com/game-informer-gamestop-meme-stock-gme-last-issue-1851611973 (Accessed: 14 May 2026).
Harte, C. (2025) 'Rockstar Shows Off Six Major Areas Of Vice City In Grand Theft Auto VI', Game Informer, 6 May. Available at: https://www.gameinformer.com/2025/05/06/rockstar-shows-off-six-major-areas-of-vice-city-in-grand-theft-auto-vi (Accessed: 14 May 2026).
Jones, A.P. (2021) 'Game Informer', in Wolf, M.J.P. (ed.) Encyclopedia of Video Games: The Culture, Technology, and Art of Gaming. 2nd edn. London: Bloomsbury Publishing.
Moreau, J. (2024) 'Game Informer Magazine Shuts Down After 33 Years', Variety, 2 August. Available at: https://variety.com/2024/digital/news/game-informer-shuts-down-gamestop-magazine-1236094109/ (Accessed: 14 May 2026).
Park, M. (2024) "'Our 33-year legacy deserves a genuine goodbye': Game Informer staff tweets one last goodbye", PC Gamer, 5 August. Available at: https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/our-33-year-legacy-deserves-a-genuine-goodbye-game-informer-staff-tweets-one-last-goodbye/ (Accessed: 14 May 2026).
Roth, E. (2025) 'Game Informer has officially returned', The Verge, 25 March. Available at: https://www.theverge.com/news/635915/game-informer-return-gunzilla-games (Accessed: 14 May 2026).
Tassi, P. (2011) 'Game Informer Jumps a Third in Circulation to Become Fifth Largest Magazine in US', Forbes, 8 February. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2011/02/08/game-informer-jumps-a-third-in-circulation-to-become-fifth-largest-magazine-in-us/ (Accessed: 14 May 2026).
Washenko, A. (2025) 'Game Informer is back and so is its entire team', Engadget, 25 March. Available at: https://www.engadget.com/gaming/game-informer-is-back-and-so-is-its-entire-team-210748358.html (Accessed: 14 May 2026).
Wikipedia (2025a) Game Informer. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_Informer (Accessed: 14 May 2026).
Wikipedia (2025b) Grand Theft Auto VI. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Theft_Auto_VI (Accessed: 14 May 2026).