If you thought that was it for the Miami takeover, Rockstar Games is just getting started as its taking its real-world Miami ad campaign for Grand Theft Auto VI from paperwork and private deals in sporting arenas to the street this week. On Thursday, October 15, two government-approved deals take effect at once, authorizing official GTA 6 branding on Miami Beach and across a stretch of downtown Miami. The city that inspired the in-game setting is about to start looking the part even more.
The City of Miami Beach passed a resolution directing its city manager to negotiate a marketing agreement starting October 15 that puts discreet Vice City and VI branding on beachfront concession equipment, like, for example, the chairs and umbrellas that line the sand. On the very same day, a City of Miami ordinance will allow temporary promotional banners for GTA 6 in a defined downtown Event Area, with rules on size and fees, a cap of 56 consecutive days and an end date no later than December 31.
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We broke down the exact downtown terms when the city set them a couple of weeks back and it looks like we're finally going to see it take full effect.
The official GTA 6 Miami campaign
Track | What it is | Status |
|---|---|---|
Miami Beach, official | Vice City branding on beachfront chairs and umbrellas | Starts October 15, runs through December 31 |
City of Miami, official | Temporary GTA 6 banners in a defined downtown Event Area | Starts October 15, capped at 56 days, ends by December 31 |
Kaseya Center, private | A "Welcome to Vice City" rooftop sign | Installed and lit |
Miami Heat, private | "A Night in Vice City" game against the Bucks | November 18, on ESPN |
Two city-approved tracks and two private deals, all pointing at the November 19 launch.
As we've already mentioned, Rockstar and the arena operators struck a deal to put a giant "Welcome to Vice City" sign on the roof of the Kaseya Center, home of the Miami Heat. The sign went up and lit up ahead of the city deals. It may stay in place for years and most people have seen it already. However, the Heat partnership is the headline act. On November 18, the night before launch, the Heat will play as "Vice City" against the Milwaukee Bucks on a custom court, in a new uniform, on a national ESPN broadcast. We covered the event and its tip-off details as Rockstar and the Heat confirmed them. It is the loudest single moment in the campaign, and it arrives one day before the game.
Not every idea made it through. Broader county-level proposals ran into opposition and stayed limited, while the city-level measures in Miami Beach and the City of Miami advanced. The result is a campaign concentrated in the places the city controls, rather than a blanket takeover of every surface in South Florida.
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With that said, it's official now that the beach branding and downtown banner measures take effect on October 15, the Kaseya sign is already lit, and a professional NBA team will don a fictional color and name on November 18, while all the while stuff like these are happening in between. Each step builds toward the November 19 release. Leonida, the state at the heart of GTA 6, is its own stylized version of Florida and Vice City is its take on Miami. For the next several weeks, the real city and its fictional twin will share the same streets.
If you live in or visit Miami, you will start seeing this in person on Thursday. We want your photos. If you spot the beach branding, a downtown banner or the Kaseya sign, send them our way, because the best record of this campaign will come from the people standing in front of it.