At the time of writing, Palworld - a game that is so totally not just Pokémon with heavy firearms - is taking the gaming world by storm. While Palworld more or less came from nowhere, content creators usually have plenty of time to prepare for other big releases. In the case of certain games, like GTA 6, they’ve had over a decade.
This raises the question of how content creators should make the most of game releases that are bound to be smash hits. With such games, two things are certain: content about them will have the chance to blow up, and because of that, loads of other people will be making it.
We asked our community of content creators how GTA 6 will affect their content plans. As you’ll read below, there are various ways to approach such a big release, and which you choose should be dependent on your content creation strengths, audience, and style.
Embrace it
For avrona, the choice is clear. If someone runs out of a mine shouting ‘gold!’, you grab your pickaxe and get swinging. “The most obvious answer is that GTA 6 is going to be an absolute content mine. Even for content creators like me who aren’t strictly in gaming, there are plenty of opportunities.”
Though when wielding a pickaxe, just like when choosing your approach to content, it’s important to find the right angle. “If you wait for the PC version to drop, there are opportunities for comparison videos, benchmarking videos, and videos about the ideal PC builds to play it on. Those should all perform pretty well once the game launches.”
Prepare
Those sorts of videos would be perfect for other content creators like Schadsquatch whose first priority is ensuring they have a setup capable of running the game and capturing footage of the quality required to make competitive content:
“The most significant way it might affect me is the need to upgrade my gaming rig in order to record and stream the game. The graphics look incredible, and the scope of it should be at least on par with GTA 5. Looks like I’ll have to add a buffed-up GPU and CPU to my shopping list.”
Find a niche
Schad also recognises that the game has to be relevant to one’s audience. Fortunately, the audience for games like GTA 6 is very broad. Rather than fighting for control of the GTA pie, content creators will be better off carving out a slice.
“Regarding content, if we’re able to get roleplaying servers up and running, I feel like that would fit right in with my community of D&D nerds and EVE Online ‘delivery agents’. Shared storytelling drives me to create content, and doing over-the-top silly things helps to drive people to come together to create something memorable.”
Letitia Lemon also identifies roleplay (RP) as a niche to target in GTA 6. While it’s not possible for every major release, roleplay-based content is advantageous both for its longevity and its uniqueness. Because RP content is creative and character-led, it doesn’t matter if other creators are making it too.
“There’s a lot of potential for fun GTA 6 RP servers to appear. That’s assuming that multiplayer will be available, and I don’t see why it wouldn’t be. While I haven’t participated in it yet, I’ve been asked to make a server with some fellow content creators so that we can get up to fun antics together across various games. Who knows? GTA 6 shenanigans may be something that will appear on my channel.”
While GTA 6 is bound to make a big splash, big splashes attract big fish. The result? Creators with fewer followers are left feeling like small fish in a big pond. In the quote above, Letitia touches upon a great strategy: collaboration. By joining forces with other content creators, you share your audiences for your mutual advantage. Those big fish won’t know what bit them.
Roleplay is far from the only creative niche that content creators can aim for. Here’s MURRRAAAAY:
“Existing GTA content creators will have rocket boosters on their content. For new creators looking to lock on to a single game, GTA 6 provides a massive opportunity to carve out a niche within a niche. If that’s you, don’t do the generic ‘let’s play’ style videos because all the big players will hoover up the views on that sort of content.
“There will be space for interesting tutorials, hot takes, and guides which can pull in good views. There will also be an explosion in short-form content covering all the amazing new things and random happenings when it’s all new and fresh. It’ll also be an exciting game for livestreamers. I’m excited to jump in, and I hope Rockstar releases some cool limited-edition physical copies, because that’d make for cool unboxing content too.”
Letitia gives another example:
“Virtual photographers will thrive with GTA 6. The graphics look stunning, and I’m sure there will be an even more creative photo mode than we’re used to. Creators who have X and Instagram accounts dedicated to virtual photography will likely get a lot of content out of the game. The trailer showed a lot of social media references to real-life clips, so perhaps GTA 6 will let creators make their own clips in that format for in-game social media that can then be shared to their real-life social media accounts. That will let them creatively tailor to the game’s audiences and real-life audiences."
The takeaway here is not that content creators should rush out to learn about shutter speeds, ISO, and aperture; it’s that they should study the game while it’s still upcoming to find an avenue of attack. If you can pre-empt a trend, you can capitalise on it.
Dip your toe in
Just because you’ve decided to capitalise on a major game release doesn’t mean that game has to take over your channel. It’s also important to stick with the content you’ve seen to work and most importantly the content you enjoy making. As Murray argues, if you don’t, you risk burnout:
“GTA 6 will filter into some of my content as my channels are platform-focused rather than individual-game-focused. The last time I tried honing in on a single game, I totally burned out and got fed up.”
EveOnlineTutorials is a big GTA fan; they’ve been playing since the original top-down Grand Theft Auto. In spite of this, they’d think twice before carjacking the bandwagon:
“A game won’t affect a content creator unless they create content on it. If a content creator puts their time into creating a GTA 6 community, and then the game flops, that will adversely affect his or her ability to keep content moving forward.”
While we think the chances of GTA flopping are pretty slim, it’s still worth remembering that there are always risks.
Or dive in head first
Having said that, Murray also recognises that GTA 6 will be so big that the normal rules don’t necessarily apply.
“Given it’s GTA 6, it will be huge! One thing I’ll bet on is that GTA 6 will be the biggest entertainment launch humanity has ever seen; it will break all sales records, all YouTube content records, and all Twitch records! It’s just that kind of beast and one that’s been ten years in the making.”
With that in mind, content creators who don’t already have an audience revolving around a certain type of content or game should consider making a game like GTA ‘their thing’. Building an audience is difficult, and this is a once-in-a-decade opportunity.
Ignore it completely
It’s okay to not produce content on a release like GTA 6 if it’s not relevant to your audience or it’s not a game that you’ll connect with. It might seem hard to believe sometimes, but there are people out there who aren’t excited for GTA 6, and they’ll want something to watch too. Here’s Alex’s take:
“I’ve thought about this, and I don’t think it will affect my content creation given that GTA was never a game I created content for. I’ve had a few community members ask if I’m going to play it as they’re excited for it. That’s fair; it’s been ten years in the making after all. But for me, I would just get distracted causing chaos and crashing cars rather than actually playing the game’s storyline.”
We suspect there will also be audiences for explosion-themed content. As @Hotwings adds, “that’s the only way to play GTA, no?”
If you’re a content creator, how will you be reacting to GTA 6 - the biggest game since GTA 5? Some text has been amended for brevity. You can find the original wording at the bounty post.
Created at . Page last updated at .