Will the New ‘Grand Theft Auto’ Be a Weapon in the Culture Wars?

Subscribe here: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube In the newest Grand Theft Auto installment—13 years and estimated billions of dollars in the making—people in a fictionalized version of Florida can exercise, drink smoothies, pet their dog, go to the club, and so much more.

The main characters are in a relationship, and players will have to tend to that too.

Galaxy Brain host Charlie Warzel talks with the gaming journalist Chris Plante about why the details of this game matter, the controversies it may unleash, the weirdest things he’s seen happen in the game, and what Grand Theft Auto tells us about America in 2026.

The following is a transcript of the episode: Charlie Warzel: Is there a possibility that you can’t make a game for everyone in 2026? Chris Plante: I think it’s like saying the NFL season might not land this year because people are worried about CTE, or people are worried about people kneeling in the end zone.

Like there’s always those things that people say, like: This is it; this is the year that I don’t watch it.

And then it’s the biggest season ever for the NFL.

Charlie Warzel: I’m Charlie Warzel, and this is Galaxy Brain , a show where, today, we’re gonna be talking about what is poised to be the biggest, most expensive, and arguably most controversial piece of culture and entertainment in recent memory.

It is an event that is 13 years in the making.

Yes, we’re talking about Grand Theft Auto VI .

Now, you might not be a video-game person, but chances are you know about Grand Theft Auto .

And maybe that’s because you’ve played some version since 2001, when Rockstar, the studio that makes the franchise, released GTA 3 , which was the first version of the game to turn what was a small-budget carjacking game into a cinematic, 3-D, open-world experience.

Or maybe you’ve sat on the couch and you’ve watched with either glee or horror as somebody else—your partner, your child, your friend—went on a brutal crime spree, getting chased around the city by fleets of police cars and helicopters.

Or maybe you know the game through its controversies.

To list a few: There’s been outrage over cop killing; the way that the game has depicted sex workers; the fact that sex workers are in the game at all; depictions of torture; celebrities claiming their likenesses have been used; and, of course, the concerns that the game could lead to real-world violence.