GTA 6 Takes Over Game Informer’s Next Cover, 14-Page Story Drops Sept 29

Grand Theft Auto VI is the next cover story for Game Informer, with a digital issue landing Tuesday, September 29, and a print run following in the weeks after. Game Informer confirmed the reveal on its own site, promising a 14-page feature built on fresh interviews with Rockstar’s designers and a dozen screenshots nobody has seen before.

The cover itself leans into the outlaw-couple imagery Rockstar has used since the first trailer. The two protagonists, Jason and Lucia, are on the front cover with yet another stylised image of them in a car equipped with guns. It’s the kind of cover Game Informer has built a two-decade tradition on, and this one is already being flagged by collectors as a keeper.

A Florida Local Wrote the Cover Story

The piece isn’t a generic wire rewrite of a press kit. Game Informer’s own reveal names senior associate editor Marcus Stewart, a South Florida native, who spoke with several lead designers at Rockstar about Leonida, the game’s take on Florida. That local angle matters here: Stewart is using his own background to check Rockstar’s claims about the setting rather than just reporting them.

Fans reacted fast once the cover went up, with plenty of arguing over whether the artwork actually teases new gameplay or just repackages the same Jason-and-Lucia pose Rockstar keeps using:

Weather, Wildlife and Why Rockstar Went Deep on Florida

Game Informer’s own preview text lays out three specific threads for the 14 pages: the weather engine, the wildlife roster, and how closely Rockstar copied the real Sunshine State. Rockstar discussed never-before-shared features such as Grand Theft Auto VI’s advanced weather systems that simulate Florida’s less sunny weather phenomena, the staggering amount of wildlife, native and otherwise, roaming Leonida on land, air, and sea, and Rockstar’s approach to researching Miami and Florida to ensure it created the most culturally and aesthetically accurate and lifelike world to date. Alongside that text sit 12 new, exclusive screenshots accompanying the cover story, showing off more of Grand Theft Auto VI’s sights and citizens.

We’ve been saying for a while that Rockstar’s marketing has been long on merch and short on systems talk, so a magazine feature that actually digs into weather simulation and wildlife density is the kind of detail worth the cover price on its own. It’s not gameplay footage, but it’s the closest thing to a design conversation we’ve had since the last trailer.

Issue 382 Isn’t Just a GTA 6 Magazine

The same issue carries previews and reviews for a stacked slate of other games. The GTAVI issue also includes previews for titles such as The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake, Metroid Ravenous, State of Decay 3, Mega Man: Dual Override, Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis, Final Fantasy VII Revelation, and many more, plus a reviews section covering Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave, Marvel’s Wolverine, Star Wars Zero Company, Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter, and Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy. Anyone chasing a copy purely for the GTA 6 pages is still getting a heavy issue for their money.

Read also: FF7 Revelation: ‘Revelation’ Beat Two Other Finalists, Says Director Hamaguchi

How to Actually Get a Copy

Digital access opens for subscribers on September 29. Print copies follow by mail and hit newsstands and bookstores in the weeks after that. To get the Grand Theft Auto VI cover story, readers can subscribe to a Game Informer print subscription to receive it as their first issue, with a subscription including 10 issues a year delivered in the U.S. and now internationally across over 50 countries. That international reach is a change from the magazine’s old U.S.-only model and should put a copy within reach for subscribers in Australia and New Zealand, though local shipping times will vary.

Where This Sits Ahead of November 19

Grand Theft Auto VI is due out on PS5 and Xbox Series on November 19, giving Rockstar roughly seven weeks between this feature and launch to keep the drip of new information going. This drop follows an unrelated collector’s edition reveal days earlier, so the cover story reads like Rockstar course-correcting toward substance after a run of merchandise news.

If you ask us, the smart move is treating September 29 as the last real preview before launch marketing shifts to trailers and countdown clocks. Seven weeks isn’t long once a game this size starts shipping review copies.