1. The Design

Let's start with the most obvious... Cover arts for third-person Grand Theft Auto games have become iconic thanks to its unique visual style. Rather than relying on a single image, the cover presents a collage of illustrations that showcase the game's variety and atmosphere. Grand Theft Auto VI well preserves this tradition. The cover features a total of nine individual artworks, each helping to convey the game's mood to customers wherever they are shopping.

2. A Helicopter in the Top Left Corner

Another long-standing GTA box art tradition is dating back to Grand Theft Auto III. It is the helicopter placed in the upper-left corner. On GTA VI's cover, that role is filled by an amazing Sea Sparrow chopper.

3. A Motorcycle (Top Right Corner)

Motorcycles returned to the series in GTA Vice City after being absent since the very first GTA game and its London spin-offs. From that point on, a motorcycle became a recurring element on GTA covers. While its exact placement has occasionally varied, Rockstar generally prefers to position it in the upper-right corner—a tradition that continues with GTA VI as well.

4. The GTA Girl

Grand Theft Auto VI is the first game in the series where the developers have consciously tried to avoid a sexist approach from the very beginning of the marketing campaign. Even GTA V was initially promoted with one of the franchise's classic "GTA girl" artworks. However, Rockstar has increasingly embraced strong female characters since Red Dead Redemption 2, and the two lead protagonists came into highlight to market GTA VI from day one.

Even so, the box art does not completely abandon the tradition of featuring a cool stylish lady in one of its panels. This time, however, the designers found a way to make her look fashionable and attractive without reducing the image to mere objectification which is nice from R* and we definitely praise.

5. The Yellow Sports Car (Infernus?)

There are some cover art traits that apply only to certain entries in the series. One of them is the yellow sports car. This is a feature commonly associated episodes set in Vice City: both GTA Vice City and GTA Vice City Stories prominently featured an Infernus on their covers. GTA VI appears to continue this tradition, showcasing a slightly redesigned Lamborghini-inspired vehicle that will likely turn out to be a new Infernus. To some extent, Episodes from Liberty City kinda fits this pattern as well, as its cover highlighted a yellow Bullet GT in the lower-left corner.

6. Only in Vice City: Boats

The second unique characteristic is even more surprising, as it genuinely seems to apply only to GTA games set in Vice City. We have been able to drive boats since GTA III, yet Rockstar Games has chosen to feature boat on box art only for Grand Theft Auto titles set in Vice City. GTA V had only a jet-ski.

7. A New Tradition: Police Cars

Beyond classic traditions, new ones are seemingly emerge. Intentional or not, one feature shared by the covers of GTA IV, GTA V, and GTA VI while not on GTA III-era covers is the depiction of a police car. Despite law enforcements being one of the franchise's most fundamental gameplay elements, Rockstar had never featured them on cover arts previously by decision, or perhaps simply never considered doing so. It had been specific to GTA1 for a long time.

Rockstar Games seem to be cautious when depicting police on their marketing materials. Previously, we learnt about an unreleased GTA V art depicting a police cruiser on flames that R* decided not to use, probably due to its aggressive scene.

8. A New Tradition: The Protagonists on the Cover

Surprisingly, the playable protagonists received little emphasis on GTA III-era box arts. This changed with GTA IV in 2008. The trend was then followed by GTA Chinatown Wars, Episodes from Liberty City, GTA V, and now GTA VI, all of which prominently feature the playbale main characters on the cover.

9. A New Tradition: At Least One Animal

A third emerging tradition may also be taking shape. While birds and marine life occasionally appeared in earlier GTA games rather as some background scenery, it was not until GTA V that they were implemented as significant living wildlife. As a result, both GTA V and Grand Theft Auto VI feature at least one aggressive animal on their box art.