The recent Grand Theft Auto 6 Extended Look, which debuted as a timed-exclusive on Netflix last month, sparked plenty of speculation among fans about the actors who would be playing many of its roles. One of the key standouts in this regard was a character that the two protagonists meet at a rooftop restaurant named Brian, whose presence raised the question of whether critically acclaimed character actor Stephen Root was part of the cast as well.
Root has since confirmed the fact that he plays a character in Grand Theft Auto 6. In an interview with the Associated Press, the actor didn’t quite reveal too many details about his role, but confirmed the presence of his character in the various marketing materials that Rockstar has released for the title so far.
“Yeah, you’re going to see me in that. It’s coming out November 19th, is the latest I know of. But I think from the first rollout of GTA that they were doing maybe almost a year ago, they had my character in there, and there were too many people who knew me from King of the Hill and my voice. So, I think that secret got divulged.”
Root went on to agree with the interviewer that working on Grand Theft Auto 6 was “a whole different ball game” than what the actor was used to. “I’m so happy to be involved with it. It’s an amazing thing to look at.”
The Extended Look was noted as being a major release when it comes to marketing materials, with a report indicating that it led to a 33 percent jump in PS5 console sales and a 34 percent jump in Xbox Series X/S sales in the UK market. The report also noted that many retailers across the country were running out of stock, with Sony itself being one of the few places left where fans can get their hands on a PS5 Pro.
Despite this jump, however, Newzoo analyst Ronan Patrick has noted that the spike might not be as big as the companies have been hoping for thanks to just how expensive consoles have gotten in recent times.
“We expect, because of [GTA] and Call of Duty, to see an uptick in the install base, but nothing particularly massive. But perhaps some of the fears are overblown when it comes to software. It’s important to remember that the lion’s share of time is often spent on older titles, and the closest analogy we have to a hardware shock is during the 2020-2021 GPU shortage, and you didn’t see engagement or revenue being taken off course. You basically saw a reallocation of spend into software.”
Grand Theft Auto 6 is currently only slated for a console release, and neither Rockstar Games nor parent company Take-Two Interactive has offered any details about a PC release. Going by Rockstar’s past, however, a PC version of Grand Theft Auto 6 is likely going to be released a year or so after its initial console launch. In the meantime, check out how the Extended Look showcases benefited Netflix.
