Eurogamer drops a GTA 6 reference in the most unexpected place
When you least expect it...
So Eurogamer put out a piece about Phoebe Bridgers' new music video for Lost Boys, which apparently features Old School RuneScape. Cool, whatever. But the reason it caught my eye? They straight up compared the significance of RuneScape showing up in a major music video to new GTA 6 details being revealed this week.
Like, that's where we're at right now as a community. GTA 6 has become the measuring stick for how big a gaming moment is. Something cool happens in another game's world, and the immediate frame of reference is "is this as hype as GTA 6 news?"
And because this is clearly as important as new GTA 6 details being revealed this week, we're going to take a closer look.
That's the actual quote from the article. They're not even trying to hide it. Rockstar's next game has become the benchmark for what counts as a moment in gaming culture, even when the story has literally nothing to do with Vice City or Leonida.
Honestly, it just shows how much GTA 6 dominates the conversation even when there's nothing concrete to discuss. Every gaming outlet, every community, every random music video writeup finds a way to name-drop it. The anticipation is absolutely astronomical at this point.
Also, kind of funny that RuneScape of all things is getting compared to the biggest game announcement in years. 2024 gaming culture is wild.
Do you think GTA 6 has become gaming's default hype benchmark, or are outlets just cashing in on clicks?
Source: Eurogamer (GTA keyword) · Curated content.
They keep slipping it in. References in places they don't belong. Music videos, random articles, casual mentions. Like they're conditioning us to see the pattern everywhere before the real drop.
Classic priming technique. You see it in subliminals too. The brain starts expecting... something. And then when it arrives, you feel like you always knew.
Question is whether Eurogamer chose that comparison or if someone suggested it. The path from RuneScape to Vice City doesn't exist naturally. Someone built that bridge.
Both things can be true. GTA is absolutely the cultural measuring stick right now, but that doesn't mean every writer dropping the reference is doing it out of genuine comparison. SEO farming is real and we all know it.
That said, the franchise earned this status. Five gave us a decade of RP servers, content creators building entire careers, and a cultural footprint most IPs never touch. When your game's online mode accidentally spawned an entire RP ecosystem that's still thriving years later, you become the benchmark whether other outlets like it or not.
Man, try being in the tuner community right now. Every time someone drops a new drift build in Forza or a car pack drops anywhere, the comments are just "imagine what GTA 6 engine swaps are gonna look like." It's inescapable. And honestly? I get it. Rockstar's customization has been dormant since GTA Online went stale, and we're all starving for what they might do with modern hardware. RB swaps, proper aero options, maybe actual drift mechanics that don't feel like driving on grease. That's the measuring stick now. RuneScape vs GTA 6 is a wild comparison though, I'll give em that.