Rockstar Games and Florida Officials Are Having Conversations to Turn Miami Into Vice City IRL for GTA 6's Marketing Campaign

Florida officials and video game developer Rockstar Games are discussing the possibility of transforming certain parts of Miami into a replica of Vice City, the fictional setting in Grand Theft Auto 6, as part of the upcoming game's marketing campaign. Initial reports from The Miamian indicated that Rockstar Games approached Miami-Dade County with its ideas, but the city actually submitted a proposal of its own.

The concepts proposed are extensive and ambitious, potentially involving the transformation of Miami International Airport into a Vice City welcome area, complete with limited edition luggage tags, themed luggage carts, and a display aircraft wrapped in the game's signature purple color.

The city also suggested various activations across Miami's beaches, parks, and ports, such as themed events featuring DJs, exotic vehicles, photo opportunities, drone displays, murals, and more. Additionally, there were suggestions for Rockstar to take over public transportation like Miami's buses and trains, advertising the game on their locomotives and stations.

More modestly, the pitch included ideas for Vice City-branded manhole covers and utility boxes. Some of these suggestions have potential benefits for Miami beyond marketing, such as constructing a radio lab at a library in downtown Miami for visitors to create music and podcasts.

Miami-Dade County spokesperson Carlos Suarez confirmed that conversations with Rockstar Games have taken place, but there are no concrete plans in place at this time. The city would need to go through the appropriate review and approval process for any of these ideas to move forward. Suarez expressed optimism about the potential revenue generation and publicity that Miami could gain from such a unique collaboration.

Given the scale and expense of the proposed ideas, it seems unlikely that all of them would be implemented, but the possibility of Rockstar using Miami to promote GTA 6 is not out of the question, especially with the game's promotional push set to kick off with an extended trailer premiere on Netflix.