Miami-Dade County officials have been considering an unusual promotional partnership tied to the upcoming release of Grand Theft Auto 6, a game heavily inspired by Miami and South Florida. The concepts included branding parts of Miami-Dade with Vice City-themed elements as part of a potential promotional partnership around the game's launch.
County officials have described the idea as a potential gaming tourism and revenue opportunity, using the game's global audience to showcase Miami-Dade. However, the idea has met resistance from within the county government.
The disagreement puts an unusual question at the centre of the proposed partnership: how far should the real Miami embrace its fictional counterpart?
Miami-Dade's Vice City Proposal Faces Police Opposition
Miami-Dade County officials have confirmed that the county held discussions with Rockstar Games about potential opportunities surrounding the launch of Grand Theft Auto 6. County officials responded with a range of possible promotional concepts, reflecting the game's close connection to South Florida.
The proposal included concepts such as wrapping a Metromover train in Vice City branding, installing Vice City-themed murals on public buildings and creating branded manhole covers. One of the most striking suggestions was the temporary rebranding of Miami International Airport as 'Vice City Airport'.
The plans remain proposals rather than an approved county-wide campaign.
Miami-Dade Commissioner Juan Carlos Bermudez has questioned whether county resources and facilities should be used for the promotion and called for greater transparency around the discussions with Rockstar.
He said the issue was not whether GTA 6 would bring worldwide attention to Miami-Dade, but whether the county should use public resources and facilities to promote a fictional depiction centred on crime and violence.
'I still cannot believe that we are even considering temporarily rebranding important County assets, including Miami International Airport, as "Vice City Airport". Miami-Dade County has spent decades building a reputation as a world-class destination for tourism, business, investment, and opportunity.
'We should be promoting the Miami-Dade we have worked so hard to build, not a fictional version of our community defined by crime and violence,' Bermudez said.
Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz raised a similar objection from a law-enforcement perspective.
Cordero-Stutz said, 'Grand Theft Auto is a video game franchise built around criminal activity. Its fictional world includes murder, robbery, drug trafficking, carjacking, violence against law enforcement, and other conduct that the men and women of the Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office work every single day to prevent.
'At a time when law enforcement is working every day to reduce violent crime, prevent robberies and car thefts, combat drug trafficking, and build stronger relationships between our deputies and the communities we serve, I believe we need to seriously consider the message we send when our own government promotes a fictional identity centered around many of those same crimes.'
The proposal has therefore prompted a debate about its potential tourism and revenue benefits, as well as concerns about associating public institutions with the game's fictional depiction of crime.
GTA 6's Leaks Have Added to the Hype Around the Game
The controversy arrives after years of extraordinary attention around GTA 6, including incidents that have gone far beyond normal video-game promotion.
The game suffered a major leak in 2022 after an unauthorised third party illegally accessed Rockstar's systems and obtained early development footage. The incident prompted Rockstar to publicly acknowledge the intrusion while the game was still in development, after the footage spread widely online.
The frenzy continued in 2026 when more purported GTA 6 gameplay footage appeared online. Rockstar described the leak as 'heartbreaking', while Take-Two pursued legal requests seeking information that could help identify people allegedly involved in distributing the material.
The latest leak saga also became linked to cryptocurrency after the account or group using the name CyberLeek promoted a token connected to the leak activity. Reports later said the token's value fell sharply after a wallet associated with the project collected creator fees and sold tokens.
Fans have also taken the anticipation to unusual extremes. One reported incident involved a fan claiming to monitor activity around Rockstar North's Edinburgh headquarters, including traffic and other environmental conditions, in an attempt to predict when new GTA 6 information might appear.
The game has also endured two public release delays. Rockstar first moved it from its 2025 window to May 2026, before Take-Two later confirmed 19 November 2026 as the release date.
