The trailer opened with a scene of a highly modern city.
Unlike GTA: San Andreas, the visuals in GTA: Chapter of Liberty City were far more detailed.
Players watching the livestream couldn't quite tell where reality ended and the ga began.
San Andreas had leaned toward a stylized, comic-like art direction—high saturation and distinctive color palettes gave it a look that was both realistic and surreal.
That had been partly a compromise for the hardware limitations of the ti, and also an early experint in 2D rendering techniques using Unreal Engine—a foundation for similar future titles.
That style had been well-received by players, who loved its fresh aesthetic.
But this new GTA took a fully realistic approach in its visual presentation.
So viewers watching the trailer even felt a faint sense of familiarity from the cityscape.
...
...
As the trailer continued, more recognizable landmark buildings appeared.
And then, the unmistakable one finally showed up:
The Statue of Liberty.
An icon of Arica.
The mont players saw it, everyone imdiately knew which city it was.
"New York!"
"It's New York City!"
"So GTA is telling its next story in New York? Now that's sothing to look forward to!"
The trailer lasted only around two minutes.
Not a single character was shown during that ti.
That's because the ga was still in early developnt—city construction wasn't even complete. What players saw was just a rough environnt with a few signature NYC landmarks built in.
These weren't even final assets—just a prototype the Arican team had been rushing to produce.
In Takayuki's vision, all buildings in the ga would be fully explorable. Right now, they were just static textures—placeholders without any real function.
Still, even with just that glimpse, players were thrilled.
A story set in New York? That brought even more imrsion.
Then, the ga's full title appeared:
GTA: Chapter of Liberty City.
Liberty City—a fitting na if there ever was one.
In the previous ga, San Andreas had been a fictional mashup of three major U.S. cities.
This ti, the story would unfold in New York, the financial and cultural heart of Arica.
Whether you've been there or not, there's sothing deeply captivating about the city.
And it truly lived up to its na: Liberty.
Love it or hate it, New York is undeniably one of the top cities in the world.
To experience a ga set in such a place had players more excited than ever.
As the trailer ended, Umihane Shiratori returned to the stage.
"So, what do you think of our upcoming ga?"
"Give us the release date already! I can't wait!"
"I live in New York—I'm gonna look for my house in the ga!"
"I wanna climb the Statue of Liberty and shoot so bleep!"
"Eww~"
"I'm going on a rampage down Wall Street!"
The livestream's comnt section exploded with wild ideas from players.
Anyone unfamiliar with the context might have thought they were watching a cri confession hotline.
But the audience knew better.
That's exactly what they did in San Andreas.
In those fictional versions of major Arican cities, every player had left their own chaotic mark.
Years later, San Andreas still had over 300,000 concurrent players daily across Battle and GS consoles.
And that was a single-player ga—no online mode—yet players still loved exploring it endlessly.
That was due to the ga's excellent design and its insane level of freedom, amplified by a community of passionate modders who kept expanding and enriching the world of San Andreas.
And don't think mods were only for the PC version—thanks to Takayuki's insistence, the GS console had its own Creative Workshop just like the Battle platform.
Any mod uploaded to the Workshop could be downloaded and played across any Gastar platform.
Seeing the crowd's reaction, Umihane Shiratori felt vindicated for taking the stage.
All the anxiety from before was gone—he now spoke with confidence and calm.
"I know you're excited. But I know you want more than hype—you want us to deliver a great ga. So please be patient. The day will co, and when it does, we hope to give you the best experience possible."
He smiled, then quickly stepped off the stage—not giving the crowd any ti to react.
The room went quiet for a second.
Then, whistles and calls started erupting.
"More info! We want more!"
"Umihane, you bastard! You unleash the beast that is GTA, and then walk away without showing us more? May you step in dog poop!"
"I'm mailing you razor blades!"
The players yelled and scread, venting their frustration.
Was that really it? That teaser was way too short!
It was almost painful.
The next speaker, unfortunately, had to absorb all that leftover rage.
He did his best to calm everyone down, promising that more GTA content would be released gradually and regularly, and players could follow developnt updates on the official website.
Gastar Electronic Entertainnt would keep everyone posted.
That helped take the edge off a bit.
Also helping matters: the next ga revealed was the newest Pokémon title.
A beloved franchise for many.
Unlike the violence-heavy, adults-only GTA, Pokémon was more family-friendly and had a broader audience.
If GTA was like adrenaline for adults, Pokémon was a universal happy pill.
This new ga would be set in a brand-new world with an open-world structure—players would explore a large map to catch and discover Pokémon.
The concept was very appealing, and it cooled the crowd's frustration.
GTA: Chapter of Liberty City might still be far off, but the new Pokémon ga was confird for release at the end of this year.
It wasn't a technically demanding project, so developnt was progressing smoothly.
Even on a yearly release schedule, it wouldn't be a problem.
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