Recently, an employee involved in GTA 6's Miami offline marketing project stated that he was fired by his company for prematurely leaking game-themed promotional materials on TikTok. The total contract value of this offline marketing campaign reached $4 million.
The man's name is Graham Simmon, who works for Boucher Brothers, a company that handles outsourced activities for Rockstar Games. The company was responsible for the entire Vice City-themed beach setup in Miami Beach, including umbrellas, beach loungers, seaside gazebos, and other offline advertising props, as part of GTA 6's large-scale real-world marketing campaign.
On October 14, Simmon uploaded a short video showcasing the yet-to-be-officially-released Vice City-themed beach setup. As required by the company, the video was quickly deleted. At the time, the original video had fewer than 1,000 views, but some users saved clips beforehand, spreading screenshots and recordings across major social media platforms like Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok, inadvertently triggering widespread dissemination.
On October 20, Simmon posted a new video detailing the aftermath: "A few days ago, I filmed an unboxing video of the GTA 6 beach chairs, along with the matching umbrellas and gazebos on the beach. Before the video even reached 1,000 views, my company asked me to delete it. Unfortunately, others reposted the content, causing it to spread across the internet. My employer was extremely dissatisfied and subsequently fired me. Simply put, GTA 6 cost me my job."
Simmon stated that he had only been with the company for a short time and had not received any clear prior warning prohibiting him from filming or posting these marketing materials. Nevertheless, he admitted his mistake, expressed understanding of the company's decision to terminate his employment, and held no resentment.