Inside the Big Issue: The socially conscious guide to Grand Theft Auto VI

Grand Theft Auto VI is almost upon us. For the uninitiated, you may wonder why a tabloid-baiting, crime capering, satire-spewing video game is getting so much attention. But the first new GTA for 13 years is not just a game. It’s a media monolith.

Grand Theft Auto V has sold over 230 million copies. Some people (ahem) have bought it several times since it was first released on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. It’s been so long we’re now up to PlayStation 5.

GTA V’s revenue estimates vary but some suggest it has earned more than $10 billion (£7.5bn). Whichever way you shake it, GTA V is the biggest selling entertainment product of all time, dwarfing not only other games but films, music and the rest. The new game will let players delve into a world of criminality and explore Vice City – an in-game version of Miami – and the surrounding Everglades and countryside in Florida.

There is a female protagonist for the first time, with players able to switch between Lucia and Jason. The Bonnie and Clyde-style couple represent another new frontier: the first time the series has made love and romance a central focus. GTA is famous for police car chases, violence and giving players the power fantasy and freedom of choice to do what they want in a city that feels alive. But it has also never shied away from covering big issues. In this week’s magazine, we take a look at how the games have handled some of them in the past.

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What else is in this week’s Big Issue?

TikTok is cutting human moderators in favour of AI. Fired workers are fighting back

After working at TikTok for three years, Lynda Ouazar is sure of one thing: she will never let her children use the platform. “I know how the algorithm works,” the former content moderator tells Big Issue. “I know the risks with addiction, with bad content, and there are lots of other issues people don’t know about. It’s not just people dancing, or cooking, or singing.” TikTok removed more than 188 million videos in the second quarter of 2026, the latest period for which data is available. So what’s it like to be a moderator – and what happens when they lose their jobs?

‘When I started painting them, I could see much of their lives etched into their faces’

Artist Shane Record paints portraits of people experiencing homelessness. Now, his exhibition ‘Facing Up’ is about to open.

“I got to know each subject well, finding out about their lives. Most are dogged with health problems, both mental and physical, but all were genuinely understanding as to why I wanted to do the paintings and were happy to be subjects,” he writes for Big Issue. “One guy lost his mother, job and flat all in the same week and with no support had a breakdown. Another came to the UK on a small boat escaping war.”

It’s illegal to reject tenants because they’re on benefits. But it’s still happening.

It’s now six months since the Renters’ Rights Act came into force and made it illegal in England for a landlord to reject a potential tenant just because they are on benefits. But it still happens, warns Usman Akhtar, chair of the ACORN Leeds community union, “and we have proof”. Read about how they found it in this week’s Big Issue.

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