All GTA, all day, since 2012

Discord’s April Fool’s Prank Accidentally Breaks GTA 6 Trailer Record

"Whoopsie doopsie!" Discord's April Fool's prank is overshadowing the GTA 6 trailer debut.


The GTA 6 trailer has now amassed over 184 million views on YouTube.
The GTA 6 trailer has now amassed over 184 million views on YouTube.

Discord decided to try its hand at April Fool’s shenanigans this year, and in a lighthearted attempt to prank its users, the gaming chat giant unwittingly sparked a viral viewership sensation that briefly toppled one of the biggest video game launch records – but worry not, balance has been restored!

On April 1, Discord released a video titled “Discord Loot Boxes are here,” clearly intended as an April Fool’s Day joke. What it didn’t anticipate was the video racking up hundreds of millions of views within hours and over one billion in less than a day. Yes, one billion views in just one day! Even the record set by the Grand Theft Auto 6 trailer couldn’t hold a candle to this magnificent prank.

“We were just trying to have a bit of fun and get some laughs out of our users,” said a Discord spokesperson. “We certainly didn’t expect our little prank to blow up quite like this!” The view count skyrocketed so rapidly that it briefly surpassed GTA 6’s record-breaking 93 million views in 24 hours.

However, the Discord team quickly realized something was amiss, acknowledging on Twitter (sigh, X) that it had “done something just a lil silly” and that the view count was the result of an “accidental viewbot.” The only apology any enraged GTA fans were going to get from Discord was “Whoopsie doopsie!”

According to one insightful Twitter user, @NurM4rvin, Discord managed to create a working YouTube viewbot, accidentally playing the loot box trailer on a loop in the background of the in-app toast. This temporary inflation of the view count was swiftly corrected, returning the 24-hour debut record to Rockstar Games and its blockbuster GTA 6 trailer.

While the loot box announcement was indeed an April Fool’s joke, the virtual treasure troves are actually a real feature in Discord, at least for the time being. Users can open them and collect various rewards, including a limited-time clown avatar badge for collecting all nine items – luckily, real money is not involved in the process.

As the dust settles on Discord’s unintentional viewership frenzy, Rockstar Games continues to gear up for the eagerly awaited release of GTA 6, which is still expected to arrive next year. Before then, newcomers can complete GTA 5 for the ‘nth time and dive into GTA Online, which should be a little less traumatic with its new community guidelines to help ensure a fair, respectful, and safe environment for all players.

Comments: 5 replies

Loading new replies...

Avatar of H4ck3r
H4ck3r

Active member

113 messages 71 likes

That is nuts. Just goes to show how many people are on Discord. Insane. I don't use it anymore cause I have privacy concerns but that is just me.

Still crazy to think this happened though.

Reply Like

Avatar of starrysquirrel
starrysquirrel

Member

45 messages 17 likes

This is pretty hilarious honestly. I knew it would get a ton of views but I did not think it would actually get THAT MUCH. I was laughing when it was just getting insane. I knew it had to be some sort of issue.
It was a view bot issue. It got over a billion views lol

Reply 1 Like

Avatar of TurboToucan50
TurboToucan50

Member

58 messages 19 likes

I didn't even know this happened. I guess I am out of the loop. I was reading the comments on the video and they are pretty funny lol

At least their corrected the issue quick enough on YouTube.

Reply Like

Avatar of RetroRanger
RetroRanger

Member

95 messages 47 likes

Same but I don't really pay much attention to Discord. I stopped using it. I would rather be on forums and since I mostly game on console now, there is no need for it for talking to people.

Reply 1 Like

Avatar of TurboToucan50
TurboToucan50

Member

58 messages 19 likes

I stopped using it when I realized what the client was being used for. A lot of... Well, "predators" on there and it is disturbing. It is the same reason I left Reddit and just migrated to smaller communities and forums like this one.

Reply Like

Caleb Sama
Caleb Sama // Articles: 15
Ever since Caleb discovered GTA 3, he has taken it upon himself to learn everything there is to know about the fictional worlds created by Rockstar Games. His obsession with Red Dead Redemption earned him the nickname John Marston. Thankfully, GTA V was released a few years later, and he found a new game to fixate on. Now, he simply crawls the web like a bot, searching for every bit of information that might give him a headstart on GTA 6. // Full Bio