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

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!”

how about a whoopsie doopsie? does that cover it?

— Discord (@discord) April 2, 2024

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.