A decade-long wait for the sixth main game in the Grand Theft Auto series has ended as Rockstar released a trailer.

Set in Miami-inspired Vice City, it features a story of love and crime between its first female protagonist, Lucia, and an unnamed male lead.

The developer released the trailer 15 hours earlier than expected, after it first leaked online.

The trailer teases a 2025 release window which means fans will still have to wait to play it.

It will be the sequel to 2013's smash hit GTA V, which became the second best-selling video game of all time, following Minecraft.

There have been seemingly endless rumours and leaks for the past decade about GTA VI.

The mere confirmation that a trailer was coming – an announcement of an announcement, if you will – was enough to spark global headlines in November as desperate fans sought out any information about the new game.

Originally developed in Dundee in 1997 by DMA Design, later known as Rockstar, GTA has been as critically and commercially successful as it has been controversial.

Questions were even asked in the House of Lords about the first game's violent content.

The trailer shows people racing cars, people partying on boats and a man pulling an alligator out of a swimming pool.

It has taken a long time for the new game to come, and James Binns, chairman of gaming media firm Network N, said that might be explained by the sheer success of GTA V, which sold 190 million copies worldwide.

"It's one of the biggest games in the world and it's kept alive now by GTA Online, an online game where you rob banks and build gangs," he said.

"That means it's at the top of the play charts most weeks now for Xbox, PlayStation and PC.

"They spent over a billion dollars on it, so it's going to be epic in scale… This is going to be the most expensive game ever made."

Previously the gaming giant's president Sam Houser said the December release for the trailer was intended to coincide with its 25th anniversary.

Rockstar has separately announced a deal with Netflix to bring several of its titles to the streaming giant's gaming offering.

GTA 3, Vice City and San Andreas – all much-beloved by gamers – will be made available to Netflix subscribers on mobile devices on 14 December.