GTA 6 Release Date: Still November 19, 2026, Price and Platforms

The GTA 6 release date is Thursday, November 19, 2026, and as of October 18, 2026, nothing has changed it. Rockstar Games set that date on November 6, 2025, after two earlier delays, and its parent company Take-Two Interactive repeated it in its August 2026 earnings results, while a new launch trailer released in mid-October again showed November 19 on screen.

With about a month to go, Grand Theft Auto VI is no longer a game of rumors. Pre-orders have been open since June 25, the price is official at $79.99 for the standard edition, pre-loading starts on November 12, and Rockstar has shown 27 minutes of in-game footage. Below is everything that is confirmed, what is still not announced, the full delay history, and what the launch means for players and for the games industry.

GTA 6 release date: the confirmed facts

Rockstar's own announcement on its Newswire in November 2025 was short: Grand Theft Auto VI "will now release on Thursday, November 19, 2026." The studio apologized for the extra wait and said the additional months would let it finish the game with the level of polish players expect. Since then every official channel has pointed to the same day.

• Launch day: Thursday, November 19, 2026, worldwide.
• Platforms: PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S.
• Pre-orders: open since midnight local time on June 25, 2026, on the PlayStation Store, Microsoft Store, Rockstar Games Store and at retailers.
• Pre-load: from November 12, 2026, for digital pre-orders, so the game is ready to play when it unlocks.
• Physical version: a box containing a download code, also available from November 12. There is no game disc.
• Age rating: when pre-orders opened, Take-Two said the game was not yet rated.

In practice, "launch day" for most players will begin at midnight local time on November 19 on their console's store, as is usual for big digital releases, although Rockstar has not published a per-region unlock schedule.

Has anything changed? The latest from Rockstar and Take-Two

The short answer is no. Every update since the November 2025 delay has reinforced the date rather than moved it. Here is what happened in 2026, in order.

June: price, cover art and pre-orders

Rockstar revealed the cover art in mid-June and announced pre-orders on June 24, opening them the next day. The press release, distributed by Take-Two, confirmed the platforms, the $79.99 price and a $99.99 Ultimate Edition. It also described Grand Theft Auto VI as "a single-player experience set in the biggest, most immersive evolution of the series yet."

August: earnings call and "unprecedented" pre-orders

On August 6, Take-Two reported its fiscal first-quarter 2027 results. Chairman and chief executive Strauss Zelnick pointed to "excitement around the November 19th launch of Grand Theft Auto VI" and kept the company's full-year net bookings outlook at $8.0 billion to $8.2 billion. On the call with analysts, reported by Reuters, Zelnick said: "Our pre-orders are exceptional. No one's ever seen anything like this before at Take-Two or in the industry." He added that the company was keeping its forecast unchanged because it had not yet sold a single unit and pre-orders can be cancelled.

Late August: a 27-minute "Extended Look" on Netflix

On August 27, Netflix premiered Grand Theft Auto VI: An Extended Look, a special made entirely from in-game footage captured on PlayStation 5, before Rockstar posted it to YouTube and other platforms six hours later. CNBC reported that Netflix and the streaming site Twitch both struggled briefly under the demand. The special came after gameplay videos leaked online, which Rockstar described as "heartbreaking" for its team.

October: the launch trailer

In mid-October Rockstar released a launch trailer that, as the BBC reported, again confirmed November 19 and showed more of the missions Lucia and Jason take on. It also revealed that the French electronic duo Justice composed the game's original score. A launch trailer this close to release is the clearest sign a publisher can give that the date is locked.

What comes next

Take-Two's investor relations page lists its second-quarter fiscal 2027 results for Monday, November 9, ten days before launch. That call is the last scheduled public update from the company before the game arrives, and investors will listen for any comment on launch-day logistics and on online plans.

GTA 6 delay history in one table

Grand Theft Auto VI has had one of the longest public build-ups in entertainment. Rockstar first confirmed a new main Grand Theft Auto game in February 2022 and showed it to the world in December 2023. Its launch target has moved twice since.

Date of update	Who said it	Release target	What happened
February 2022	Rockstar Games	Not given	Rockstar confirms active development of the next Grand Theft Auto.
December 2023	Rockstar Games	2025	Trailer 1 introduces Lucia, Vice City and the state of Leonida, ending with "2025."
May 2024	Take-Two Interactive	Fall 2025	Take-Two narrows the launch window to fall 2025.
May 2, 2025	Rockstar Games and Take-Two	May 26, 2026	First delay. Rockstar apologizes that the game is later than expected.
May 6, 2025	Rockstar Games	May 26, 2026	Trailer 2 focuses on Jason and Lucia's story.
November 6, 2025	Rockstar Games and Take-Two	November 19, 2026	Second delay, announced alongside Take-Two's quarterly results.
June 24-25, 2026	Rockstar Games and Take-Two	November 19, 2026	Price and editions announced; pre-orders open worldwide.
August 6-7, 2026	Take-Two Interactive	November 19, 2026	Quarterly results repeat the date; CEO calls pre-orders "unprecedented."
August 27, 2026	Rockstar Games and Netflix	November 19, 2026	27-minute Extended Look premieres on Netflix.
October 2026	Rockstar Games	November 19, 2026	Launch trailer confirms the date again.

The May 2025 delay moved the game into Take-Two's fiscal 2027, which runs from April 2026 to March 2027; the November 2025 delay kept it there but shifted it into the holiday quarter.

Price, editions and pre-order bonuses

For years, fans debated whether the game would break the $70 ceiling that most big console games had settled on. It did. Rockstar's prices for the two editions are:

Edition	US price	UK price	Format	What is included
Standard Edition	$79.99	£69.99	Digital, or a download code in a box	The full game
Ultimate Edition	$99.99	£89.99	Digital	The game plus premium vehicles, weapons, clothing and extra activities tied to Jason and Lucia's story

Every pre-order and every purchase before November 20, 2026, includes the Vintage Vice City Pack, a set of in-game items themed on the city's neon past. Digital pre-orders also come with one free month of GTA+, Rockstar's subscription, which can be used straight away for Grand Theft Auto V and older titles in its games library. Prices in Canada, Australia and other markets are set by each console store in local currency, so check the PlayStation Store or Microsoft Store in your region for the exact figure.

If you are waiting for a deal, keep expectations modest. New releases of this size rarely see real discounts in their first weeks, and the game arrives the week before Black Friday. Our guide to Black Friday 2026 dates and retailer plans covers where console and accessory deals are more likely to show up.

Platforms: PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, and what about PC?

Grand Theft Auto VI launches only on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. A PC version has not been announced, and neither has a Nintendo Switch 2 version. That follows Rockstar's history: Grand Theft Auto V reached PC about a year and a half after its console debut, and Red Dead Redemption 2 came to PC about a year after consoles. Neither precedent is a promise, and Rockstar has given no timeline.

The older PlayStation 4 and Xbox One are not supported. Rockstar's official site carries a "plays best on PlayStation 5" badge, reflecting a marketing deal with Sony, and the Netflix special was captured on PS5. Rockstar has not announced any content that is exclusive to one console.

The move to digital-first also matters for players with slower connections. Because even the boxed copy contains a download code, the whole game must come down over the internet. If your home connection is limited, the pre-load window from November 12 is worth using, and our explainer on how Starlink satellite internet works covers one option for rural households.

Setting and story: Leonida, Vice City, Lucia and Jason

The game is set in the fictional state of Leonida, Rockstar's take on Florida, and returns to Vice City, the series' version of Miami, last seen as a main setting in 2002's Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and in 2006's Vice City Stories. This time Vice City is a modern city inside a much larger state of swamps, beaches and small towns.

Rockstar's official description sets up the story in a few lines: Jason and Lucia "have always known the deck is stacked against them," and when an easy score goes wrong they end up on the darkest side of the sunniest place in America, caught in a conspiracy that stretches across Leonida.

• Lucia is the first female lead of a 3D main-series Grand Theft Auto game. Trailer 1 introduced her in a prison setting.
• Jason is her partner in life and crime, and the second playable character.
• Two leads, one story: unlike the three separate leads of Grand Theft Auto V, the trailers and Rockstar's text present the pair as a couple who rely on each other, a dynamic the BBC has compared to Bonnie and Clyde.

Rockstar has kept tight control over details such as map size, mission count and playtime, so treat any specific numbers you see on social media as unconfirmed until the studio publishes them.

Is there an online mode at launch?

This is one of the biggest open questions. The pre-order announcement and the PlayStation Store listing describe Grand Theft Auto VI as a single-player experience, and Rockstar has not confirmed that a new version of GTA Online will be available on November 19. The free month of GTA+ bundled with digital pre-orders points to the existing Grand Theft Auto V online world, not a new one.

Analysts are watching this closely because GTA Online has been a steady earner for more than a decade. "What's really important for Take-Two is some notion of the plan for how 'GTA Online' will evolve," MoffettNathanson analyst Clay Griffin told Reuters in August. Wells Fargo analysts, quoted by CNBC, made a similar point, saying Take-Two shares needed positive news about the online game for a lasting re-rating.

What the release means for the games industry

Grand Theft Auto VI is the follow-up to one of the best-selling games of all time. Take-Two says Grand Theft Auto V has sold more than 230 million units since 2013, and Rockstar puts sales of the whole series at over 470 million units sold-in. Expectations for the sequel are correspondingly large.

• Pre-order sales: analytics firm Newzoo, cited by CNBC, estimated global pre-orders at an estimated $260 million in their first period, and said that pointed to potential sales of an estimated $4.5 billion by launch week.
• Take-Two's holiday quarter: Reuters, citing LSEG data, reported that analysts expect the game to drive a roughly 94% jump in Take-Two's December-quarter bookings, to an expected $3.4 billion.
• Full-year outlook: Take-Two is guiding to $8.0 billion to $8.2 billion in fiscal 2027 net bookings, below the $8.86 billion analysts expected, according to LSEG data cited by Reuters. Zelnick has called his stance "cautiously optimistic."
• Development cost: the BBC reported analyst estimates that put development costs above $1 billion, which would make it among the most expensive games ever made.

The launch also lands in a difficult market for hardware. CNBC reported that rising memory and storage costs have pushed console prices up, with a standard Xbox Series X now retailing at $800 in the US, and that US console hardware sales in July fell to their lowest level since the pandemic, according to Circana. Console makers are hoping a single huge release can bring people back to buying machines. Reuters reported in 2025 that the first delay weighed on global video game market growth.

The $79.99 price is its own test. Many big console releases have sold at $69.99 for years, and if players accept $80 for this game, other publishers may follow, much as they did when $70 became standard at the start of the current console generation. For a broader look at how entertainment prices have climbed, see our roundup of 2026 streaming prices.

Finally, the physical-disc question has caught attention far beyond gaming. Zelnick told analysts that Take-Two's business is "well over 90% digitally distributed" and that discs did not make sense to consumers, as CNBC reported. A code-in-a-box approach for the biggest game of the generation signals how far the industry has moved toward downloads.

What to do between now and November 19

1. Decide on an edition. The standard game is $79.99; the Ultimate Edition at $99.99 adds cosmetic and gameplay extras but no extra story chapters have been announced.
2. Pre-order if you want the bonus. The Vintage Vice City Pack is included with all pre-orders and purchases before November 20, so buying on launch day still qualifies.
3. Clear storage space. Delete or move older games so the pre-load on November 12 has room.
4. Plan your launch night. The game should unlock at midnight local time on most digital stores, but check your store's listing for the exact time in your region.
5. Ignore delay rumors without a source. Any change would come from the Rockstar Newswire or a Take-Two press release, not from social media posts. Rockstar's last two delays were announced on its own channels.

If you want something to play while you wait, our list of daily puzzle games like Wordle is a quick, free way to fill a few minutes a day. And for a look at where gaming and other screens may head next, read what could replace smartphones by 2030.

Bottom line

Grand Theft Auto VI is coming on November 19, 2026, for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S at $79.99, with pre-loading from November 12 and no disc in the box. The date has survived pre-orders, an earnings call, a major leak and a launch trailer without moving, and Take-Two's next update on November 9 is the final checkpoint before release. A PC version, a new online mode and the final download size have not been announced.