GTA 6 Release Date, Time, Price and Preload Explained

Grand Theft Auto VI arrives on Thursday, Nov. 19, 2026, on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, according to Rockstar Games’ store listing. With the launch just over two weeks away, here is what has been confirmed about release times, preloading, pricing and storage, and what is still rumor.

Release date and launch time

Rockstar has said the game unlocks at midnight local time on Nov. 19, so players in New Zealand and Australia get in first. For U.S. players that means 12:00 a.m. in your own time zone on Thursday, not a single global unlock. Players on the West Coast will be able to start three hours after the East Coast.

The launch is console-only. A PC version has not been announced; Rockstar released GTA V on consoles first in 2013 and on PC about 18 months later, and industry reporting points to a similar gap this time. Xbox has also denied that the game will be available through cloud streaming to PC at launch.

Preload

Rockstar’s store page says preloading begins Nov. 12, 2026. A PlayStation Blog post cited by Vice listed Nov. 10 for PS5, so the exact start may differ by platform; check your console’s store on Nov. 10 and again on Nov. 12. Preloading downloads the files early but keeps them locked until the unlock time.

You will want the head start: PlayStation has confirmed the game needs about 212 GB of storage. A standard PS5 ships with 825 GB, so many players will need to delete other titles or add an SSD. Download speed matters too; at 100 Mbps, 212 GB takes roughly five hours.

Price and editions

Edition	Price (U.S.)	What you get
Standard	$79.99	Base game
Ultimate	$99.99	Base game plus exclusive premium content

Prices are as reported by Forbes from Rockstar’s pre-order information. The $79.99 standard price is $10 above the $69.99 that became common for big console releases in recent years. Forbes also reports that physical copies come with a twist: the disc requires a sizeable download before you can play, so a boxed copy does not avoid the storage and bandwidth question.

What is still unconfirmed

PC release date: rumored for 2027, not announced.
Online mode launch timing: Rockstar has not said whether GTA Online’s successor launches on day one.
Review embargo and early access: no announcement.
Nintendo Switch 2: no version announced.

What it means for you

If you plan to play at launch, clear storage space and preload between Nov. 10 and Nov. 12, buy a DualSense or Xbox controller spare if you share the console, and expect servers and digital stores to be busy on the night of Nov. 18. Retailers are also likely to fold the game into Black Friday bundles the following week; see our Black Friday 2026 guide for how to judge whether a bundle is actually a deal.

Luz News will update this article if Rockstar changes the preload window or confirms additional platforms.