GTA 6 Release Date: Rockstar Confirms November 19, 2026 Launch

GTA 6 release date is now set for Thursday, November 19, 2026, after Rockstar Games pushed the title back from its previous May 2026 slot in a statement posted on November 6, 2025. The studio’s parent Take-Two Interactive opened preorders on June 25, 2026 at $79.99 for the Standard edition and $99.99 for the Ultimate, both on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. The November delay was Rockstar’s second on the game, and it landed one week after 31 UK studio workers were fired in what their union called “the most blatant and ruthless act of union busting in the history of the games industry.”

For most readers the questions are simple: when does it come out, what does it cost, and what is the game about. Below is every detail Rockstar, Take-Two, and the union have put on the record, alongside the pieces Rockstar itself would rather you read past.

A Delay That Stretches Into a Third Year

Rockstar’s November 6, 2025 statement was short and unadorned. The studio said it needed more time to deliver the polish the franchise demands, and pushed the game to a later date in 2026. That makes three target dates for one game:

1. Late 2025, the original window Rockstar gave with the first trailer in December 2023.
2. May 26, 2026, the date the studio moved to in early 2025.
3. November 19, 2026, the date set in the November 2025 delay and apology statement.

Development began in 2018 at Rockstar North in Edinburgh, with help from studios in New York and elsewhere. The Guardian, reporting the most recent delay, noted that by then it had been more than 12 years since Grand Theft Auto V shipped.

Lucia and Jason Take Vice City

GTA 6 is the first mainline entry in the series since GTA V in 2013, and the first built around a female protagonist. Players step into Vice City, Rockstar’s sun-bleached version of Miami, and across the surrounding state of Leonida, its stand-in for Florida. The two leads are a Bonnie and Clyde-style couple named Lucia and Jason, both playable, both on the wrong side of the law.

Vice City, USA. Jason and Lucia have always known the deck is stacked against them. But when an easy score goes wrong, they find themselves on the darkest side of the sunniest place in America, in the middle of a conspiracy stretching across the state of Leonida, forced to rely on each other more than ever if they want to make it out alive.

The series has always generated cultural moments at launch, but GTA 6’s marketing has run on its own fuel. The first trailer, dropped by Rockstar on December 5, 2023, drew the trailer’s 24-hour view-count record for non-music videos with 93 million views in a single day, more than any non-music video YouTube had hosted at the time. A second trailer followed on May 6, 2025, with Rockstar expanding on Lucia’s and Jason’s backstories and naming the playable supporting cast.

Console First, PC Last, Code in the Box

Take-Two confirmed on June 24, 2026 that GTA 6 will launch as a single-player experience on PlayStation 5, PS5 Pro, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S, with no multiplayer mode mentioned for day one. There is no PC version at launch. Preorders opened at midnight local time on June 25 through the PlayStation Store, Microsoft Store, Rockstar Games Store, and major retailers, with two editions on offer: Standard at $79.99 and Ultimate at $99.99.

The physical version is a download code in a cardboard sleeve rather than a disc, a move two physical-media retailers have publicly refused to stock. Pre-loading begins November 12, a week before launch, with retail availability starting the same day. The PC version has no confirmed date, with Take-Two’s CEO Strauss Zelnick telling Bloomberg the studio is targeting a path-traced build for the next console generation, a release now expected in early 2028 (see why Take-Two is delaying the PC build into 2028).

The Countries Where GTA 6 Will Not Ship

Take-Two has not published a list of countries where GTA 6 will be unavailable, but preorder availability has surfaced the limits. Sony’s official GTA 6 FAQ excludes Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, and Qatar from the free-month-of-GTA+ promotional offer that ships with early preorders, a detail that has fueled speculation about a wider ban. None of the four Gulf regulators has issued a public statement confirming a block.

The Khaleej Times, reviewing the picture, concluded that for now the strongest evidence is exclusion from the promo offer, not an outright ban. Buyers in the UAE are seeing preorders run on schedule. For a full breakdown, see what the Gulf availability picture looks like for preorders.

The 31 Who Did Not Make the Credits

The delay story most outlets have buried sits one week upstream. On October 30, 2025, Rockstar Games dismissed 31 workers from its UK studios in Edinburgh and London. The Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain, which represents workers across the games sector, said the dismissals targeted staff who had been discussing forming a union at the company.

Rockstar’s official response, given to Bloomberg, framed the action differently. A spokesperson told the BBC the studio had acted over the distribution of confidential information in a public forum, not over union activity.

Management are showing they don’t care about delays to GTA 6, and that they’re prioritising union busting by targeting the very people who make the game.

That quote came from Alex Marshall, the IWGB’s president, speaking at a rally outside Rockstar North’s Edinburgh office. Marshall accused the studio of deflecting from what the union believes is the real reason for the firings: protected union activity under UK employment law. Dr Paolo Ruffino, a senior lecturer at King’s College London, called it a “textbook” case of non-disclosure agreements being used to make workplace investigations nearly impossible.

Organizer Fred Carter, who led the Edinburgh picket, told the BBC the dismissed workers had been fired “without warning” and “without reason.” “They’ve been fired, we believe, because they’re union members, which is a protected activity in the UK,” he said. The firings, and the delay that followed one week later, place the studio’s public apology for taking more time in a different light. GTA Online, Rockstar’s live-service revenue engine from the GTA V era, will continue running after launch (see how Rockstar is keeping GTA Online running through the launch). The BBC has the union’s account of the October 2025 firings in full.

The Stakes for Take-Two and the Wider Industry

GTA V, the 2013 predecessor, has generated $8.6 billion in revenue since launch, according to Take-Two’s most recent financial reports. The franchise has run a 12-year tail that no other entertainment product has matched, and the launch is being measured against a single comparable: Rockstar’s last game, Red Dead Redemption 2.

Red Dead Redemption 2 reached $725 million in sales over its opening weekend in 2018, the benchmark GTA 6 will be measured against. Take-Two and Rockstar have spent the years since building the runway to clear it.

The wider games industry is watching the launch as a counterweight to a soft 2027. PwC’s Global Entertainment and Media Outlook projects the U.S. games market will contract next year as Sony and Microsoft roll out their next-generation consoles, even with GTA 6 sitting in the calendar. Tariffs, memory-chip costs driven by AI demand, and sticky inflation are all named as headwinds. Read PwC’s forecast that 2027 will be a soft year even with GTA VI live for the full picture.

Frequently Asked Questions

When is GTA 6 coming out?

GTA 6 launches Thursday, November 19, 2026 on PlayStation 5, PS5 Pro, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S. Take-Two confirmed the date in November 2025 and has reaffirmed it through every subsequent earnings call.

Will GTA 6 be on PC at launch?

No PC version is planned for day one. Take-Two’s CEO Strauss Zelnick has said the PC release will follow the console launch, with industry analysts now pointing to a window in early 2028. Rockstar has not announced a firm PC date, and the studio is targeting a path-traced build designed for the next console generation.

How much will GTA 6 cost?

The Standard edition is $79.99 and the Ultimate edition is $99.99 in the U.S. Preorders opened on June 25, 2026, with digital pre-loading starting November 12 and retail availability the same day.

Who are Lucia and Jason?

They are GTA 6’s two playable protagonists, a Bonnie and Clyde-style couple running scores across Vice City and the wider state of Leonida. Lucia is the franchise’s first female lead, and Jason is the second playable character. The pair anchor the game’s story across both single-player perspectives.

Why were Rockstar workers fired in October 2025?

Rockstar dismissed 31 UK staff on October 30, 2025. The IWGB says the dismissals targeted workers discussing union formation, a claim Rockstar denies, saying the action was over the sharing of confidential information in a public forum. The case is contested and unresolved, with UK employment law on protected union activity at the centre of the dispute.