Release Date and Delays

0:35 Grand Theft Auto 6 is due on Thursday, Nov 19, 2026, for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S. It is the game's third date: Trailer 1 promised 2025, the first delay moved it to May 26, 2026, and the second, announced on Nov 6, 2025, to November. "We are sorry for adding additional time to what we realize has been a long wait," Rockstar wrote, "but these extra months will allow us to finish the game with the level of polish you have come to expect and deserve." TGG read the statement out, and his reaction was the one many fans had: "We are over a year away again."

Quick facts

Timeline

"Still on track"

0:01 Rockstar's parent company Take-Two held to the 2025 window for more than a year while reports suggested the game might slip. In February 2025 its shares rose after it reiterated that Grand Theft Auto 6 was "still on track to launch this fall", as CNBC put it.

4:43 Asked what goes into it, chief executive Strauss Zelnick said Rockstar seeks "creative perfection, which is why it takes a long time and why it's complex and of course nervous making", and that "we don't claim success till it occurs". Grand Theft Auto V had sold more than 210 million copies, he added, and "we couldn't be more excited."

The first delay

On May 2, 2025, Rockstar moved the game to May 26, 2026. "We are very sorry that this is later than you expected," its statement read. "With every game we have released, the goal has always been to try and exceed your expectations, and Grand Theft Auto VI is no exception. We hope you understand that we need this extra time to deliver at the level of quality you expect and deserve." Trailer 2 followed four days later.

0:56 On CNBC after Take-Two's results, Zelnick called the delay "pretty short", less than six months, and said the company generally hits a date once it names one. Rockstar, he said, "is trying to create the best thing anyone's ever seen in entertainment, not just interactive entertainment."

1:35 Other publishers watch each other's schedules, he conceded, but the delay was "really a reflection of desire to polish", from a company known not to have "slavish devotion to release dates".

The second delay

On Nov 6, 2025, alongside Take-Two's quarterly results, Rockstar moved the game again, to Nov 19, 2026. Take-Two said the extra time would let the team "finish the game with the high level of polish players expect and deserve". Zelnick told IGN that the company was "grateful that it is still within the same fiscal year". The announcement came a week after Rockstar fired 34 employees, a decision the Independent Workers' Union of Great Britain called union busting; journalists noted the firings did not cause the delay, though a Rockstar North employee described morale as "at rock bottom". See Development.

2:07 "Usually when Rockstar gives a date, they don't delay it again," TGG said on hearing the news. "Let's just hope they can stick this one."

How the second delay was asked for came out on Oct 14, 2026, in a long Bloomberg report on the game's making, as Kotaku summarized it. Rob Nelson, co-head of Rockstar North, described the pressure "to deliver the highest-quality game in the most aggressive time scale that you can", then deciding, once within striking distance, "if it is actually achievable". Each time, Rockstar's head of publishing, Jennifer Kolbe, phoned Zelnick to ask for more time. The second call got a different reaction: "I think he said, 'You're kidding,'" Kolbe recalled. "'Please tell me you're kidding.'" Once they talked it through, she said, "he got it". Zelnick told Bloomberg that more time is usually "a wise investment" so that a game can "reach the level of perfection it has the ability to reach".

Launch

0:14 On Jun 18, 2026, Rockstar revealed the cover art and announced that pre-orders would open on Jun 25 "on digital storefronts and at other select retailers"; a week later it confirmed the Nov 19 date again and opened them at midnight local time. Digital pre-orders can be pre-loaded from Nov 12, and the physical edition, a box with a download code inside, reaches stores the same day. See Editions and Pre-orders.

The game unlocks at midnight local time, according to its PlayStation Store listing, so New Zealand gets it first, 19 hours before Mexico and Central America. The United States unlocks all at once, at midnight Eastern, which is 9 p.m. on Nov 18 on the West Coast. The countdown at the top of this viki counts down to that moment.

Four weeks out

As of Oct 23, 2026, the date holds. Rockstar's site reads "Coming November 19, 2026" for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S, and on the same day the PlayStation Store listed both editions for Nov 19, 2026, each with a seven-day pre-load, while the Microsoft Store gave the same date for both. On Oct 7 Xbox's chief strategy officer, Matthew Ball, wrote that Xbox was "looking forward to launching GTAVI on XBOX November 19". At Take-Two's annual meeting on Sep 17, Zelnick read out in full a shareholder's question about "years of delays, missed expectations" and pushed back on it, pointing to how the company had grown since 2007 and to revenue guided at $8 billion to $8.2 billion for the year.

Rockstar's own signals since have pointed to launch, not to another delay. On Oct 15, 2026 it released the launch trailer, five weeks before release (see Trailers), and on Oct 20 a cut of it aired as the game's first TV commercial during the NBA's opening night. The next date to watch is Monday, Nov 9, 2026: Take-Two announced on Oct 13 that it will report its quarterly results that day after the market closes, with a call at 4:30 p.m. Eastern. It is the company's last scheduled report before the launch, and the second delay was announced alongside the same quarter's results a year earlier.

The marketing grew louder through the fall: the soundtrack album and the first radio stations (see Music and Radio), Game Informer's cover story on Leonida (see Leonida), a $400 collector's box (see Editions and Pre-orders), Jason and Lucia on a cover of Love magazine, a mural going up in Brooklyn, and a "Welcome to Vice City" sign lit on top of the Miami Heat's arena. On Nov 18, the eve of the launch, the Heat will play the Milwaukee Bucks as "Vice City", in new uniforms on a new court, at an event called A Night in Vice City, shown live on ESPN.

Frequently asked questions

When does GTA 6 come out? Grand Theft Auto 6 comes out on Thursday, Nov 19, 2026, on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S, unlocking at midnight local time in each PlayStation Store region; the date still held on Rockstar's site and both console stores as of Oct 23, 2026.

How many times has GTA 6 been delayed? Twice. Rockstar first promised Grand Theft Auto 6 for 2025, moved it to May 26, 2026 on May 2, 2025, and then to Nov 19, 2026 on Nov 6, 2025.

Why was GTA 6 delayed? Rockstar said each time that it needed more time to finish Grand Theft Auto 6 with the polish players expect. Rob Nelson of Rockstar North told Bloomberg in October 2026 that the team kept judging whether its date was achievable as it got close, and asked for more time when it was not.

Will GTA 6 be delayed again? Nothing points to it as of Oct 23, 2026: Rockstar, both console stores and Xbox all still give Nov 19, 2026 for Grand Theft Auto 6, Rockstar released its launch trailer on Oct 15, and pre-loading is set to begin on Nov 12.

When is Take-Two's next earnings call? Monday, Nov 9, 2026, after the market closes, with a call at 4:30 p.m. Eastern, ten days before Grand Theft Auto 6 comes out. Take-Two announced the date on Oct 13, 2026.

How many weeks until GTA 6 comes out? About four as of Oct 23, 2026: Grand Theft Auto 6 unlocks on Nov 19, 2026, and pre-loading begins a week earlier, on Nov 12. The countdown at the top of this viki shows the exact time left.

Sources

• Grand Theft Auto 6 is Now Coming May 26, 2026, Rockstar Games, May 2, 2025
• Grand Theft Auto 6 is Now Set to Launch November 19, 2026, Rockstar Games, Nov 6, 2025
• Grand Theft Auto 6 Pre-Orders Begin on June 25, Rockstar Games, Jun 18, 2026
• Pre-Order Grand Theft Auto 6 on June 25, Rockstar Games, Jun 24, 2026
• GTA 6 Confirmed: Rockstar Finally Says It's in Development, IGN, Feb 4, 2022
• GTA 6 delayed to 2026, Eurogamer, May 2, 2025
• GTA 6 Is Delayed Again Until November 2026, IGN, Nov 6, 2025
• The U.S. Will Be One Of The Last Countries To Play GTA 6, Kotaku, Sep 8, 2026
• 'Grand Theft Auto 6' launch times confirmed, NME, Sep 8, 2026
• Grand Theft Auto VI, Rockstar Games (read on Oct 10 and Oct 23, 2026)
• Grand Theft Auto VI, PlayStation Store (read on Oct 15 and Oct 23, 2026)
• GTA 6 Boss Seems A Bit Grumpy And Defensive While Answering An Investor's Question About Frequent Delays, Kotaku, Sep 18, 2026
• Update: Xbox Denies Report It Has Exclusive Streaming Rights For GTA 6 At Launch, Kotaku, Oct 6, 2026
• GTA 6 Marketing Ramps Up As Miami Heat Announce Vice City Night That Sounds Very Expensive, Kotaku, Oct 2, 2026
• When Rockstar Needed To Delay GTA 6 Again, Take-Two's CEO Replied: 'Please Tell Me You're Kidding', Kotaku, Oct 14, 2026 (Bloomberg's report of Oct 14)
• Grand Theft Auto VI, Microsoft Store (read on Oct 15 and Oct 23, 2026)
• Watch the Grand Theft Auto VI Launch Trailer, Rockstar Games, Oct 15, 2026
• Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. to Report Second Quarter Fiscal Year 2027 Results on Monday, November 9, 2026, Take-Two Interactive, Oct 13, 2026
• GTA 6's First TV Ad Cuts The Spicy Shower Scenes, Kotaku, Oct 21, 2026
• GTA 6 Had A Really Busy Week, Kotaku, Oct 2, 2026
• Grand Theft Auto 6, Wikipedia (the firings and the reporting around the second delay)
• Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick on Grand Theft Auto 6: We couldn't be more excited, CNBC Television, Feb 10, 2025 (video)
• Take-Two CEO on GTA 6 delay: Trying to create the best thing anyone's ever seen in entertainment, CNBC Television, May 16, 2025 (video)
• GTA 6 Has Been Officially Delayed... Again, TGG, Nov 6, 2025 (video)
• OFFICIAL: GTA 6 Pre-Orders Go Live June 25, Cover Art Reveal, New Screenshot, Main Theme Reveal, TGG, Jun 18, 2026 (video)