GTA 6 release date and unlock time: midnight local per IGN

Grand Theft Auto VI launches on Thursday, November 19, 2026 on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. Rockstar Games published that date on the Newswire on November 6, 2025, Take-Two has carried it in its results since February 3, 2026, and rockstargames.com/VI still read “Coming November 19, 2026” on August 28, 2026. The studio has never published an hour.

Preload is the only step with a date: November 12, 2026, seven days out, so that buyers “are able to play at launch on November 19, 2026”, per Take-Two’s pre-order announcement of June 24, 2026. The game stays locked until the 19th, so the November 12 preload buys a week of download margin and no head start. The retail box holds a download code rather than a disc, and Take-Two’s wording ties it to the same day: it “will be available starting November 12, 2026 to support pre-loading”.

Date	What happens
June 25, 2026	Pre-orders opened, at midnight local time in each country
November 9, 2026	Take-Two reports quarterly results: the same report in 2025, on November 6, announced the second delay
November 12, 2026	Digital preload begins, and code-in-a-box copies reach stores
November 19, 2026	Release on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S
November 20, 2026	Cut-off for the Vintage Vice City Pack: any order placed before it qualifies

Midnight local time, read off the PlayStation Store

On September 7, 2026, IGN reported that the digital rollout will run at midnight local time in most countries. The report rests on PlayStation Store timestamps spotted by the account GTAVice: fifteen release times, starting in New Zealand at 11am UTC on November 18, which is midnight on the 19th there. Mexico and Central America come last, IGN writes, about 20 hours after New Zealand. PCMag, reading the same timestamps on September 29, puts Eastern Europe at 10pm UTC and the rest of Europe an hour later.

On September 8, Insider Gaming said it sees the same windows, with the game “beginning in New Zealand and progressing through 15 release windows across 19 hours”, and entered one caveat: the listing “could be a placeholder status”.

Since October 23, 2026, the PlayStation Store listings print those times. On October 24, the New Zealand page shows 11am UTC on November 18 and the US page 5am UTC on November 19, 18 hours apart, and the UK page read on October 23 shows midnight UTC. The Canadian store, read on October 25, also gives 5am UTC, midnight in Montreal.

City	Unlock	In UTC
Auckland	12am, Nov 19	11am, Nov 18
Berlin	12am, Nov 19	11pm, Nov 18
London	12am, Nov 19	12am, Nov 19
New York	12am, Nov 19	5am, Nov 19
Los Angeles	9pm, Nov 18	5am, Nov 19
Mexico City	12am, Nov 19	6am, Nov 19

A calendar reminder is set to New York’s midnight.

IGN also notes that switching your console region to New Zealand works on Xbox Series X|S and not on PS5, where, IGN France adds on September 8, you would need a separate New Zealand account funded with a local gift card. PCMag puts that head start at “roughly 18 to 19 hours” over North America, though its Jordan Minor doubts it will last: “It’s likely that Rockstar would find a way to stop this.”

The store listings undercut the schedule posted on all-about-gta6.com on November 8, 2025, which cited a listing said to read “Releases on: 11/19/2026 05:00 AM UTC”, one instant worldwide.

Two delays, then a date that held

Announced on December 4, 2023 for “2025”, the game was dated May 26, 2026 on May 2, 2025, then pushed back 177 days on November 6, 2025 for “the high level of polish players expect and deserve”. Rockstar’s Jennifer Kolbe phoned Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick about that second delay, and told Bloomberg on October 14, 2026: “I think he said, ‘You’re kidding. Please tell me you’re kidding.’” On May 17, 2026, on the Founders podcast, Zelnick answered “November 19th. I do know”, then placed the game “about 18 months behind the original date”.

On May 21, 2026, Take-Two set its fiscal 2027 net bookings forecast at $8.0 to $8.2 billion, “primarily due to the launch of Grand Theft Auto VI on November 19”. The July 17 shareholder letter, reported by GameRant, calls fiscal 2027 a “major inflection point”, and at first-quarter results on August 6, 2026, Zelnick held the range: “With these positive trends and excitement around the November 19th launch of Grand Theft Auto VI, we are reiterating our Fiscal 2027 Net Bookings outlook of $8.0 to $8.2 billion.”

In its August 26, 2026 statement about the unauthorized videos, Rockstar repeated the date: “we hope that everyone will wait a bit longer to experience the game for themselves on November 19”. On October 15, the description of the launch trailer ends on “Grand Theft Auto VI arrives November 19.”

Common questions

Which consoles does GTA 6 come out on?

PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. Rockstar’s support page, updated June 24, 2026, reads: “You can pre-order Grand Theft Auto VI for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S”. On September 17, 2026, at Take-Two’s shareholder meeting, Strauss Zelnick still counted two: “We’re launching GTA 6 as a single player experience on two major platforms”, per Inven Global. The PC version has no date of its own.

Is GTA 6 coming to Xbox One or PS4?

On neither (the consoles left out). Sony’s product page, read on August 28, 2026, says the game “will only be playable on PlayStation 5 consoles. It will not be available for PlayStation 4 consoles”. The Microsoft Store listing carries only “Optimized for Xbox Series X|S” and never names the Xbox One.