We are now but a few months from the gaming event of the year, nay, decade – the GTA 6 release date.

With pre-orders now open, we now know all about the game's bonuses, price and all the different editions.

And after GTA 6: An Extended Look premiered on Netflix this week, which was a glorious 26 minutes of gameplay, hype surrounding the release is only growing.

Of course, we'll be continuing to enjoy GTA 5 while we wait, but in the meantime, here's what you need to know about the GTA 6 release date, pre-orders and latest news.

GTA 6 will release on 19 November 2026.

This was confirmed via a social media post from developer Rockstar Games, announcing that the game was being delayed from its previous release date of 26 May 2026.

"We are sorry for adding additional time to what we realise has been a long wait, but these extra months will allow us to finish the game with the level of polish you have come to expect and deserve."

Before the previous delay, the GTA 6 release date had been on track for autumn 2025.

This all comes as Rockstar Games and parent company Take-Two have been accused of union-busting, after firing over 30 employees that Take-Two said were "leaking information". Either way, it spells trouble at Rockstar, which no doubt will have an effect on development.

It's worth noting that pretty much every Grand Theft Auto has been delayed at least once, with Rockstar's previous release, Red Dead Redemption II, delayed three times. Considering the scale of this game, it's hardly a surprise to see another delay.

If that's too long to wait, there have been some rumours of a potential GTA 4 remaster in the works, although this is not confirmed.

Why is GTA 6 taking so long?

With the massive size and scope of the game as proven by GTA 6: An Extended Look, there are numerous reasons why GTA 6 is taking so long to come out.

For one, game development has only grown more advanced over the last decade, so creating a game of this magnitude naturally takes more time.

Another reason that is being cited is that Rockstar Games wants to be sure it is satisfied with the final product before launching, hoping not to disappoint fans. And if the Extended Look proved anything, it’s that standards are incredibly high across stunning graphics and gameplay to the smallest of details.

What's more, the company feels safe to do this since the anticipation of GTA 6 puts it in a position to be a monumental best-seller whenever it comes out.

A former developer on the series, Obbe Vermeij, previously stated (via X) that the sixth instalment has no competition, so Rockstar has no need to panic about launching the game until it is absolutely happy with the final product.

Can you pre-order GTA 6?

Yes, you can now pre-order GTA 6!

Players will be able to purchase the game directly from the PS5 and Xbox stores.

You can pre-order physical copies of the game (which doesn't come with a disc and is instead a code-in-box release) from the likes of Amazon and GAME.

Is there a trailer for GTA 6?

, Rockstar officially released the first GTA 6 trailer on 4th December 2023. However, it leaked several hours earlier than scheduled, forcing the developer to publish ahead of time.

The 90-second trailer provides a decent look at the state of Leonida, the main protagonist Lucia and her unknown male partner. During this, Tom Petty's Love Is a Long Road provides the GTA 6 soundtrack, potentially hinting at what sort of music will feature throughout.

We then had nearly a year and a half of radio silence when it came to new info on the game, until the second trailer was released out of nowhere in May 2025.

The second trailer has much more of a focus on story, with us getting our first real look at Lucia and Jason and their life of crime:

Finally, with just a few months to go before the game’s release, Grand Theft Auto 6: An Extended Look displayed an in-depth look into gameplay, the map, combat, as well as the lives of Lucia and Jason.

With 26 minutes of total footage, we saw glimpses into the story and features of the game that expand on what GTA 5 established.

Where will the GTA 6 map be set?

The trailers confirmed that the map of GTA 6 will be set in Leonida, a fictional state based on Florida that includes the iconic Vice City – the fictional version of Miami previously featured in the original Grand Theft Auto, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories.

It remains to be seen whether this means GTA 6 will cover the whole of Leonida's version of Florida beyond Vice City at launch or will be added as post-launch content.

A Bloomberg report claims: "Rockstar’s plan is now to continually update the game over time, adding new missions and cities regularly," so we'll have to wait until we get further clarification.

If GTA 6: An Extended Look confirmed anything it's that the game is in fact massive – but in terms of actual scale we’ll most likely have to wait until launch.

Will GTA 6's story include its first female protagonist?

Grand Theft Auto 6 will have two playable characters, one of whom is Lucia - the first playable female protagonist since the first top-down two-dimensional game.

As seen in GTA 6: An Extended Look, players will be able to swap freely between Lucia and Jason as dual central protagonists to the story.

The news about a playable female protagonist first broke in December 2023 in a report by Bloomberg that claimed GTA 6 "will include a playable female protagonist for the first time, according to people familiar with the game".

The report goes on to note: "The woman, who is Latina, will be one of a pair of leading characters in a story influenced by the bank robbers Bonnie and Clyde."

Touching on how this new instalment could modernise the GTA tone, the report adds: "Developers are also being cautious not to 'punch down' by making jokes about marginalised groups."

What platforms will GTA 6 be on?

The GTA 6 trailer and the game's website confirm that the game will be available on .

There is currently no news on a GTA 6 PC port or its release date. Nevertheless, we're certain Rockstar has one in the works, given the huge player base Rockstar Games would be missing out on if they went console-exclusive forever.

As for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and the Nintendo Switch, it's fair to say that GTA 6 won't come to any of these older platforms due to their underpowered hardware. The same is likely for the Switch 2 with GTA 5 having a better chance of coming to that console.

Ahead of the Extended Look premiere, a huge leak displaying GTA 6 gameplay was released publicly, leading Rockstar to put out a statement in what they described as "heartbreaking for our team".

It is still unknown how access to a build of GTA 6 was possible, but Rockstar just hopes "everyone will wait a bit longer to experience the game for themselves on November 19".

Our original report on the September 2022 leaks remains unchanged below:

90 videos of what is to be believed early development footage of GTA 6 leaked in September 2022, meaning we have some idea of what the game might entail. Before being taken down, the footage seemed to confirm the new female and male protagonists, alongside showcasing some open-world gameplay.

Rockstar subsequently confirmed the validity of the leaks, and added that it is "extremely disappointed to have any details of our next game shared with you all in this way". Despite the leak, though, Rockstar claims that its "work on the next Grand Theft Auto game will continue as planned". The full statement can be read below:

"We recently suffered a network intrusion in which an unauthorised third party illegally accessed and downloaded confidential information from our systems, including early development footage for the next Grand Theft Auto.

"At this time, we do not anticipate any disruption to our live game services nor any long-term effect on the development of our ongoing projects," said Rockstar.

"We are extremely disappointed to have any details of our next game shared with you all in this way. Our work on the next Grand Theft Auto game will continue as planned and we remain as committed as ever to delivering an experience to you, our players, that truly exceeds your expectations.

"We will update everyone again soon and, of course, will properly introduce you to this next game when it is ready. We want to thank everyone for their ongoing support through this situation."

As Reddit user Tobbelobben30 spotted in the GTA 6 subreddit, publisher Take-Two has patented an animation system that allows for "highly dynamic and realistic animations."

They went on to explain in layman's terms what this means.

"Based on this patent, it seems like they're using a clever system. They've built a library of small building blocks for character movements. These blocks can be combined in various ways to create a wide range of animations."

All these "building blocks" could be combined to infer how the player and other characters should move and react.

"Think about a character in the game walking in the rain, feeling tired or getting injured. Instead of designing separate animations for each of these situations, they use these building blocks to put together the character's movements naturally."

Very exciting stuff, then! Red Dead Redemption 2 already has an extremely reactive animation system, and given the amount of obsessive detail that is in that game, a Rockstar release six or so years on from then should be a visual powerhouse.

Grand Theft Auto 6 is set to launch on 19 November 2026 across PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.

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