A question about GTA 6 that has been doing the rounds on social media over the past few days is what is the exact time it will come out on release day? It sounds like a very simple answer, midnight on May 26th 2026.
However, there is quite a bit more to it than that. There has been quite some confusion and disappointment among fans so let’s clear the situation up in this article. Plus, we’ll share a nifty trick that will let you access GTA VI earlier.
Following the release of GTA VI Trailer 2 last week, Rockstar Games finally put up the PlayStation Store listing for the game. This allows fans to wishlist the game but not pre-order it. Included in the store listing was a time for when it would release digitally, 4am UTC on May 26th which we reported on back then. This raised our eyebrows and did not make a lot of sense.
Changes Made
Things have since changed. The time was adjusted to 12am BST at least one day later; this is 5 hours earlier than before (UTC is 1 hour behind BST). Plus, the time was changed on all of the regional PlayStation Stores to be midnight for all time zones. For countries with multiple time zones such as the USA, the earliest time zone is what is listed. So it will release at 12am ET on May 26th and 9pm PT May 25th.
Staggered Rollout
This all means GTA VI will be a staggered release with New Zealand for example getting access to the game first whilst the rest of the world will have to wait. Sure, many fans have taken to social media to express annoyance at this and how Rockstar should change it but let’s not forget Red Dead Redemption 2’s roll out. It was a staggered, midnight by time zone release.
Sure, Rockstar could change their plans between now and 2026 but it appears they are sticking to their usual release time of midnight in your time zone. Times have changed but Rockstar do Rockstar things.
Of course, this will mean spoilers will be appearing online at a growing rate once New Zealand reaches midnight but what’s taking a few hours off social media? Not to mention GTA V’s full game release leaked days before the official release. There were plenty of videos and live streams showing the game off days before everyone could play it. The same thing will happen with GTA 6. It is the most anticipated game of all time after all.
This works exactly how it will for physical copies. Stores hosting midnight release events will sell the game to customers at midnight on the day of release and not before. Those who remember GTA V’s midnight release know this well.
Xbox Owners Win
Furthermore, Xbox users will be able to bypass the wait regardless what time zone they are in. If you are not aware, changing your Xbox console’s location in settings to New Zealand allows all games that unlock at midnight in the region to release earlier in your time zone. For example, GTA 6 will release at 1pm in the UK on May 25th when Auckland is at midnight on May 26th. It is a great trick that us Xbox owners have used many times over for years.
At the time of writing, the game cannot be wishlisted on the Xbox Store but will be up soon along with the game’s store page. We’ll report when Rockstar do publish the store page so stay tuned to RockstarINTEL.
In other GTA VI news, we’ve started to build a list of the songs confirmed for the game’s radio stations here. Plus, Rockstar posted their first ever TikTok and blast past a million followers.
To keep up to date with every GTA 6 and GTA Online news update, make sure to check back to RockstarINTEL and sign up to our newsletter for a weekly round-up of all things Rockstar Games.
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