GTA 6 Release Date History: Every Delay and Date, In Order

Rockstar has given Grand Theft Auto VI three release dates in three years, and every one of them came from the same place: the Rockstar Newswire. First came a vague window on December 5, 2023 (“Coming 2025”), then an exact date of May 26, 2026 announced on May 2, 2025, then the date now on every store page, November 19, 2026, announced on November 6, 2025. That last date has held for a year, and Rockstar has confirmed it again as recently as its launch trailer post.

Newswire is Rockstar’s own announcement feed, and every release date on this page comes from a post in it.

Quick answer:

1. December 5, 2023 – Trailer 1 announces “Coming 2025” to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. No exact date, no month.
2. May 2, 2025 – Rockstar’s “Grand Theft Auto VI is Now Coming May 26, 2026” sets the first exact date: May 26, 2026.
3. November 6, 2025 – Rockstar’s “Grand Theft Auto VI is Now Set to Launch November 19, 2026” moves the launch to Thursday, November 19, 2026.
4. No fourth date has been announced since. Rockstar’s September 2026 album announcement and its October 2026 launch trailer post both still say November 19.

Every GTA 6 date, in order

December 2023: the “2025” window

Rockstar’s Trailer 1 post is dated December 5, 2023, and its whole release promise is one sentence: “Coming 2025 to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S.” No month, no day, and no price.

That is where the clock started. Any GTA 6 date before May 2025 was a guess rather than an announcement, which matters when you read round-ups that treat “2025” as a date Rockstar committed to.

May 2025: the first exact date

On May 2, 2025, Rockstar posted “Grand Theft Auto VI is Now Coming May 26, 2026” and told players the move was “later than you expected”. The company said it needed the extra time to deliver the game “with the level of quality you expect and deserve”, and thanked players for their patience.

This was the first time a day and a month were attached to the game, and it arrived 514 days after the trailer post. It is also the date most people still remember, because it sat on store pages for months.

November 2025: the date that stuck

The second delay came on November 6, 2025, in a post titled “Grand Theft Auto VI is Now Set to Launch November 19, 2026”: “Grand Theft Auto VI will now release on Thursday, November 19, 2026.” Rockstar wrote that “these extra months will allow us to finish the game with the level of polish you have come to expect and deserve”, and pointed players at “the sprawling state of Leonida and a return to modern day Vice City”.

That post moved the launch 177 days past the May date it had been carrying. Since then, Rockstar has treated November 19 as fixed. The September 17, 2026 album announcement is literally titled “Coming November 19”, and the October 15, 2026 launch trailer post still points at the same day.

Why the date moved twice

Both delay posts use the same reason, and both were short. Rockstar said it needed more time to deliver the game “with the level of polish you have come to expect and deserve”, and apologized for “adding additional time to what we realize has been a long wait”. Neither post blamed a platform holder, a certification process or a publisher deadline, and neither promised the new date would not move again.

The only other official word in that period came from Take-Two, Rockstar’s parent company. Its investor news feed carries the June 24, 2026 release “Rockstar Games Announces Pre-Orders for Grand Theft Auto VI”, which is where the pre-order window was confirmed.

Where the launch stands now

Everything on sale now points at November 19, 2026 on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. Our GTA 6 release date page carries the current essentials, the GTA 6 release time page has the unlock time and the pre-load window, and the GTA 6 editions guide compares the $79.99 Standard and $99.99 Ultimate editions. The GTA 6 hub collects every story we have run, and the pre-launch checklist is the short version of what to do before launch day.

We analyzed every Grand Theft Auto VI post on Rockstar’s Newswire feed, from Trailer 1 in December 2023 through the score announcement in October 2026, and found three release-date announcements among them. The useful finding for readers is the shape of the waits. The first announcement carried no date at all, and the second exact date lasted 188 days before it moved again, while the November 2025 date has now survived 378 days. Rockstar’s wording has not changed either, since both delay posts promise polish rather than naming a cause, so the only honest reason the date moved twice is that Rockstar said it needed more time.

Edited by Kerwin Stewart, Editor-in-Chief · How we report