PAYDAY: Aces High Release Time: When It Unlocks

PAYDAY: Aces High unlocks on November 5, 2026 at 14:00 UTC, which is 6 a.m. Pacific and 9 a.m. Eastern on the day, 2 p.m. in the UK and 11 p.m. in Japan. That hour comes from the countdown on the Steam store page, the only store we could read a published launch time on. The game is VR-only: Meta Quest, PC VR through Steam, and Valve’s Steam Frame.

Quick answer:

1. It unlocks at 14:00 UTC on November 5, 2026. In the US that is 6 a.m. PST on the West Coast and 9 a.m. EST on the East Coast.
2. The UK gets it at 2 p.m. GMT, Central Europe at 3 p.m. CET, Japan at 11 p.m. JST, Sydney at 1 a.m. AEDT on November 6 and Auckland at 3 a.m. NZDT on November 6.
3. Three versions launch together: Meta Quest, PC VR through Steam, and Valve’s Steam Frame, per Fast Travel Games’ own announcement.
4. You can play before then. The free Steam demo and the final playtest run through October 26, on Steam and on Quest 3 and Quest 3S.
5. Steam has not published a pre-load time and the store page has no purchase option yet, so this page tells you when the doors open, not when to start downloading.

When does PAYDAY: Aces High unlock?

The Steam store page lists the release date and sets the countdown to 14:00 UTC. That is the hour to plan around.

One worldwide moment, and no local-midnight rollout to work out. The clock runs on Steam’s timestamp, and the box above counts down to it in your own zone.

For example, a crew in Los Angeles plays at 6 a.m. on November 5, while a crew in Auckland waits until 3 a.m. on November 6. If you are in Sydney, that is 1 a.m. the next morning.

Which platforms unlock at the same time?

Three, according to Fast Travel Games’ own announcement: Meta Quest, PC VR through Steam and Valve’s Steam Frame, which runs the game standalone. The Steam and Steam Frame builds share the 14:00 UTC unlock. We could not read a published launch hour for the Quest build, so treat Steam’s countdown as the reference and check the Meta Store on release day.

Can you play before November 5?

Yes. The free Steam demo and the final playtest run through October 26, and you can join on Steam through Steam Next Fest or on Quest 3 and Quest 3S, according to our release date story. Playtest participants get an exclusive Kitty Mask in the full release.

If you want to test a PC rig before you commit, our PC VR requirements guide lists the minimum specs, the supported headsets and what the demo needs. A note for Quest players: the standalone build does not need a PC at all.

Is it cross-platform multiplayer?

Steam tags PAYDAY: Aces High with Online Co-op and Cross-Platform Multiplayer, and separately with VR Only, on the same store page. The heist is built for four players, so the co-op tag is the one that matters: a crew is not limited to one type of headset. Fast Travel Games describes the game as a four-player VR co-op heist set in the PAYDAY universe, with bank, museum and penthouse jobs.

What time should you be ready for?

If you are playing on a PC VR headset, be logged in before 6 a.m. Pacific on November 5, and remember that Steam has not published a pre-load time for this one. Quest players get a day and a half of daylight, because their local unlock falls on November 6.

Two things set Aces High apart from an ordinary Steam launch: the hour is six in the morning Pacific, and the game is VR-only, so there is no flat-screen version to fall back on if your headset is busy or your PC cannot handle it. That combination favors the Quest build for anyone without a PC VR rig, since a standalone headset needs no tower, no tether and none of the 10 GB of game data sitting on a drive. If you are waiting on the demo to decide, the real deadline is October 26, not the November 5 release.

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