GTA 6 Goes on Sale: $79.99, November 19 Launch

Synopsis

Rockstar Games has announced pre-orders for Grand Theft Auto VI will begin on June 25, 2026, with the game set for release on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S on Nov. 19. The Standard Edition costs $79.99 and the Ultimate Edition is $99.99. The launch comes after gaming's most-watched build-up and years of postponements and record investment in development, and is the franchise's first mainline release in more than ten years.

It took 10 years to make this book

There are few games that have been as anticipated as Grand Theft Auto VI. The final big mainline title, GTA V, came out in September 2013, but defied all expectations and sold more than 230 million units in three generations of the console.

The launch in 2013 broke the record with $815.7 million in its first 24 hours, a record which lasted more than 10 years.

GTA 6 started around 2018, right after the completion of Red Dead Redemption 2 by Rockstar. The project will be in development for about eight years when it arrives at store shelves in November 2026.

Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick has publicly said that the game is a part of a “multi-billion-dollar” investment, but the company has yet to disclose actual production numbers.

Details of the pre-order and what's included for buyers

The pre-orders began June 25 at midnight local time on the digital storefronts and selected retail locations around the world.

In addition to the Vintage Vice City Pack, which includes various in-game items that will be described as "when the neon burned brightest" — and will be included in all those who pre-order or purchase the game before Nov. 20 — digital customers will get one free month of GTA+ if they sign up for the game before that date.

Retailers will be able to pre-load physical copies of the film Nov. 12, but they will not be shipped with a Blu-ray disc, instead, it will come with a download code. The digital pre-loading also starts on November 12.

Setting the Stage in Vice City

The game centers on two characters: Jason and Lucia, who are traveling through the fictional state of Leonida, based on Vice City, an easy score that becomes a conspiracy that puts them at odds with the "darkest side of the sunniest place in America".

Rockstar has announced that the game will be a single-player title, and GTA Online will debut as part of a post-launch phase.

The Economics of the launch will be explored

This price adjustment is a deliberate one. GTA 6 will launch at $79.99, which is the first time the Rockstar game will debut at an AAA price point or higher on this console generation; the price is 33% higher than GTA V's $59.99 launch price in 2013.

Commercial prospects are high for this release. Take-Two Interactive officially forecasted net bookings to be $8.0–$8.2 billion for fiscal year 2027, with GTA 6 the biggest contributor. The company has said it hopes fiscal 2027 will mark "new record levels of operating performance.

No PC release is yet announced. It seems like Rockstar has always been the first to release a game on console before it's released on PC, so it's likely that this game will follow the same pattern.

November 19 is now on tens of millions of calendars. Only time will tell whether GTA 6 will surpass its predecessor's commercial achievements or just build on them.