Launch clock
Grand Theft Auto VI launches on 19 November 2026. PlayStation 5 unlocks at midnight local time. Xbox Cloud Gaming starts at 1:00 a.m. Eastern Time. Native Xbox unlock time should be confirmed on your console.
Grand Theft Auto VI’s official release date is Thursday, 19 November 2026. That date is printed on Rockstar’s official VI site, on PlayStation and Xbox storefronts, and in Take-Two’s June 2026 pre-order announcement.
The more useful question is what time you can press start.
PlayStation Support is specific: the game “releases at midnight local time on November 19, 2026, on PlayStation 5 consoles.”
That is not a single worldwide switch-flip. A player whose PlayStation entitlement unlocks at midnight in London and a player whose entitlement unlocks at midnight in Los Angeles do not get the same UTC moment.
The table below is ordinary timezone arithmetic: it shows what “midnight on 19 November 2026” is in several cities, and the equivalent clock time in Shanghai (UTC+8). It is not a promise that your copy unlocks by your current city, your travel schedule, or a clock you set by hand. Trust the official countdown attached to the account and storefront you purchased from.
| If midnight local is in… | Local time | Equivalent in Shanghai (UTC+8) |
|---|---|---|
| Tokyo, Seoul (UTC+9) | 19 Nov, 00:00 | 18 Nov, 23:00 |
| Shanghai, Singapore, Perth (UTC+8) | 19 Nov, 00:00 | 19 Nov, 00:00 |
| Dubai (UTC+4) | 19 Nov, 00:00 | 19 Nov, 04:00 |
| London (UTC+0; UK is on standard time in November) | 19 Nov, 00:00 | 19 Nov, 08:00 |
| Central Europe (UTC+1) | 19 Nov, 00:00 | 19 Nov, 07:00 |
| New York, Miami (UTC−5) | 19 Nov, 00:00 | 19 Nov, 13:00 |
| Chicago (UTC−6) | 19 Nov, 00:00 | 19 Nov, 14:00 |
| Denver (UTC−7) | 19 Nov, 00:00 | 19 Nov, 15:00 |
| Los Angeles, Seattle (UTC−8) | 19 Nov, 00:00 | 19 Nov, 16:00 |
| São Paulo (UTC−3) | 19 Nov, 00:00 | 19 Nov, 11:00 |
| Sydney (UTC+11 in November) | 19 Nov, 00:00 | 18 Nov, 21:00 |
| Auckland (UTC+13 in November) | 19 Nov, 00:00 | 18 Nov, 19:00 |
These conversions are ordinary timezone math. They assume your PlayStation account and console are actually set to that local zone. If a platform holds a title for a store-region reason, the store countdown on your console wins.
Xbox Wire (10 November 2026) says Grand Theft Auto VI is playable on day one through Xbox Cloud Gaming on Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S, starting at 1:00 a.m. Eastern Time on 19 November. Streamed sessions use Xbox Series S graphics settings. You still have to buy the game.
1:00 a.m. Eastern Time on 19 November 2026 is 14:00 the same calendar day in Shanghai, 06:00 in London, and 22:00 on 18 November in Los Angeles.
Rockstar and PlayStation are explicit about PS5 midnight local. Microsoft is explicit about the cloud start time. We have not found a matching official sentence that says native Xbox Series installs also unlock at midnight local.
Do not take a fan countdown as gospel on Xbox. Open the game’s Microsoft Store or Xbox console page and trust the official countdown there. When Microsoft or Rockstar publishes a clear native unlock time, this page will be updated.
The game was first shown in official Trailer 1 on 4 December 2023 with a 2025 window. An official date of 26 May 2026 was later set (this is the date used around Trailer 2). Rockstar then published a newswire moving the launch to 19 November 2026. That is the date every official storefront uses now.
This is a fan site. It is not official Rockstar documentation. If a store screen and this page disagree, trust the store and the official support article, then tell us so we can correct the page.
