GTA VI release, Digi Mart USA News: Grand Theft Auto VI, described as the most expensive video game in history and promised record sales backed by a major marketing campaign, is set to launch Thursday, November 19, after a long wait for fans of the series.
The release on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series of the new installment from Rockstar’s gangster series “will be the biggest launch of all time in the entertainment field,” according to Christopher Dring of the trade publication The Game Business. “For me, it’s the game of the decade,” said Jocelin Lebeau, a 39-year-old soldier and fan of the series.
“I’m ready to buy it with my eyes closed.”
Take-Two Interactive, the American publisher and parent company of the studio, has not released pre-order figures. According to the analytics firm Sensor Tower, however, pre-orders had already generated about $750 million (667 million euros) two weeks before release, or nearly 8 million units sold.
In the United States alone, where there are 49 million PS5 and Xbox Series consoles, 29% of players say they plan to acquire the title, which Mat Piscatella of Circana described as far exceeding any other game the firm has tracked.
The launch will occur in two phases: players can download the game starting Tuesday, November 10, but the title will only be accessible from midnight on the 19th. The release ends a thirteen-year wait since GTA V, the second best-selling game in history with 230 million copies sold.
GTA VI also became the entertainment product to reach $1 billion in revenue fastest, taking three days. By comparison, the top film in that ranking, Avengers: Endgame, took five.
Since its debut, the series has attracted players with its recreations of fictional cities inspired by American megacities and the wide freedom of action offered in a richly detailed open world. Often accused of promoting violence, Grand Theft Auto has also earned a place in popular culture as a symbol of subversion, willingly mocking the excesses of American society.
Known for its discretion, Rockstar revealed information about the new installment in small doses through several trailers and interviews with selected media outlets. Larger, more beautiful and more realistic than its predecessors, GTA VI follows a “Bonnie and Clyde”-style couple trying to survive in “Vice City,” a reinterpretation of Miami.
The company, which in 2026 operates a dozen studios worldwide and employs more than 4,700 people, spent more than eight years developing this installment, with production only truly beginning after the release of its previous game, Red Dead Redemption II (2018). Its budget, not disclosed, could range between $1 billion and $1.5 billion (888 million and 1.3 billion euros) according to analysts, unprecedented in the entertainment industry.
Field research in Miami alongside police and in nightclubs, and the setup of a Los Angeles studio dedicated entirely to creating non-player characters to populate the virtual city, reflect an effort that spared no expense to make the game a new industry standard.
Development was not smooth: after a series of leaks in 2022 and the online distribution of stolen game videos, the studio twice delayed the release to finalize it, and new leaks occurred during the summer.
In August, a large preview broadcast on Netflix, the result of a partnership with the American streaming platform, launched a marketing campaign as ambitious as the game itself. Campaign elements include an airship over Miami, large advertising displays in major world capitals, magazine covers, and an unreleased excerpt shown in a South Park episode.
Chris Klippel, founder of the specialist outlet Rockstar Mag, said the publisher aims to move beyond video games to establish the title as a mass cultural product. The launch is also closely watched by the wider games industry, which has struggled since the boom of the early 2020s and the sales surge during pandemic lockdowns.
“This is a crucial moment for the entire sector,” Dring said, adding that “we are already seeing an impact on console sales.”
