GTA 6 release time: when it unlocks in the US, UK, Europe, Brazil and Australia

Grand Theft Auto VI unlocks at midnight on Thursday, Nov. 19, 2026, according to PlayStation Store and Microsoft Store listings: midnight Eastern in the US, midnight in the UK and midnight CET in Germany and France. Rockstar Games itself has not announced what time GTA 6 unlocks, so these are store times, not an official launch hour.

Each country's listing gives one time for the whole country. In the US, that is midnight Eastern, the moment Thursday, Nov. 19 begins on the East Coast, so if it applies nationwide, the game unlocks at 9 p.m. Pacific on Wednesday, Nov. 18. Nobody at Rockstar, Sony or Microsoft has said whether it does.

GTA 6 release time by country

Each store gives one unlock time per country. These are the times in the listings, with the same moment in UTC:

Where we checked both stores, the PlayStation Store and the Microsoft Store give the same time. Going by these listings, the launch rolls west with midnight: Australia is first among the countries we checked, and Mexico is last, 17 hours later. Rockstar has not announced an unlock time for any region, and reports that it "confirmed" a midnight launch overstate it; our Is it true? page has that check.

GTA 6 release time in each US time zone

The US PlayStation Store and the US Microsoft Store both list one time for the whole country: 05:00 UTC on Nov. 19, which is midnight Eastern. Here is that same moment in each mainland time zone:

The same moment is 8 p.m. in Alaska and 7 p.m. in Hawaii on Nov. 18.

Whether players outside the Eastern time zone actually get the game at those times, or wait for their own local midnight, is an open question. Only Rockstar, Sony or Microsoft can answer it, and none has. The same goes for Canada, Mexico, Brazil and Australia, where the listings also use one time for the whole country. In Australia, the listed moment converts to 11 p.m. on Nov. 18 in Brisbane, 11:30 p.m. in Adelaide, 10:30 p.m. in Darwin and 9 p.m. in Perth.

Pre-load starts Nov. 12

Rockstar says players who pre-order digitally "will be able to begin pre-loading on November 12." Its announcement does not give a time of day. The PlayStation Store lists the feature as a "7-Day Pre-load." The physical version, a download code in a box with no disc, also goes on sale Nov. 12.

Pre-loading only gets the download done early; the game itself still unlocks on Nov. 19. Our pre-load and Code in Box guide has the details, and the file size is still unannounced.

Launch week at a glance

The Vintage Vice City Pack pre-order bonus covers purchases "before November 20," Rockstar says; store listings word the cutoff as 23:59:59 on Nov. 19. More on the bonus in our price and editions guide.

Count down to it

Our countdown runs to midnight on Nov. 19 in your own time zone, because Rockstar has not announced a launch hour. For the countries we have checked, it also shows the store listings' unlock time in your time zone. If you are in Central, Mountain or Pacific time, the US store listings' time arrives before the countdown ends.

For the date itself, the delays that led to it and the platforms, see our release date guide and our GTA 6 platforms guide.

Update log

• Oct. 8, 2026: Corrected our summary of the store times. Each country's listing uses midnight in one time zone for the whole country, so "midnight local time" was not right for every reader. Also clarified that Rockstar's pre-load announcement gives a date but no time of day.