When do GTA 6 reviews come out? No date yet, and where to find the scores

Rockstar Games and Take-Two Interactive have not announced when reviews of Grand Theft Auto VI will be published. As of Oct. 23, 2026, neither company has given a review date or said whether critics will get the game before it comes out on Nov. 19.

Here is what is on the record, when reviews of Rockstar's last two new games appeared, and where GTA 6's scores will show up once outlets publish them. We'll update this guide when a date is announced.

What Rockstar and Take-Two have said

GTA 6 comes out Thursday, Nov. 19, 2026, on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. Rockstar set that date on Nov. 6, 2025, and repeated it on Oct. 15 in its post for the Launch Trailer.

Neither company has announced a review embargo, the set time when reviews can go live. When we checked Rockstar's Newswire and Take-Two's press releases on Oct. 23, the newest items were Rockstar's Launch Trailer post and a Take-Two notice, dated Oct. 13, that it reports quarterly results on Nov. 9. Neither mentions reviews.

Take-Two's chief executive has said reviews still matter. In an interview The Game Business published May 28, Strauss Zelnick said critical reception matters as much for GTA 6 today "as it has in the past." He didn't give a review date.

Until Rockstar or the outlets reviewing GTA 6 say when reviews go live, treat any review date you see online as unconfirmed.

The Game Awards and early access

The Game Awards has a rule about early copies, though it covers every game and isn't a Rockstar announcement. The show counts games on sale by 9 p.m. PT on Friday, Nov. 20, 2026, so GTA 6 is eligible by a day. Nominees for most categories are chosen by "an international jury of over 100 global media and influencer outlets," and the show's website says the 2026 nominees are coming in mid-November.

To meet its balloting deadlines, the show's FAQ says, publishers "may provide advance or pre-release access to games for critical evaluation." Rockstar hasn't said whether it will do that with GTA 6. Our story on GTA 6's eligibility has the voting dates and how the jury works.

When GTA 5 and Red Dead Redemption 2 reviews came out

This section is history, not a forecast. Rockstar's last two new games before GTA 6 were Grand Theft Auto V and Red Dead Redemption 2. Both times, major outlets published their reviews the day before launch.

• Grand Theft Auto V. Rockstar announced on Sept. 17, 2013, that the game was out on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. IGN and The Guardian had published their reviews on Sept. 16, and Rockstar posted a roundup of reviews on its Newswire the same day.
• Red Dead Redemption 2. Rockstar announced on Oct. 26, 2018, that the game was out on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. IGN and The Guardian published their reviews on Oct. 25, and Rockstar posted its own roundup that day.

Two launches don't set a rule for a third. Rockstar hasn't said how it will handle reviews of GTA 6.

Where GTA 6 review scores will appear

GTA 6 doesn't have a review score yet. When we checked on Oct. 23, neither Metacritic nor OpenCritic listed a single review of it. Both sites list reviews as outlets publish them:

• Metacritic already has a Grand Theft Auto VI page, which said "Critic reviews are not available for this game yet." Metacritic assigns scores to reviews from critics it selects and combines them into a weighted average, the Metascore.
• OpenCritic, which calls itself a video game review aggregator, has a GTA 6 page too, with no reviews listed. Its game pages show a Top Critic Average and the percentage of critics who recommend the game.

How we'll cover it

When Rockstar or the outlets reviewing GTA 6 say when reviews go live, we'll add the date here and to our launch calendar, which has every confirmed date around launch, including the Nov. 12 pre-load and The Game Awards on Dec. 10. Our countdown runs to the start of Nov. 19 where you are, and our release date guide has the store unlock times and every delay so far.