YouTube will stream GTA 6's launch for 24 hours, from a pre-show at 11 p.m. ET on Nov. 18

YouTube is giving Grand Theft Auto VI's launch a 24-hour broadcast. The stream starts at midnight Eastern on Thursday, Nov. 19, the minute GTA 6 unlocks on US stores, on YouTube's own channel, youtube.com/youtube, and fills the day with live gameplay, creator podcasts and original videos. A pre-show hosted by RDCWorld opens it an hour earlier, at 11 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday, Nov. 18.

YouTube announced it on its official blog on Nov. 12, calling it a partnership with Rockstar Games, and teased it on X: "the biggest launch of all time deserves the biggest livestream." Rockstar reposted that within the hour.

When it starts where you are

YouTube gives its times in Eastern; we converted the rest. The stream runs until midnight Eastern on Nov. 20.

Who's on it

YouTube names Caylus, Zhong and Kat, Jelly, Rivers, Jake Baldino and Cinna among the creators taking part, with more to come. The stream ends with live coverage from Miami, with creators and special guests on the ground. It's produced with Entropico, YouTube says, and on launch day a GTA VI version of YouTube's logo on the home page links straight to it.

The rest of YouTube's launch week

• Gifts in live chats. YouTube Live adds five limited-edition GTA VI gifts, among them Wanted Stars that pop up on screen in the stream they're sent to. In some creators' streams, eligible viewers can claim one free and send it while they last.
• A Vice City Shorts effect. GTAVI: Visit Vice City puts you in front of Vice City backgrounds for your own Shorts.
• The soundtrack on YouTube Music. The official GTA VI soundtrack and a playlist from across the series sit on the YouTube Music home page through launch week. YouTube picks out Morgan Wallen's "Last Thing You Need," one of the songs on GTA VI: The Album.
• The numbers. YouTube says videos about the GTA series have passed 900 billion views, and pre-launch videos about GTA VI more than 40 billion.

Expect spoilers

A day of live gameplay means the story as it happens, from the first minute. By the time YouTube's stream starts, GTA 6 will also have been unlocked for 18 hours in New Zealand, 16 in Sydney and Melbourne and five in the UK, going by the PlayStation and Xbox store listings. Rockstar hasn't announced a launch hour; our release time guide has the unlock time country by country.

If you'd rather see it all for yourself, our spoilers guide has which words to mute on X, Bluesky and Discord, and what works on YouTube, which has no keyword filter. Our countdown runs to the start of Nov. 19 where you are, and the rest of the week's dates are in our launch calendar.