GTA 6 Pre-Orders to Open 18 May as Best Buy Leak Firms Up Launch Timeline

Grand Theft Auto VI pre-orders will open on 18 May, a Best Buy affiliate marketing email obtained by multiple outlets indicates, and Insider Gaming says it has independently confirmed the document. The timeline for Rockstar Games’ most anticipated title now looks increasingly settled, with the 19 November launch on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S unchanged.

The email surfaced through YouTuber Frogboyx1gaming’s livestream. It directs Best Buy’s affiliate partners to promote GTA 6 pre-orders from 18 to 21 May, switching to Battlefield 6 from 22 May. Charlie Champion of Insider Gaming told readers: “Insider Gaming has since received the email, and we can independently verify that it’s real.”

Take-Two Interactive has been flagging a marketing acceleration for months. Chief executive Strauss Zelnick said in February that GTA 6 promotion would “kick into gear in the summer”, pointing toward the November window. The company’s next earnings call lands on 21 May. Analysts expect Take-Two to use it for an official pre-order announcement and, if the pattern holds, the third trailer.

Rockstar’s last GTA 6 trailer dropped in December 2023 and set YouTube records — more than 200 million views for a single debut clip. Twenty-two months of silence since have left fans dissecting every earnings-cycle tea leaf for signs of a reveal. This time the leak provides something more concrete to work with.

Zelnick has signalled a standard edition price of $US70 to $US80 ($A105 to $A120). At the top of that range it would be one of the more expensive base-game releases, though still short of the $US100 figure some analysts cite when referencing the title’s estimated $US1 billion to $US1.5 billion development cost.

Special and collector’s editions will run higher. Red Dead Redemption 2, Rockstar’s last major launch, carried a $US60 standard, $US80 special, and $US100 ultimate edition. Industry watchers expect GTA 6 to follow the same model with each tier priced upward.

The 19 November date covers PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, per Take-Two’s latest guidance. PC players face the usual wait: Grand Theft Auto V took 19 months to arrive on PC after consoles, and Red Dead Redemption 2 took 13 months. Rockstar has offered no word on a GTA 6 PC timeline.

Australian retailers EB Games and JB Hi-Fi are expected to list pre-orders with the global launch. Neither had confirmed by 15 May. Standard editions look likely to land at $A109.95 to $A119.95, with special editions above $A150. Kotaku notes GTA 6 is already the most wishlisted title on Australia’s PlayStation Store.

Grand Theft Auto V provides the benchmark. It took $US1 billion in retail sales within three days of launch in 2013 and has moved more than 210 million copies since, trailing only Minecraft. Analysts expect GTA 6 to beat both numbers.

Zelnick described the title in February as “the ultimate entertainment product of 2026,” adding that Rockstar’s philosophy is to “give our teams unlimited financial, creative human resources and then they aim to deliver perfection.”

For fans who have waited since GTA V shipped in 2013, the coming days may bring what the speculation has been chasing all along: a pre-order button, a price, and if the leak proves accurate, a third trailer.