GTA 6 Release Time North America — USA, Canada & Mexico

GTA 6 comes out on Thursday, November 19, 2026, and Rockstar has confirmed it unlocks at midnight local time on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. The US and Canadian stores use midnight Eastern Time and Mexico uses midnight Central Time, so the West gets in on Wednesday evening.

November 10, 2026 GTA6 LAUNCH GUIDE RELEASE DATE

GTA 6 release countdown

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Your GTA 6 release time

Selected location: New York City, New York, United States
Platform: PlayStation 5
Local release date: Thursday, November 19, 2026
Local release time: 12:00 AM
Time zone: EST (UTC−5) · America/New_York

Rockstar confirms midnight local time. The exact moment comes from the PlayStation Store listing for the United States, which uses one unlock time for the whole store region.

GTA 6 release times by city

GTA 6 release times in North America on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, shown in each city's local time
City	PS5 release	Xbox release
New York CityNew York, United States	12:00 AMThu, Nov 19 · EST	12:00 AMThu, Nov 19 · EST · estimate
TorontoOntario, Canada	12:00 AMThu, Nov 19 · EST	12:00 AMThu, Nov 19 · EST · estimate
MontrealQuebec, Canada	12:00 AMThu, Nov 19 · EST	12:00 AMThu, Nov 19 · EST · estimate
MiamiFlorida, United States	12:00 AMThu, Nov 19 · EST	12:00 AMThu, Nov 19 · EST · estimate
AtlantaGeorgia, United States	12:00 AMThu, Nov 19 · EST	12:00 AMThu, Nov 19 · EST · estimate
ChicagoIllinois, United States	11:00 PMWed, Nov 18 · CST	11:00 PMWed, Nov 18 · CST · estimate
HoustonTexas, United States	11:00 PMWed, Nov 18 · CST	11:00 PMWed, Nov 18 · CST · estimate
DallasTexas, United States	11:00 PMWed, Nov 18 · CST	11:00 PMWed, Nov 18 · CST · estimate
WinnipegManitoba, Canada	12:00 AMThu, Nov 19 · UTC−5	12:00 AMThu, Nov 19 · UTC−5 · estimate
DenverColorado, United States	10:00 PMWed, Nov 18 · MST	10:00 PMWed, Nov 18 · MST · estimate
CalgaryAlberta, Canada	11:00 PMWed, Nov 18 · UTC−6	11:00 PMWed, Nov 18 · UTC−6 · estimate
PhoenixArizona, United States	10:00 PMWed, Nov 18 · MST	10:00 PMWed, Nov 18 · MST · estimate
Los AngelesCalifornia, United States	9:00 PMWed, Nov 18 · PST	9:00 PMWed, Nov 18 · PST · estimate
San FranciscoCalifornia, United States	9:00 PMWed, Nov 18 · PST	9:00 PMWed, Nov 18 · PST · estimate
SeattleWashington, United States	9:00 PMWed, Nov 18 · PST	9:00 PMWed, Nov 18 · PST · estimate
VancouverBritish Columbia, Canada	10:00 PMWed, Nov 18 · UTC−7	10:00 PMWed, Nov 18 · UTC−7 · estimate
Las VegasNevada, United States	9:00 PMWed, Nov 18 · PST	9:00 PMWed, Nov 18 · PST · estimate
AnchorageAlaska, United States	8:00 PMWed, Nov 18 · AKST	8:00 PMWed, Nov 18 · AKST · estimate
HonoluluHawaii, United States	7:00 PMWed, Nov 18 · HST	7:00 PMWed, Nov 18 · HST · estimate
HalifaxNova Scotia, Canada	1:00 AMThu, Nov 19 · AST	1:00 AMThu, Nov 19 · AST · estimate
St. John'sNewfoundland and Labrador, Canada	1:30 AMThu, Nov 19 · NST	1:30 AMThu, Nov 19 · NST · estimate
San JuanPuerto Rico, United States	1:00 AMThu, Nov 19 · AST	1:00 AMThu, Nov 19 · AST · estimate
Mexico CityMexico	12:00 AMThu, Nov 19 · CST	12:00 AMThu, Nov 19 · CST · estimate
GuadalajaraJalisco, Mexico	12:00 AMThu, Nov 19 · CST	12:00 AMThu, Nov 19 · CST · estimate
MonterreyNuevo León, Mexico	12:00 AMThu, Nov 19 · CST	12:00 AMThu, Nov 19 · CST · estimate
CancúnQuintana Roo, Mexico	1:00 AMThu, Nov 19 · EST	1:00 AMThu, Nov 19 · EST · estimate
TijuanaBaja California, Mexico	10:00 PMWed, Nov 18 · PST	10:00 PMWed, Nov 18 · PST · estimate

PS5 times: Rockstar's confirmed midnight-local release, timed by each country's PlayStation Store listing. Xbox times are estimates: Rockstar confirms midnight local time on Xbox, but Microsoft doesn't publish per-country times. "Awaiting confirmation" means no unlock time has been published for that country yet. Last checked November 10, 2026.

Information type:OFFICIAL ROCKSTAR INFORMATIONTHIRD-PARTY REPORTINGMISSIONPASSED ANALYSIS

Vice City skyline in an official GTA 6 screenshot from Rockstar Games

GTA 6 comes out on Thursday, November 19, 2026, on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. In the United States and Canada it unlocks at 12:00 AM Eastern Time, which is 9:00 PM Pacific on Wednesday, November 18. In Mexico it unlocks at 12:00 AM Central Time. Use the countdown above to see the exact moment for your city and console.

Rockstar's support team confirmed on November 3 that the game releases at midnight local time in all regions on both consoles. What "local" means in practice is set by your PlayStation or Xbox store region, not by the clock on your wall, and that's why the West Coast doesn't have to wait until its own midnight.

What time does GTA 6 come out in the US?

The US PlayStation Store lists a single nationwide release moment: 5:00 AM UTC on November 19, which is midnight on the East Coast. Every other time zone reaches that moment earlier on its own clock, so most of the country can start on Wednesday night:

Eastern (New York, Atlanta, Miami, Detroit): 12:00 AM, Thursday, November 19
Central (Chicago, Houston, Dallas, Nashville): 11:00 PM, Wednesday, November 18
Mountain (Denver, Salt Lake City) and Arizona: 10:00 PM, Wednesday. Arizona doesn't use daylight saving time, so in November it lines up with Denver.
Pacific (Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Las Vegas): 9:00 PM, Wednesday
Alaska: 8:00 PM, Wednesday
Hawaii: 7:00 PM, Wednesday
Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands: 1:00 AM, Thursday. Both use the US store, and Atlantic Time is an hour ahead of New York in November.

States split between two time zones follow the same rule. El Paso is on Mountain Time, so it gets in at 10:00 PM, while the rest of Texas starts at 11:00 PM. The Florida Panhandle west of the Apalachicola River is on Central Time, so Pensacola starts an hour before Miami.

Canada: Winnipeg now unlocks with Toronto

The Canadian store also uses midnight Eastern Time. What's changed this year is the clocks. British Columbia, Alberta and Manitoba didn't turn their clocks back on November 1, 2026, so their launch times are an hour later than they would have been in past years:

Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec City: 12:00 AM, Thursday
Winnipeg and the rest of Manitoba: 12:00 AM, Thursday. Manitoba is now on UTC−5 all year, the same as Toronto in winter.
Regina and Saskatoon: 11:00 PM, Wednesday
Calgary and Edmonton: 11:00 PM, Wednesday. Alberta has stayed on UTC−6.
Vancouver and Victoria: 10:00 PM, Wednesday. Most of BC has stayed on UTC−7.
Whitehorse: 10:00 PM, Wednesday
Halifax, Moncton and Charlottetown: 1:00 AM, Thursday
St. John's: 1:30 AM, Thursday. Newfoundland's half-hour offset puts it last in Canada.

Some time-zone apps and older devices haven't caught up with these provincial changes yet. Our countdown uses the current official time-zone rules, so the times above already include them.

Mexico: midnight Central Time

The Mexican PlayStation Store has its own release moment, an hour after the US East Coast: 6:00 AM UTC on November 19. That's midnight in Mexico City, so:

Mexico City, Guadalajara, Monterrey, Puebla: 12:00 AM, Thursday
Cancún and the rest of Quintana Roo: 1:00 AM, Thursday
Hermosillo, Culiacán, Mazatlán, La Paz and Ciudad Juárez: 11:00 PM, Wednesday
Tijuana and Mexicali: 10:00 PM, Wednesday

Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua share Mexico's release moment, while Panama is grouped with the US and Canada.

How sure are these times?

The midnight-local rule comes straight from Rockstar. The exact nationwide moments come from the release timestamps on each country's PlayStation Store listing, which tells your console when the game becomes playable. We checked the US listing ourselves (5:00 AM UTC), and the Canadian and Mexican times match the regional list compiled from store data by GTA BOOM.

On Xbox, Rockstar says the game also releases at midnight local time, but Microsoft doesn't publish an unlock moment for each country. We expect it to match the PlayStation time, which is why the countdown labels Xbox times as estimates. Your console shows the real countdown for your account once the game is pre-loaded.

Pre-loading in North America

Digital pre-loading is already open. On PS5 it started at midnight local time on November 10. On Xbox it started at one moment worldwide, 12:00 AM GMT on November 10, which was 7:00 PM Eastern and 4:00 PM Pacific on Monday, November 9. Rockstar says the pre-load needs up to 212 GB depending on your console. Our GTA 6 download size guide covers how to free up space, and our guide to GTA 6 download times by internet speed shows how long 212 GB takes on your connection.

Physical copies won't get you in sooner

The boxed edition is a download code in a case, not a disc, and Rockstar says those code-in-box versions should be in stores from November 12. You redeem the code and download the game like a digital copy, and it unlocks at the same moment. If you buy a boxed copy on launch day, expect to wait for the full download before you can play.

Can you play GTA 6 earlier from North America?

New Zealand is the first store to unlock, at 11:00 AM UTC on November 18. That's 6:00 AM Eastern and 3:00 AM Pacific on Wednesday, about 18 hours before the US. Some Xbox players plan to switch their console's region to New Zealand. On PS5, your account's region is fixed, so it would mean a separate New Zealand account and a second copy bought from that store. Neither method is supported by Rockstar, and it may not work. We go through every method in how to play GTA 6 early.

If GTA 6 won't start at launch

Check your store region. The unlock follows the country of the account that bought the game. A US account unlocks on US time even if you're in Canada or Mexico.
Stay online. Even a fully pre-loaded copy has to check with PlayStation Network or Xbox network the first time you start it.
Install any launch update. If the game shows an update in your downloads, let it finish before trying again.
Refresh your licence. On PS5, go to Settings, Users and Accounts, Other, then Restore Licences. On Xbox, sign in with the account that bought the game and restart the console.
Check the service status pages for PlayStation Network and Xbox if lots of people report problems at once.

Changing your console's clock won't unlock the game early. The check happens on Sony's and Microsoft's servers.

North America FAQ

What time does GTA 6 come out in PST? 9:00 PM PST on Wednesday, November 18.

What time does GTA 6 come out in EST? 12:00 AM EST on Thursday, November 19.

What time does GTA 6 come out in Central Time? 11:00 PM CST on Wednesday, November 18.

What time does GTA 6 release in Canada? At midnight Eastern Time nationwide. That's 12:00 AM in Toronto and Winnipeg, 11:00 PM in Calgary and Regina, and 10:00 PM in Vancouver on Wednesday night.

What time does GTA 6 release in Mexico? 12:00 AM Central Time on Thursday, November 19, in Mexico City. Cancún gets in at 1:00 AM and Tijuana at 10:00 PM on Wednesday.

Do PS5 and Xbox unlock at the same time? Rockstar says both release at midnight local time. Only the PlayStation Store publishes the exact moment, so the Xbox times here are a close estimate.

Is GTA 6 on PC? Not at launch. Rockstar hasn't announced a PC version. See what we know about GTA 6 on PC.

GTA 6 release times in other regions

Once you're in, our GTA 6 Story Guide adds mission walkthroughs as we play and check each one.