GTA 6 updates: Pre-order date, official cover art, platforms, more

Revved into gear! Thirteen years of waiting, two delays, and one very impatient internet, and Rockstar Games finally gave GTA 6 fans something real to hold onto on Wednesday.Rockstar announced that pre-orders for Grand Theft Auto VI will go live on June 25, 2026, for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, covering both physical and digital editions.Alongside the date, the developer dropped a short 30-second teaser video on its YouTube channel revealing the official GTA 6 cover art, which carries forward the comic-book panel style the series has used since its earliest entries. Safe to say that fans have been fed!This is the first time Rockstar has officially broken radio silence on GTA 6 since trailer 2 dropped on May 6, 2026. The pre-order announcement also signals something fans have been anxious about for months, we are finally going to find out what this thing costs.

GTA 6 pre-order date is June 25, and that's when the price drops too

According to Rockstar's post on X, players will also find out the game's official pricing when pre-orders go live on June 25. That number has been the subject of intense debate. Bank of America analysts have predicted an $80 price point, which they believe would let Rockstar set a new pricing standard and pressure other publishers to follow. Other estimates have gone higher. Speculation currently puts the price at either $79.99 or $99.99, though nothing has been confirmed.

Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick addressed the pressure around pricing directly. Speaking at the iicon conference in April, he said: "Consumers pay for the value that you bring to them, and our job is to charge way way way less of the value delivery. How you feel about something you buy is the intersection of the thing itself and what you pay for.”

He further continued, “Consumers need to feel like the thing itself is amazing and the price they were charged was fair for what they got.

What we think about is making the most spectacular piece of entertainment on Earth, in history, and it's a pretty daunting challenge. If we do that, and if we're of service to our customers, then the upside will take care of itself."They know the number needs to land right. Whether $80 or $100, the market is watching.It's worth noting the June 25 date applies to digital storefronts and a handful of select physical retailers.

The full list of participating physical stores has not been confirmed yet, so if you're after a disc copy, you may need to wait on that detail.

The GTA 6 cover art is out, and here's who's on it

The new cover art does what Rockstar cover art is supposed to do. It locks in the tone, the setting, and the central duo in one shot. The cover art features the game's dual protagonists Jason and Lucia front and center, surrounded by fast cars, motorbikes, boats, weapons, and the sun-drenched Vice City aesthetic that has defined the game's identity since its first trailer.

According to IGN's breakdown of the full art piece, the image includes a biker pulling off a trick next to a cop car and a helicopter with a minigun attached. Lower down, there's an unknown woman wearing a necklace with the word siempre, Spanish for "always", and a previously announced supporting character, Boobie Ike, described as a real estate mogul and club owner. At the base of the cover sits Raul Bautista, identified as a veteran Vice City bank robber, alongside a sports car, a speedboat, a flamingo, and an alligator.

The cover art is available as downloadable wallpaper directly from the Grand Theft Auto VI official website.

GTA 6 platforms confirmed, and PC players are waiting again

GTA VI will launch exclusively on consoles first, with a PC release likely further down the line, a strategy that mirrors how Rockstar handled past entries in the series. GTA V launched on consoles in Sept. 2013 and didn't hit PC until April 2015, nearly two years later. History appears to be repeating itself.Zelnick acknowledged the pattern in a recent Bloomberg interview, saying: "The PC market is a great market and it's growing for console-type titles. It's a market we serve avidly. Virtually all of our hit titles hit all platforms over time."

GTA 6 release date, story summary, and what's still coming and confirmed

GTA 6 is set to release Nov. 19, 2026, and analysts project it will sell tens of millions of copies and generate $7.6 billion in its first two months alone, according to gaming venture capitalist firm Konvoy.The game's official story summary, now live on Rockstar's website, reads: "When an easy score lands Jason and Lucia in a conspiracy stretching across the entire state of Leonida, the young criminal couple find themselves on the darkest side of the sunniest place in America, forced to rely on each other more than ever if they want to make it out alive."Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick had previously confirmed that GTA 6 Trailer 3 would not drop until after pre-orders went live, which puts June 25 in play as a possible date for that too, though nothing is official on that front.The release date has slipped twice, from a "late 2025" target to May 26, 2026, and then to Nov. 19, 2026. Every indicator right now points to that date holding. Fingers crossed!