Grand Theft Auto VI officially launches on Thursday, November 19, 2026. Rockstar Games is employing a rolling midnight regional launch, meaning the game unlocks as soon as the clock strikes 12:00 AM in your local time zone. Because New Zealand is the first major region to cross that threshold, gamers located there get to play before anyone else.
You do not have to actually fly to Auckland to get in on the action. By digitally shifting your console’s region to New Zealand, you can start playing up to 18 hours early, depending on your actual time zone. For example, US East Coast players can jump in at 6:00 AM EST on November 18, while UK players get access at 11:00 AM GMT.
Here is exactly how to pull off the ultimate early access heist on both Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5, along with some massive news for older hardware owners.
How To Play Early On Xbox Series X/S (And The Xbox One)
Xbox players have it incredibly easy. The Microsoft ecosystem allows for quick region swapping without needing to create new accounts or jump through financial hoops.
Open the Settings menu on your Xbox console.
Scroll down to the System tab.
Select Language & location.
Change your Location to New Zealand in the dropdown menu.
Restart the console.
Once your Xbox reboots, your system will operate on New Zealand Standard Time. When midnight hits in NZ, launch the game and start playing.
Still on last-gen hardware? You do not actually need to buy an expensive new console to play. Microsoft and Rockstar have partnered to make GTA 6 playable on the original 2013 Xbox One via Xbox Cloud Gaming. The cloud version utilizes Xbox Series S graphical settings to deliver the current-gen experience to the older console.
However, there is a catch: Rockstar has restricted cloud access strictly to Xbox consoles, meaning you cannot stream the game to your PC, mobile device, or smart TV via xCloud.
How To Play Early On PlayStation 5
Sony strictly region-locks PlayStation Network storefronts, making this trick much more tedious for PS5 owners. You must purchase the game on a dedicated New Zealand account to make it work.
Create a brand new PSN account using a secondary email and select New Zealand as your region.
Log into the new account on your PS5. Navigate to Settings > Users and Accounts > Other.
Enable Console Sharing and Offline Play.
Purchase a New Zealand PSN Gift Card online (ensure the currency is NZD).
Redeem the gift card on your New Zealand account and use the funds to pre-order GTA 6.
Pre-load the game immediately (ensure you have massive storage space available).
Thanks to the Console Sharing feature, you can switch back to your primary PSN profile on launch day and play the game using your main account while still unlocking your usual trophies.
Just keep in mind that PlayStation enforces strict region-locking on downloadable content. If you use this trick to purchase the base game on a New Zealand account, any future DLC, expansions, or GTA Online microtransactions will also need to be purchased on that exact same New Zealand account using NZD currency to work with your base game.
Want to play away from your TV? While GTA 6 will not be available on PlayStation’s cloud streaming service at launch, it does fully support local Remote Play across both PlayStation and Xbox consoles. This means PS5 owners can easily stream their gameplay locally from their console to their phones, PCs, or the PlayStation Portal handheld right on launch day.
