Grand Theft Auto VI comes out on November 19 after two delays, and Microsoft has now said what its cloud service will do with it on that morning. Xbox Cloud Gaming will stream GTA VI from 1AM Eastern on November 19 to the Xbox Series X, the Series S and the original Xbox One, so an Xbox One owner who never bought a newer console can play the game the day it ships.
That was not a given a month ago. Tom Warren at The Verge reported on October 6 that Xbox had secured exclusive streaming rights, and a day later Matthew Ball, Xbox’s chief strategy officer, posted that the game “will not be streaming exclusively or to PC”. The cloud deal held, the PC route did not. Anyone hoping to reach the game through a browser on launch day should stop hoping.
The streamed version runs at Xbox Series S settings, whichever console it is played on. Series X and Series S owners can also install the game natively, and pre-loading is already open on both, which Microsoft is pushing hard because the title has become the most pre-ordered game in Microsoft Store history since pre-orders opened in June.
Game Pass does not cover it. Rockstar has never put a major release on the subscription at launch and GTA VI is no exception, so the game must be bought separately whether it is streamed or installed. What changes on November 11 is that players in supported markets can buy cloud playtime by the hour without a Game Pass subscription at all, which is the route an Xbox One owner would take. Subscribers should also know that Microsoft brought in monthly streaming caps this month, five hours on Essential, 10 on Premium and 15 on Ultimate, so a long first weekend in Leonida will go past the Essential allowance by Saturday.
Microsoft says GTA V and Red Dead Redemption 2 reach Xbox Cloud Gaming in the coming months. Availability, purchase options, devices and features vary by market, as the usual line goes.
