The first verdicts on Grand Theft Auto VI are a week away, if the reports are right. Rockstar has reportedly been sending review code to media outlets since late October, with an embargo lifting on Wednesday 18 November, one day before the game launches on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.
Rockstar and Take-Two haven’t confirmed any of that. But the date comes from more than one place, and it matches exactly how Rockstar handled its last two giants. Here’s what’s actually been reported, when reviews are likely to land, and what Rockstar’s history says about the score.
When is the GTA 6 review embargo?
Insider NateTheHate posted on 26 October that Rockstar had begun distributing review code and that the embargo is 18 November. Insider Gaming says it independently verified the date, and Mashable later gave the same day, describing codes going out in waves from late October.
What’s still missing is the official word. Rockstar hasn’t posted anything about reviews on its Newswire, there’s no confirmed time for the embargo to lift, and no outlet has publicly said it has the game. So treat 18 November as very likely, not certain. And if you see a “GTA 6 Metascore” before then, it’s fake.
| What | Status |
|---|---|
| Review code sent to media from late October | Reported, not confirmed by Rockstar |
| Review embargo lifts 18 November | Reported by NateTheHate, verified by Insider Gaming |
| Exact embargo time | Unknown |
| GTA 6 launch, 19 November | Confirmed by Rockstar |
Why Rockstar always does it the day before
A one-day gap between reviews and launch sometimes gets read as a publisher hiding something. With Rockstar, it’s simply the house style, and it hasn’t hurt them yet.
| Game | Reviews published | Launch | Metacritic |
|---|---|---|---|
| GTA V (PS3/Xbox 360) | 16 September 2013 | 17 September 2013 | 97 |
| Red Dead Redemption 2 (PS4) | 25 October 2018 | 26 October 2018 | 97 |
| GTA 6 | 18 November 2026 (reported) | 19 November 2026 | — |
Both of those games landed among the highest-rated releases of their generations. The late embargo isn’t about quality. It’s about control: keeping story spoilers off the internet for as long as possible and making launch day the moment everything breaks at once. There are even reports that GTA 6 review builds carry personalised watermarks showing the reviewer’s name on screen, so any leaked footage can be traced.
What score should we expect?
Rockstar’s mainline record is absurd. GTA IV sat at 98 on Metacritic, GTA V and Red Dead Redemption 2 at 97. Nobody else in the industry has delivered three open worlds in a row at that level, so the expectation for GTA 6 is already somewhere north of 95.
That’s also the risk. When a game is held to “best ever” standards, a 92 reads like a disappointment, even though it would be a career-defining score for almost any other studio. The things most likely to pull scores down aren’t the open world or the writing, which Rockstar rarely misses, but performance on base consoles, mission design that leans on rigid fail states (a long-running Rockstar habit), and whatever online and monetisation hooks arrive at launch.
Our take: expect a launch-day Metascore in the high 90s, with the debate centred on how it runs rather than what it is. Expectations this high mean even a near-perfect game will have its share of contrarian reviews, and they’ll get plenty of attention.
Should you wait for reviews?
If you’ve already pre-ordered and pre-loaded, reviews won’t change much, but reading two or three on the 18th is a sensible way to learn which settings and modes to pick on day one. If you’re still undecided, a day is all you need. The game is fully downloadable now, and our guides to GTA 6 pre-loading and file size and release times and prices cover the rest. If you’re curious how the betting world is pricing GTA 6’s reception, our look at GTA 6 prediction markets covers that too.
We’ll update this article as reviews arrive on 18 November.