While Rockstar Games has announced that Grand Theft Auto 6 will only be available digitally on its November 19th release date across PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, a new report indicates that a proper physical release that includes a disc is planned for later. According to PPE.pl – known for having reported on physical game releases in the past – Rockstar Games and Take-Two Interactive are planning to do it in December 2026.
It is worth noting that, while fans can pick up physical boxes of Grand Theft Auto 6 for their desired platforms, these boxes will only include a code to redeem and download the title digitally. No disc is going to be included. The decision has largely been seen as an unpopular one, since fans of Rockstar’s games have typically enjoyed the fact that the boxes came with the games’ discs, as well as some physical goodies, like a map of the game’s world.
The supposed December launch is expected to include a disc in the box.
Interestingly, Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick had vehemently denied the idea of delaying a physical release for Grand Theft Auto 6 in order to prevent leaks. When asked about this during an earnings call Q&A in February, Zelnick said, “That’s not the plan.” He was asked this question due to rumors of the time, once more courtesy of PPE.pl, reporting that the company was avoiding a physical release at launch.
At the time, the report had said that there was “conflicting information” about when the physical edition of Grand Theft Auto 6 was going to be available. They believed that it “won’t happen until early 2027.”
Rockstar Games has kicked off pre-orders for Grand Theft Auto 6. The base edition of the title is priced at $80, and an Ultimate Edition, which comes with a host of extra in-game goodies, is priced at $100.
The wording surrounding the extra content from the Ultimate edition has led some to believe that Grand Theft Auto 6 might take a page out of Red Dead Redemption 2’s book and structure its main campaign into distinct chapters. This would be a major change for the franchise since the release of Grand Theft Auto 3 in 2001, since the titles have largely seen missions flow into each other without any clear break that could mark the beginning or end of chapters.
However, some titles in the franchise, like San Andreas, have moments that could be considered clean chapter breaks, like when protagonist CJ leaves Los Santos for the first time, or when he finally drives to San Fierro, which kicks off its own miniature story arc.
Red Dead Redemption 2, on the other hand, made heavy use of its chapter-based structure, with the entire Van Der Linde gang needing to reposition its camp in its attempts to escape from the authorities. Through this, the title was also able to portray the passage of time, opening up new story missions as well as side content, leaving large marks on the game’s map as a result.
