Will GTA 6 be on Xbox Game Pass at launch?

Should Xbox Game Pass subscribers buy GTA 6?Credit: Finn Gomez/The Boston Globe

GTA 6 is just a few months away, and if you haven’t already dropped $80 on a pre-order, then what are you waiting for?

If you’re hoping to play GTA 6 as part of your Xbox Game Pass subscription, then I have some bad news for you: Grand Theft Auto VI will not be included in Xbox Game Pass at launch.Unfortunately, the same goes for PC gamers. So, if you’re a casual player who was hoping to avoid buying a $600 gaming console just to play GTA 6, Xbox Game Pass isn’t the solution.

Will GTA 6 be added to the Xbox Game Pass library at a later date? Probably! In fact, previous GTA games have been included in the subscription. However, even if GTA 6 is eventually added to the Xbox Game Pass, it could be awhile. And don’t forget that Xbox Game Pass is going to impose strict monthly limits on cloud gaming in November, the same month GTA 6 is released.

Xbox Game Pass is a monthly subscription service that provides gamers with online console multiplayer access along with a library of titles. Xbox Game Pass actually includes quite a selection of games, depending on your plan. For example, the $22.99 per month Game Pass Ultimate plan includes more than 500 titles, including a selection of launch-day games, and doesn’t require an Xbox console.

Not all games are added to Xbox Game Pass. Many popular titles do eventually get added, but usually not from day one.

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Strauss Zelnick, the CEO of GTA developer Rockstar Games’ parent company Take-Two, addressed the organization’s view of game subscription services during a GamesIndustry.biz live event in 2022.

“We’ve supported various subscription services and we’re happy to do so,” Zelnick said at the time. “Our scepticism has been around making frontline console products available day and date with subscription. That doesn’t make any sense to us, because economically speaking, we don’t think consumers are prepared to pay for that. And we can’t afford to turn our business upside down in a way that doesn’t make sense economically. There always has to be an intersection between what the consumer wants and what the publisher is able to do. And you know, it doesn’t make sense to do that for our properties.”

Rockstar Games’ GTA 6 predecessor, Grand Theft Auto V, has been included in the Xbox Game Pass numerous times over the years. GTA 5 was available on Game Pass in 2020, 2021, 2023, and 2025, and usually stayed on the service for a few months before being removed.

GTA 5‘s most recent stint on Xbox Game Pass ended on April 15, 2026.

With that said, GTA 5 was released all the way back in 2013, and its first inclusion in Xbox Game Pass was more than six and a half years later.

So, will gamers have to wait nearly seven years for GTA 6 to be added to Xbox Game Pass or other cloud gaming subscriptions? We just don’t know. But one thing is certain: if you want to play GTA 6 when it launches later this year, you’re going to have to buy it outright and play on either an Xbox or PlayStation console.

TopicsGamingXboxVideo GamesGrand Theft Auto

Matt Binder joined Mashable’s tech vertical in 2018, where he covers social media, tech policy, cybersecurity, online scams, cryptocurrency, AI, creator news, weird tech, and other related tech beats.