One of the most coveted video games of all time, Grand Theft Auto, returns later this month with a brand-new instalment. And it’s set to be one of the biggest entertainment launches in history.
Thirteen years on from the last release, Grand Theft Auto VI (GTA VI) arrives with a reported budget of more than $1 billion. Its second trailer has already set a Guinness World Record, racking up 475 million views across all platforms in 24 hours.
The hype around the launch is so substantial that millions of players are prepared to skip work on the day itself. Recent research found that 2.56 million UK workers could be absent on launch day, whether that’s booked leave or planning to call in sick.*
Unlike the last launch in 2013, GTA VI is not launching with a physical disc – every player will need to download the game, bringing one of the world’s biggest game series fully into the online age. With the download size expected at around 150-250GB, anyone booking the day off needs to get ahead well before launch day.**
• The download could be more than 40% of what a typical UK home uses in an entire month***
• Players can preload GTA VI from 12 November, a full week before launch
• The game will be released on Thursday 19 November, playable on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S
Nathan Rundle, CEO of Gigaclear, said:
“Research suggests millions of people across the UK are planning to take launch day off, and some are even calling in sick to play. In the thirteen years since the last instalment, the wait for GTA VI has become a genuine cultural moment. It’s one of the biggest entertainment launches we’ve ever seen.
“The big difference this time is that there’s no disc in the box, so every copy has to be downloaded. At up to 250 gigabytes, it could be one of the biggest files many households have ever downloaded. If you leave it until the morning of your day off, on a slower connection you could spend most of it watching a progress bar.
“My advice to any GTA fans hoping to download, particularly those in rural communities, is to get ahead:
• Start the download when preload opens on the 12th, ideally overnight, so it doesn’t slow down everything else in the house
• Clear space on your console before you start
• Plug your console into the router with a cable if you can
• Pause anything else that’s using a lot of bandwidth while it runs
“That way, your day off, planned or unplanned, is spent playing rather than waiting.”
*Uswitch research among 1,000 UK workers who play video games, October 2026
**Download size is an industry estimate and has not yet been confirmed by Rockstar Games
