Xbox has reportedly secured streaming rights for the upcoming Grand Theft Auto VI by Rockstar Games.
Xbox CEO Asha Sharma teased the arrangement during an internal all-hands meeting, telling employees that Microsoft had something planned for the game that “no other platform holder is doing.” Sources familiar with the matter later told Tom Warren from The Verge what she meant: Xbox Cloud Gaming will be able to stream GTA VI on day one.
How long the agreement runs, however, hasn’t been made clear.
While initial reports pointed to an exclusive deal, Xbox Chief Strategy Officer Matthew Ball clarified on X that Microsoft won’t hold exclusivity and won’t be streaming the game to PCs, either. “While the excitement for GTAVI and XBOX is great to see, it has also led to some misreporting. We are looking forward to launching GTAVI on XBOX November 19, though the game will not be streaming exclusively or to PC,” Ball stated.
The restriction suggests a console-only arrangement, which would leave out the web browsers and mobile apps that usually run Xbox Cloud Gaming.
The PC angle matters because Rockstar Games still hasn’t announced a PC version of GTA VI. A broader streaming deal would normally have given Xbox a way to pitch its cloud service to PC players who’d otherwise need an Xbox Series X|S or a PS5 just to play the game.
That window closes further in November when the game launches, the same month Microsoft has decided to overhaul Xbox Cloud Gaming by capping streaming time at 15 hours for Game Pass Ultimate subscribers, 10 hours for Premium, and five for Essential.
Meanwhile, Microsoft is also adding a pay-as-you-go option come November, so players won’t need a Game Pass subscription to use cloud gaming at all.
The timing of the cloud overhaul wasn’t lost on the gaming community. Across platforms like Reddit, reactions to the initial reports quickly turned cynical, with many players questioning Microsoft’s timing of its new 15-hour cap specifically to monetize GTA VI. Users also noted that an expansive open-world game would burn through the monthly allotment in a single weekend, leaving cloud players with little choice but to repeatedly buy extra hours, a model several users likened to “feeding quarters into an arcade machine.”
Sources: X (Formerly Twitter), Xbox Wire, Take-Two, The Verge