Best Buy email pointed to May GTA VI pre-orders; they did not open until June
A Best Buy affiliate email listed GTA VI pre-orders for May 18 to 21, 2026. They did not open then; Rockstar later set June 25.
Published on Leonidle , after the event.
Update history
Update (): Rockstar announced that GTA VI pre-orders would begin on June 25, 2026. No pre-orders opened in May.
Status changed: RumortoDebunked
An email from Best Buy's affiliate program hinted that GTA VI pre-orders might open on Monday, May 18. Screenshots shared on X, one of which Game Informer credited to the account Frogboyx1Gaming, showed a campaign named "GTA 6 Pre Order (Physical Game)" set to run from May 18 to May 21, 2026. It was a message to affiliates, not an announcement from Best Buy, Rockstar or Take-Two, and none of them confirmed it.
Affiliates are creators who earn a cut when people buy through their links. Several of them, including a large deals account, reported getting the same email, so it looked genuine. A dated affiliate campaign is not the same as a confirmed launch, though, and Game Informer warned that it could be a mistake or a misprint. Until Rockstar said something, there was no firm pre-order date.
What happened next
May 18 came and went with no pre-orders. On Take-Two's May 21 earnings call, CEO Strauss Zelnick was asked about the retailer's dates and replied "We have absolutely no idea," according to GTA Boom. GameRant also reported that he did not know where the dates came from.
The real date arrived on June 18, when Rockstar announced that pre-orders would begin on June 25, alongside the official cover art, as Dexerto reported. The editions page lists what each version costs and includes.
Sources
- Game Informer () – primary source
- GTA Boom ()
- GameRant ()
- Rockstar Newswire ()
- Dexerto ()