GTA 6 Reviews: Embargo Status and Score Tracker

Embargo status

Item	Latest	Status
Embargo date	Rumor: November 18, 2026	Rumor
Embargo time	Rumor: about 06:00-07:00 ET (11:00-12:00 UTC)	Rumor
Later time for some outlets	Rumor: some outlets and YouTube channels are held until 00:01 ET on November 19 (05:01 UTC)	Rumor
Review copies	Rumor: reportedly sent to media from late October	Rumor
First unlock, for comparison	06:00 ET (11:00 UTC) on November 18, in New Zealand	Confirmed
Console release date	November 19, 2026	Confirmed

Rumor rows stay labeled until reviews go live or Rockstar or Take-Two confirm the timing.

Score tracker

Source	Score	Status
Metacritic, critics	No score yet (tbd)	Not announced
Metacritic, users	No score yet (tbd)	Not announced
Individual outlets	None yet	Not announced

This tracker is empty because no reviews have been published yet. When they are, we'll add each outlet's score, date and link here, and no review text.

What earlier Rockstar games scored, and when reviews landed

Game or source	Record	Status
GTA IV	98 on Metacritic (Xbox 360, 86 critics)	Reported
GTA V	97 on Metacritic (Xbox 360, 58 critics)	Reported
Red Dead Redemption 2	97 on Metacritic (PS4, 99 critics)	Reported
GTA V reviews	Went live on September 16, 2013, a day before launch	Reported
Red Dead Redemption 2 reviews	Went live on October 25, 2018 at 04:01 Pacific, a day before launch	Reported
Take-Two's view	CEO Strauss Zelnick says critical reception matters as much as it ever did, and that Rockstar games usually score in the mid to high 90s	Reported

Metacritic is the record for its own numbers. Scores can differ by platform, so we name the platform beside each one.

Where the embargo rumor comes from

The embargo date is a rumor. It traces back to an insider’s post on X in late October, and Insider Gaming says it verified it. The time is weaker: it rests on one forum user, relayed by Notebookcheck. Rockstar and Take-Two haven’t commented, so every rumor line in the status table stays unconfirmed until reviews actually appear.

The rumor about review copies is messier. One claim says codes went out from late October. In May, a Brazilian journalist said nobody would get keys and reviewers would play at a closed venue, according to Insider Gaming, and another report says some journalists hadn’t received codes. We can’t tell yet which account is right.

Why the timing matters to you

If the rumor holds, reviews land at about the same moment the game unlocks in New Zealand. Spoilers can start spreading from then, hours before most of the world can play, so go easy on social media that day if you want to find the story for yourself. Our release time page shows when it unlocks for you, and the timeline has every date in one place.

The rumored timing also fits a pattern: reviews of GTA V and Red Dead Redemption 2 both went live a day before launch. That makes the rumor plausible, but it doesn’t prove it.

What earlier scores do and don’t tell you

Strauss Zelnick’s comment in the table describes past scores. It isn’t a prediction for GTA 6, and we don’t make one either. Metacritic already has a page for the game listing PS5 and Xbox Series X, and scores can differ by platform, so we’ll name the platform beside each number.

Why we don’t review it ourselves

Nobody on the GTA Explained team plays the game, so we won’t publish a review or a score of our own. This page only records what outlets publish, with a link to each review, and we don’t copy review text.

What we’ll add after launch

Each outlet’s score, publication date and link, including Arabic outlets such as True Gaming, VGA4A and Saudi Gamer.
Metacritic’s score, and OpenCritic’s if it lists the game, with the platform and number of reviews.
A short summary in our own words of where critics agree and disagree.
Any hours reviewers report, on our length page.
Whether the embargo rumor turned out to be right.