Grand Theft Auto 6 is finally starting to feel real. After years of trailers, delays, rumours, and more leaks than Rockstar Games would probably care to count, we’ve now had our best look at the game yet, thanks to the extended look trailer, alongside our dedicated GTA 6 preview right here on IGN.
And now, finally, it’s just a matter of months before we can actually play it. GTA 6 launches on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S on November 19, 2026, with pre-load beginning on November 12.
But there’s still one pretty important question to answer: which console should you actually use to play GTA 6? And should you even buy a console for it, or simply wait for the inevitable PC release instead?
Look, there’s no doubt that the vast majority of players will end up playing GTA 6 on PS5. Sony’s console has a sizeable lead over Xbox Series X|S, with around 95 million PS5 consoles sold, compared with an estimated 35 million Xbox Series X|S consoles.
But it’s not quite as simple as saying, “play it on PS5, like everyone else.”
For starters, plenty of people still haven’t made the jump to the current generation. If you’re still playing on PS4 or Xbox One, GTA 6 could well be the game that finally convinces you to upgrade. Unfortunately, you couldn’t have picked a much more expensive time to do it, with console prices, games, storage, and just about everything else seemingly getting pricier by the minute. It’s a sign of the times, I’m afraid.
Rockstar has also yet to confirm the game’s frame-rate targets, but current expectations point towards 30fps on the standard PS5 and Xbox Series X. That’s hardly surprising given the sheer scale and visual ambition of GTA 6, but it does raise an interesting question about the PS5 Pro.
The Pro has considerably more horsepower than the standard PS5, along with PSSR upscaling, so you’d expect it to have an advantage. Whether that advantage will be enough to push GTA 6 to 60fps, however, is another matter entirely.
I’d be more surprised if the PS5 Pro didn’t offer some kind of visual or performance advantage, but I’d be very wary of buying one on the assumption that it will deliver a locked 60fps. Until Rockstar confirms its performance targets, that’s simply not something anyone can guarantee.
That being said, if you forced me to give an answer, the PS5 Pro is still probably going to be top option for getting the best performance for GTA 6. If only it wasn’t so horrendously expensive.
Should You Buy a Console to Play GTA 6?
If you don’t already own a PS5 or Xbox Series X|S, GTA 6 presents a slightly awkward conundrum. On the one hand, this is arguably the biggest game release of the generation, and you’re probably going to want to play it as soon as it arrives. On the other, buying an entire console for one game is an increasingly expensive proposition in 2026.
Sony’s current US prices put the PS5 Digital Edition at $599.99, the standard PS5 with a disc drive at $649.99, and the PS5 Pro at a frankly eye-watering $899.99. Microsoft isn’t doing much better, with the Xbox Series S now costing $499.99 and the Xbox Series X reaching $749.99 for the digital model or $799.99 with a disc drive. Yikes.
Yet, somehow, despite these bonkers prices, there’s somehow also an argument for buying sooner rather than later. Console prices have been consistently heading in the wrong direction, and the broader component shortage isn’t exactly helping. Major retailers have already warned that console stock could struggle to keep up with demand over the holiday period, with one senior games buyer claiming retailers have been told they won’t receive the number of consoles they want ahead of GTA 6’s launch.
That’s not exactly a guarantee that you’ll be fighting scalpers for a PS5 come November, though. Sony insists it has secured enough memory to hit its PS5 sales target for the financial year, despite the ongoing component difficulties. Yet, with GTA 6 expected to drive a huge upgrade cycle, I’d rather have my console sorted well before November 19 than find myself scrambling for one at the last minute.
Still, if you can, I would still avoid rushing out and paying full price for a console simply because GTA 6 is coming. If you’re starting from scratch, keep an eye out for bundles, retailer promotions, trade-in offers, and, particularly as we get closer to November, any GTA 6-specific console deals that might appear.
The Best PS5 and Xbox Console Deals Right Now
Free $50 Best Buy Gift Card with GTA 6 + Console Purchase
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Preorder GTA 6 and purchase an eligible console for a $50 Best Buy gift card reward. My Best Buy is free to join. There are three tiers: Standard (Free), Plus ($29.99/yr), and Total ($199.99/yr).
Speaking of console deals. While it’s slim pickings out there, there are still some potentially decent offers to consider in the run-up to GTA 6’s launch.
Top of the list right now is Best Buy, with the retailer offering a $50 reward certificate to anyone who bundles a Grand Theft Auto 6 preorder with an eligible PlayStation 5 or Xbox console.
That’s not a bad offer, particularly if you go for the refurbished PS5 at $539.99. You’re effectively getting $110 off the current $649.99 price of a new disc-drive PS5, plus another $50 in Best Buy credit to put towards a future purchase. Just bear in mind that this is the original 2020 PS5 model, complete with its 825GB SSD, rather than the newer, slimmer 1TB model.
PlayStation 5 825GB Console
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And honestly, refurbished is where I’d be looking right now if you’re trying to keep the cost of getting GTA 6-ready as low as possible. You’re not going to get much of a discount on brand-new PS5 hardware at the moment, so a reputable refurbished model can make considerably more sense.
That’s why the next deal I’d consider is a certified refurbished PS5 directly from PlayStation through the PS Direct store. A refurbished PS5 is currently $549, while the refurbished PS5 Digital Edition is $499.
That makes the choice between Best Buy and PlayStation a little more interesting. For just $9 more, the PS Direct option gets you the newer PS5 design with 1TB of storage, although you’ll be giving up Best Buy’s $50 reward certificate. If you’re happy with digital games, the $499 refurbished PS5 Digital Edition is arguably the most compelling option of the lot, particularly if GTA 6 is the main reason you’re buying a console in the first place.
PlayStation 5 – Digital Edition 1TB – Certified Refurbished
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Sony has also announced plans to stop producing physical game discs for new PlayStation releases from January 2028, meaning we’re potentially looking at the final few years of physical PlayStation gaming.
That doesn’t mean your existing discs suddenly become useless, or that physical games are disappearing overnight, but it does make the $50 saving on a Digital Edition a little more tempting if you’re starting from scratch and don’t have an existing physical library.
I’d still recommend thinking carefully before going all-in on digital, though. The disc-drive PS5 gives you access to used games, physical discounts, borrowing and reselling games, so that extra $50 isn’t necessarily money wasted. But if you have no existing physical library and are comfortable buying digitally, saving that money upfront is certainly a tempting proposition.
Should You Wait for Black Friday?
There’s one more date worth keeping in mind if you’re thinking about buying a console for GTA 6: Black Friday.
GTA 6 is currently scheduled to launch on November 19, just over a week before Black Friday officially arrives on November 27. But don’t take that to mean you’ll have to wait until November 27 to find a deal. Black Friday has long since evolved beyond a single day, with major retailers typically launching their sales days or sometimes even weeks in advance.
For example, PlayStation ran their Black Friday sale from November 21-29 last year, with Black Friday proper on Nov. 28, that means they kicked things off a week prior. I’d expect something similar for this year (around Nov. 19-20), or perhaps even earlier to help drive up console sales ready for GTA 6.
PS5 consoles received a $100 discount last year, which, if repeated, would be your best opportunity to save at least something.
For those who didn’t take advantage, look away now, but this actually brought PS5 Pro consoles down to $649.99 ($749.99 –> $649.99), while the console now retails for $899.99 in the US after price hikes earlier this year. It was also $399.99 for the PS5 Digital Edition (now up to $599.99), and $449.99 for the PS5 Disc Edition (now up to $649.99). Ouch!
If the $100 price cut is repeated this year, you’d be looking at $799.99 for the PS5 Pro, $549.99 for the PS5 Disc Edition, and $499.99 for the Digital Edition.
Fingers crossed, I guess? Discounts for this year aren’t necessarily guaranteed either. The recent PlayStation Days of Play sale brought with it zero console deals, despite them usually being a pretty major part of it.
Therefore, while I’d absolutely keep Black Friday on your radar, I wouldn’t blindly wait for it. If anything, I’d probably recommend sticking with, as I mentioned, a refurbished PS5 deal while they are regularly available.
PlayStation 5 – 1TB – Certified Refurbished
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Do You Even Need a Console to Play GTA 6?
Right now, yes. There is no PC version of GTA 6. That doesn’t mean there won’t be one, though. Rockstar has a long history of bringing its biggest games to PC after their initial console releases, so waiting is a perfectly reasonable option if you already have a capable gaming PC.
The catch, of course, is that we have absolutely no idea when that PC version will arrive. It could be a year later, it could be considerably longer, and Rockstar hasn’t committed to one at all yet.
If you desperately want to play GTA 6 on launch day, waiting for PC isn’t really an option. If you’re perfectly happy to wait, however, spending up to $900 on a console you otherwise wouldn’t have bought becomes much harder to justify.
On the topic of GTA 6 on PC, IGN’s Jacqueline Thomas also recently wrote: “The only problem is that it was running on a base PS5. The game looks incredible regardless, but there were certainly moments where the frame rate slowed down considerably.”
“I had already heard word that GTA 6 will only get a 60fps mode on the PS5 Pro, and now I can definitely see why. With all those lighting effects and the high-resolution textures, Grand Theft Auto 6 is really going to make the base consoles chug.”
“I have a hard time believing that GTA 6 will even be able to run at a steady 60fps on even the PS5 Pro, even though I know just how talented Rockstar’s engineers are at making gorgeous games run on limited hardware. What I really want to do is take away those limits with an extemely powerful graphics card.”
Is GTA 6 Coming to Nintendo Switch 2?
I mean, never say never? But also, no, I find this unlikely to happen in the near future… Unless? No, no, you can’t convince me otherwise. GTA 6 is not coming to Nintendo Switch 2.
Read More on GTA 6
Robert Anderson is a Senior Commerce Editor for IGN. Based in London, UK, he is a qualified journalist with a First Class degree in BA Journalism and over seven years of professional writing and editing experience. You can usually find him lost in open-world RPG games like Elden Ring and Cyberpunk 2077, or tinkering in Planet Coaster and Two Point Museum. Outside of gaming, he enjoys reading comics (especially Superman, Batman, and Spider-Man), taking photos, and keeping up with the latest in film and TV.