XBOX has landed an exclusivity deal for streaming rights on arguably the biggest release of this gaming year.
As reported by The Verge, Microsoft has allegedly secured sole streaming rights to Grand Theft Auto VI, cutting down competition such as NVIDIA and Amazon Luna, which wanted a piece of the large GTA VI cake.
The news comes from this morning’s meeting with XBOX CEO Asha Sharma, who said that with GTA VI they will be doing what “no other platform holder is doing”.
What Does the XBOX and GTA 6 Deal Mean?
In the simplest terms, the result is that XBOX Cloud Gaming will be the sole streaming service that will offer Grand Theft Auto VI at launch. Implicitly, this means XBOX will be the first platform to open the doors for GTA 6 on PC.
Rockstar hasn’t confirmed a PC version of the upcoming game, which means that the only way for people to play Grand Theft Auto VI on the platform would be by using the XBOX Cloud Gaming Service instead of an actual XBOX Series X/S or a PlayStation 5.
Speculatively, the links between XBOX and Rockstar could also open the doors for XBOX Disc-to-Digital transfers for those who own the game on XBOX. The program currently does not encompass all games available on the console, as it relies on case-to-case agreements between the Microsoft gaming division and the publisher.
The GTA 6 inclusion on XBOX Cloud Gaming comes in the heels of a major announcement a month ago. As part of Microsoft’s sweeping changes to XBOX, from November, the streaming time will be limited per month to just 15 hours for XBOX Game Pass Ultimate subscribers, 10 hours for Premium subscribers, and only five hours for Game Pass Essential.
Before the changes, there was no streaming hour limit for XBOX, but there was also no GTA 6 dangling in front of players to motivate an upgrade. XBOX Cloud Gaming users will be able to buy additional cloud playtime through the XBOX store, with regional pricing enabled.
XBOX Cloud Gaming hours will also be available as a pay-as-you-go option, which might end up being the best option for those wanting to spend money to play Grand Theft Auto VI but less than it costs to buy a console today.
During the XBOX meeting, CEO Asha Sharma said that the next generation of XBOX hardware will be a “family of devices” and that Microsoft will collaborate with others on some of those devices. The first mention of Helix being a family of devices was made last month in an interview after Microsoft and AMD announced a “strategic multi-year partnership” last year to collaborate on a “portfolio of devices” which will have Microsoft’s next-generation Xbox console.
XBOX Cloud Gaming hours will also be available as a pay-as-you-go option
We’re reaching the final stretch before the GTA VI release, resulting in interesting withdrawals from most game releases not wanting to compete with the classic game giant. Maybe it is for the best, as most players will be buried deep into GTA VI and not be looking at other games; after all, after such a long wait, it better be worth it and enough to sink our teeth into it for the gap until something else takes the stage.
Grand Theft Auto VI will be available on 19th November on XBOX Series X/S and PlayStation 5.
- Released
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November 19, 2026
- ESRB
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Rating Pending – Likely Mature 17+
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