A new leak suggests GTA 6 reviews could go live only a day before the game itself, which gives players a single day to read what critics thought. Some outlets, according to the same leak, won’t be allowed to publish until launch day.
The claim came from a forum poster called BlackBate on October 23rd. They said the review embargo for GTA 6 ends on November 18th, one day ahead of the November 19th release. Aggregate review scores should begin to show up at around 12:01-1:01 PM CET/6-7 AM EST, per the post. BlackBate added that some sites or YouTube channels might be held until 6:01 CET/12:01 AM EST on November 19th, the moment the game goes live.
Rockstar and Take-Two haven’t confirmed any of it. This is an unverified leak and should be read as one.
Why BlackBate is worth hearing out
You probably haven’t heard of BlackBate. Since 2021, though, the poster has built up a fairly solid record. They correctly called announcements for Microsoft Flight Simulator, Death Stranding, Pragmata and Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced.
A good record still doesn’t make this a confirmation.
The new details also line up with what earlier GTA 6 reports said. Those reports had the embargo lifting ahead of the November 19th release, with media outlets reportedly receiving copies of the game before October was out.
Why split the embargo?
The leak gives no reason for holding some outlets back until release day, and the motive isn’t obvious. One possibility is that Rockstar wants written reviews published first, so critics settle on a shared verdict early. Video reviews, which might contain story spoilers, could then follow with footage as soon as the game unlocks on the Xbox and PlayStation Store.
There’s also a plainer explanation. Rockstar may simply be putting journalists at larger publications first in line, which won’t surprise anyone who has followed the embargo schedule for a big release.
Review copies are coming, hands-on previews probably aren’t
NateTheHate, a trusted insider, has leaked that Rockstar should be getting copies to the media soon. According to BlackBate, the studio still hasn’t sent out digital Xbox or PS5 codes. The poster’s sources put that either in the week of October 26th or early November.
That would give reviewers somewhere between two and three weeks in Leonida’s open world before the embargo ends. By Rockstar standards, that isn’t much time.
BlackBate also doubts there will be any hands-on previews with the clock this tight. Content creators have so far been invited to watch gameplay, and no one outside the studio has been allowed to play as Jason and Lucia.
A familiar pattern for Rockstar
These embargo details are still a leak and deserve some skepticism. The timing matches what Rockstar has done before, though: reviews for both Grand Theft Auto 5 and Red Dead Redemption 2 arrived the day before each game launched.