YouTube is hosting a 24-hour GTA 6 launch livestream
YouTube's 24-hour GTA 6 launch stream starts at midnight ET on November 19 (5am UK), with an RDCWorld pre-show, free gifts and a Vice City Shorts effect.
13th Nov 2026 12:15
Image via Rockstar Games
YouTube is hosting a 24-hour GTA 6 launch livestream
YouTube's 24-hour GTA 6 launch stream starts at midnight ET on November 19 (5am UK), with an RDCWorld pre-show, free gifts and a Vice City Shorts effect.
13th Nov 2026 12:15
Image via Rockstar Games
If you can't be glued to GTA 6 the second it unlocks, YouTube is planning to keep you company, with a 24-hour launch livestream kicking off at midnight ET on November 19.
YouTube announced the stream in an official blog post on November 12, saying it's partnering with Rockstar Games for launch week, and that the marathon will run on youtube.com/youtube from 12am ET / 9pm PT (5am UK) on November 19, with a pre-show hosted by RDCWorld starting an hour earlier at 11pm ET on November 18 (4am UK on November 19).
A very long night in Vice City
YouTube says the stream will be packed with live gameplay, creator podcasts and original content featuring creators including Caylus, Zhong and Kat, Jelly, Rivers, Jake Baldino and Cinna, before wrapping up with live on-the-ground coverage from Miami alongside creators and special guests. You'll be able to jump straight into the broadcast by clicking a GTA 6-themed logo on the YouTube homepage, which YouTube calls a Yoodle (we'll let them have that one).
The stream isn't the only thing YouTube has planned, as YouTube Live is adding five limited-edition GTA 6 gifts, including Wanted Stars that pop up on screen during streams, and eligible viewers watching select creator streams can claim and send one for free while they last. There's also a "GTAVI: Visit Vice City" Shorts effect that drops you in front of Vice City backdrops, and the official GTA 6 soundtrack, featuring Morgan Wallen's "Last Thing You Need", will sit on the YouTube Music homepage throughout launch week alongside a playlist covering the whole series.
YouTube is leaning on some big numbers to explain why it's going all in, saying the Grand Theft Auto series has passed 900 billion views on the platform, and that pre-launch videos about GTA 6 have already topped 40 billion views. That's an awful lot of trailer reaction videos, and we suspect a fair few of them are about the same couple of minutes of footage.
GTA 6 itself unlocks at midnight local time on November 19 on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, according to Rockstar Support, which means UK players will already have had five hours with the game by the time the main stream begins. If you've pre-loaded (our GTA 6 pre-load guide has the details), the livestream may well end up as background noise rather than the main event, and if you've seen the GTA 6 clip that fooled people into thinking it was real Miami, the Miami coverage could make for a decent game of spot the difference.
Well, 24 hours is a long time to watch other people play GTA 6, but if past launches are anything to go by, plenty of you will do exactly that, possibly while your own copy is still downloading.
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Jake Bannister
Jake is GGRecon's Co-Founder and Operations Director. You'll find him covering our word game brain teasers, as well as sports games such as Football Manager and EA FC. He's also that teammate on your Rocket League team spamming "Wow!".
