Rockstar Confirms GTA 6 Will Be Playable on Xbox One via Cloud

Rockstar Games confirmed on Tuesday that Grand Theft Auto VI will be playable on Xbox One at launch through Xbox Cloud Gaming, Mashable reported and TweakTown reported. The streamed version uses the Xbox Series S graphics settings, and Game Pass subscribers can access it from 1 a.m. ET on Nov. 19, the game's release date. The game itself releases Nov. 19 for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, with local play limited to those consoles.

Rockstar said in its blog post, IGN reported, "The game will also be available via Xbox Cloud Gaming on Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One consoles, utilizing Xbox Series S graphics settings." TweakTown also reported that the company added: "And as with all cloud streaming, connection speeds and other technical factors may influence game performance in ways that would not impact local gameplay". The cloud stream therefore runs at the weakest current-generation console's settings. An Xbox console is still required, and Xbox Chief Strategy Officer Matthew Ball clarified that the game will not stream to PC. The Xbox One originally launched in 2013, and GTA 6 will not run natively on that hardware.

Xbox Cloud Gaming's hourly limits took effect this month. Subscribers get five to 15 hours of streaming per month depending on their Game Pass plan, and Game Pass Ultimate is capped at 15 hours. Internet conditions can also introduce buffering, latency, and visual quality problems. Rockstar separately confirmed that "GTAVI will also fully support Remote Play on PlayStation and XBOX," which streams from a console to other devices, including the PlayStation Portal handheld.

Microsoft's cloud servers may face heavy demand at launch. IGN suggested that using the Xbox Series S settings could reduce the risk of the servers struggling under the weight of a large number of simultaneous streamers. The stream is also available on Xbox Series X|S, even though those consoles can run the game natively. The cloud path is limited to Xbox consoles, and Ball clarified that the game would not stream to PC.

For players who install the game locally, the download is 212GB, IGN reported, and preloads began Tuesday morning. Rockstar has said the game targets 30 fps on all current-generation consoles, including Xbox Series S. For Xbox One owners without a current-gen system, cloud streaming is the only way to play at launch. Earlier speculation that Xbox had exclusive cloud streaming rights was debunked by Xbox CSO Matt Ball, TweakTown reported.