How do timezone unlocks actually work

Comes up every launch and the answer is genuinely confusing.

Some releases unlock at local midnight everywhere, so the first people playing are in the earliest timezones. Some unlock simultaneously worldwide against a single reference time, which means half the planet gets it at a strange hour.

Rockstar has not said which this is. Both consoles support both models. Anyone know what they did for previous launches, and does anyone actually know how to tell in advance?

preloadwatch6w ago

6 replies

Accepted answer

bought_ultimate6w agoHaven't played

The store page usually shows a countdown to your local unlock a few days ahead, which is the only reliable way to know rather than guessing.

lucia_did_nothing6w agoHaven't played

thats the exact reason the spoiler people are going dark on the 18th rather than the 19th. someone somewhere is already playing

rydeme_driver4w agoHaven't played

As a newcomer this is the kind of thing I would never have thought to ask and would have been confused by on the day.

lucia_did_nothing6w agoHaven't played

v was local midnight per region as far as i remember, which is why the first footage always comes from the other side of the world

gta6countdown6w agoHaven't played

if its local midnight then people twelve hours ahead are playing it while i am at work on the 18th and i genuinely do not know how to process that

holdmybeerpc1w agoHaven't played

Late to this. Both models have been used by the same publisher on different titles in the same year, so history tells you almost nothing lol

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