Xbox CEO Asha Sharma says GTA VI streaming to Xbox One is "the first step" in a new 10-year strategic partnership with Take-Two. GTA VI is already the most pre-ordered game ever on the Microsoft Store, and GTA V and Red Dead Redemption 2 are headed to Xbox Cloud Gaming next.
Xbox just locked in Rockstar’s parent company for the next decade. Xbox CEO Asha Sharma announced a new 10-year strategic partnership with Take-Two this morning, and she made it clear that GTA VI streaming on Xbox One is only the opening move.
“Today marks the first step in our new 10-year strategic partnership with Take-Two,” Sharma posted on X. “GTA VI, already the most pre-ordered game ever on Microsoft Store, will be playable on XBOX One through cloud gaming when it launches on November 19.”
Read that twice. GTA VI isn’t just big on Xbox, it’s the biggest pre-order the Microsoft Store has ever seen. That lines up with the record we covered this morning, where Sensor Tower estimated 9.69 million digital pre-orders across consoles, the most for any game ever.
What Xbox actually announced
The official Xbox Wire post fills in the details. GTA VI “will be playable on day one through XBOX Cloud Gaming on XBOX One and XBOX Series X|S, starting at 1am ET” on November 19, and it uses Xbox Series S graphics settings when streamed. Xbox’s pitch is simple: “more players can experience one of the most anticipated games of the year on the consoles they already own.”
Then comes the part that turns a launch feature into a long-term plan. Xbox says it “will also be adding more titles from Rockstar Games to XBOX Cloud Gaming including Grand Theft Auto V, Red Dead Redemption 2, and more in the coming months.”
That’s the partnership showing its hand on day one. Two of the best-selling games ever made are coming to Xbox’s cloud, with “and more” promised behind them.
How to play GTA VI on Xbox
Xbox laid out three ways in:
- Xbox Series X: play natively, which Xbox calls “the best XBOX console experience.” Pre-install is live now.
- Xbox Series S: “the most affordable way to play GTA VI natively on XBOX.” Pre-install is live now.
- Xbox One: stream it through Xbox Cloud Gaming starting 1 AM ET on November 19.
You still have to buy GTA VI to stream it. Xbox also says that starting November 11, players in supported markets can buy cloud playtime to stream supported games without a Game Pass subscription. Cloud time is now metered: GameSpot notes that Game Pass Ultimate includes 15 hours of cloud play a month and that 50 extra hours cost $12. Availability, purchase options and features can vary by market and device, per Xbox’s fine print.
One catch worth knowing: streaming is limited to Xbox consoles. As The Verge’s Tom Warren reported, GTA VI won’t stream to phones, PCs, browsers or TVs the way most Xbox Cloud Gaming games do. Warren added on X that while Microsoft “doesn’t technically have an exclusive,” Xbox is “effectively exclusive for now” because you can’t stream GTA VI anywhere else at launch. We broke down the rest of the launch tech, including the 30 FPS target, in our GTA 6 frame rate story.
Why the 10-year deal matters
This didn’t come out of nowhere. In September, Take-Two filed an SEC 8-K saying it had signed a new long-term Xbox Publisher License Agreement with Microsoft covering “all XBOX devices,” replacing every earlier Xbox deal between the two companies. As Hardware Busters pointed out at the time, that wording names no specific console, which means it already covers whatever Microsoft ships next, including Project Helix. Sharma hasn’t said whether today’s 10-year partnership is that same agreement or something new on top of it, but we now know how long Xbox and Take-Two plan to be in business together.
Here’s what people aren’t seeing. A decade is longer than a console generation. Take-Two owns Rockstar and 2K, and it just signed on with Xbox for a decade, long enough to cover Helix and whatever comes after it, after rumors this fall that Microsoft could sell off its gaming business, rumors Sharma shot down by saying “Xbox is not for sale.” Publishers don’t sign 10-year partnerships with a platform they think is going away.
And the first thing that partnership delivered wasn’t a marketing logo. It was the biggest game of the decade running on a 2013 Xbox One, with GTA V and Red Dead Redemption 2 lined up next. That’s the Xbox promise in action: your games, on the hardware you already own.
We’ll be watching for what else “and more” means. Rockstar’s catalog is deep, 2K’s is deeper, and Xbox just gave itself 10 years to bring it to the cloud.
Image: Rockstar Games/Xbox
Sources
- X: Asha Sharma on the 10-year Take-Two partnership
- X: XBOX on GTA VI cloud streaming at launch
- Xbox Wire: Grand Theft Auto VI Comes to XBOX One and XBOX Series X|S Through XBOX Cloud Gaming on November 19
- The Verge: GTA VI will be available on Xbox Cloud Gaming for Xbox One consoles
- X: Tom Warren on GTA VI cloud being Xbox-console-only at launch
- GameSpot: Here’s How Your Xbox One Can Play GTA 6
- Take-Two: Form 8-K, new long-term Xbox Publisher License Agreement
- Hardware Busters: The New Take-Two Xbox Publishing Deal Covers “All Xbox Devices”
- OnPoint 4 Gamers: GTA 6 is the most pre-ordered game ever
- OnPoint 4 Gamers: GTA 6 is 30 FPS on every console, and Xbox players can stream it on Xbox One
Xbox and Take-Two for 10 years. What do you want in the cloud next?
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