Best Buy email may have leaked Grand Theft Auto VI pre-order dates

Best Buy has not publicly announced Grand Theft Auto VI pre-orders, but reports published on May 14 said an affiliate marketing email from the retailer may have disclosed a campaign window tied to Rockstar Games’ biggest upcoming release. Vice, Notebookcheck and several gaming outlets said screenshots of the email circulated online on Thursday and pointed to activity beginning May 18. Rockstar and Best Buy had not confirmed the material publicly. Rockstar Games said on its Newswire that Grand Theft Auto VI is scheduled for release on May 26, 2026, giving the leak immediate attention because pre-orders have not yet opened through official channels. Take-Two Interactive, Rockstar’s parent, is due to report quarterly and full-year results on May 21 after the market close and hold a conference call at 4:30 p.m. Eastern, according to its investor relations site. ### What did the reported Best Buy email actually say? Vice reported on May 14 that a supposed Best Buy affiliate email said Grand Theft Auto VI pre-orders would begin on Monday, May 18, 2026. Notebookcheck separately reported that the same material described a promotional window running from May 18 through May 21 and suggested pricing details could appear when pre-orders go live. (rockstargames.com) TheGamer and TechWiser said the screenshots described a 5% affiliate commission tied to physical pre-orders during that May 18-May 21 period. Those reports relied on images circulating online rather than a public Best Buy posting, and Reuters could not independently verify the email’s authenticity from Best Buy’s website. (vice.com) ### Has Best Buy posted a GTA VI product page or pre-order listing? Best Buy’s public search pages show results for “Grand Theft Auto 6” and “GTA 6,” but the indexed results available through web search did not show a live Grand Theft Auto VI pre-order product page as of this week. Best Buy’s gaming events page promotes other upcoming releases and says shoppers can find pre-orders there, but no GTA VI listing was visible in the search snippets returned by web indexing. (thegamer.com) Best Buy’s site is partly blocked to automated access, which limits outside verification of pages that may exist but are not fully indexed. That means the strongest public evidence so far remains the reported affiliate email screenshots cited by gaming publications, not a retailer announcement on an accessible product page. (bestbuy.com) ### What has Rockstar confirmed, and what has it not? Rockstar Games has publicly confirmed one major date: Grand Theft Auto VI is set to release on May 26, 2026, according to a company Newswire post. That post did not include pre-order timing, retail pricing or a trailer schedule. (bestbuy.com) Forbes reported on May 13 that pre-orders were not live as of mid-May and that Rockstar had not announced a pre-order window. That matches the current gap between the official release date and the absence of a formal retail rollout from Rockstar or Take-Two. (rockstargames.com) ### Why are fans focused on May 21? Take-Two Interactive said in an April 23 press release that it will report fourth-quarter and fiscal-year 2026 results on Thursday, May 21, 2026, and host its earnings call that afternoon. Because Grand Theft Auto VI is Take-Two’s biggest scheduled release, investors and fans routinely watch those calls for release-date reaffirmations and other formal updates from management. (forbes.com) Take-Two’s investor relations page lists the same May 21 event on its calendar. If Rockstar or Take-Two plans to formalize pre-orders, the company now has a fixed public milestone less than a week away. ### What should readers treat as confirmed right now? May 26, 2026 is the confirmed release date from Rockstar Games. (take2games.com) May 21, 2026 is the confirmed date for Take-Two’s earnings release and 4:30 p.m. Eastern conference call. A May 18 start for Grand Theft Auto VI pre-orders remains unconfirmed and is based on reported Best Buy affiliate email screenshots cited by Vice, Notebookcheck and other gaming outlets. (take2games.com) May 18 is the next date to watch for any retailer listing, and May 21 is the next official corporate event on the calendar for Take-Two Interactive and Rockstar’s parent company. (take2games.com) (rockstargames.com)