A leaker who is primarily known for Call of Duty information, not Grand Theft Auto, has shared a claim about Grand Theft Auto 6.

TheGhostOfHope posted a comment on X:

Up to you guys if you wanna believe me on this or not but hearing from someone that the current plan for GTA 6 is to launch online within a month after the release of the game.

If accurate, this means GTA 6's online mode would arrive sometime between late November and mid-December 2026, following the base game's November 19 launch, which means it will launch before Christmas, and gives other publishers another reason to steer clear of this year's holiday window.

Rockstar Games has staggered every major online launch from the single-player release in its recent history. Grand Theft Auto V launched on September 17, 2013, while Grand Theft Auto Online launched on October 1, 2013, exactly two weeks later. Red Dead Redemption 2 launched on October 26, 2018, and Red Dead Online launched in beta on November 27, 2018, roughly one month later.

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The pattern is consistent and practical. Why? Because online is a different matter. Rockstar needs to stabilize the servers after testing them out first. When GTA 6 launches, millions of players will be downloading, installing, and trying to play it at the same time. Adding an online mode to that day-one surge multiplies the server load exponentially.

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The GTA Online launch in 2013 was marred by repeated server crashes, player progress loss, and an experience that was nearly unplayable for the first week. Rockstar does not want a repeat of that with the next GTA. Staggering the online launch gives the studio time to monitor the single-player rollout before bringing the online servers live when the initial download surge has settled.

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GhostOfHope has accurately leaked Call of Duty information in the past, to the point where Activision's lawyers reportedly contacted him and asked him to stop publishing pre-announcement material.

Another reason is that Rockstar builds single-player campaigns that it wants players to experience before being pulled into the multiplayer ecosystem. If GTA Online is available from day one, a significant portion of the player base will skip the story entirely and jump straight into multiplayer, undermining the narrative Rockstar spent seven years and potentially $3 billion crafting. The delay gives the single-player campaign, the story of Jason and Lucia, room to breathe. Lastly, the single-player campaign sells the game, but it's the online mode that retains the audience and generates ongoing revenue through in-game purchases.

These are two different business objectives, and Rockstar benefits from giving each one its own moment. The launch generates massive media coverage focused on the story, the world, the technical achievement, and the reviews. The online launch, a few weeks later, generates a second wave of coverage, re-engages players who may have completed the story, and kicks off the monetization engine that will fund the game's long-term content updates.

Interestingly, during the legal proceedings surrounding the Rockstar North mass firings in October 2025, court documents revealed that fired employees had discussed "playtest sessions for the online mode with 32 players" in a union Discord channel. Two employees were specifically accused of leaking what Rockstar described as a "top secret" and unannounced feature: 32-player multiplayer sessions.

For context, current GTA Online supports 30 active players and 2 spectators per session, so GTA 6 is expected to increase that cap.

The question was never whether the online mode would launch separately. It was how long the gap would be. Two weeks to one month is exactly the range that history suggests.

With that said, it's clear that Rockstar is investing in the future of GTA Online, possibly as a separate entity and not as an immediate replacement, which would make sense after what Take-Two Interactive Strauss Zelnick CEO said about actively supporting GTA Online past GTA 6's launch.

If you are buying GTA 6 on November 19, you should expect to play the single-player campaign first, with the online mode possibly arriving in time for the holiday break.

However, it's worth noting that the company has not announced the online mode, its features, its launch timing, or its name. Everything here is based on established history, a single-source leak from a primarily Call of Duty leaker, and the common sense that a $3 billion game with a predecessor that generated billions in online revenue is going to have an online component.