As a result, the press will have the opportunity to form opinions about Rockstar’s next game under strictly controlled conditions.

After an email from one of Best Buy’s partners revealed that pre-orders for Grand Theft Auto VI would begin today, millions of fans of Rockstar’s hit series prepared their digital wallets in anticipation. However, according to Tom Henderson (though the partner email is genuine), nothing will actually happen until July or August. He made this statement on the latest Insider Gaming Weekly podcast:

“Yeah, we said this for the longest time, right? I think we’ve all said that we don’t expect anything tangible until July or August, especially August, when their next earnings call is. One of the important things about this email is that it was legitimate because it was sent by Impact. It was a legitimate email sent by Impact. I believe people have reached out to Best Buy and Impact for comment. They’re not commenting, which is perfectly understandable. I wouldn’t want to comment either with Take-Two breathing down my neck and their lawyers. But the email was legitimate. Does that mean they planned to release the trailer, but then it got pushed back, so they sent out the email anyway? Was this a mistake? We simply do not know,” said Henderson.

This isn’t the only rumor that surfaced over the weekend. According to a Brazilian journalist who has worked for major outlets such as Omelete and UOL, Rockstar Games will not be sending review copies of Grand Theft Auto VI to journalists or content creators. Instead, Rockstar Games is organizing a showcase event to prevent leaks and is inviting interested parties to a secure location where they can try out Grand Theft Auto VI.

On the aforementioned Insider Gaming Weekly podcast, YouTuber Nukov made a similar comment, though his claim that there would be no early preview of Grand Theft Auto VI because they aren’t sending out review copies seemed more like speculation than information from a reliable source. This would inconvenience the press and depart from the release of their most recent game, 2018’s Red Dead Redemption 2, for which they did send out review codes.

Nevertheless, it is not inconceivable that they chose this course of action, unusual as it may be.

A Rockstar Games irá enviar jornalistas para um local fechado para testar GTA 6, afirma jornalista brasileiro que trabalhou em grandes portais como o Omelete e UOL. 🚨

Durante o podcast X do Controle, PH Lutti Lippe revelou que a Rockstar adotará um esquema de segurança máxima… pic.twitter.com/p5TlJWyewy

– Portal Viciados (@PortalViciados) May 16, 2026

Source: WCCFTech