GTA 6 Review Scores: When Metacritic and OpenCritic Numbers Land, and What to Expect

Grand Theft Auto VI launches on 19 November 2026 on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, and the question on every fan's mind this week is simple: what will the critics say? As of today, 10 November, neither Metacritic nor OpenCritic shows a single critic score for the game. Both pages exist, both read "TBD". That will change fast once the review embargo lifts.

This article gathers what is reported about the embargo, explains how the two big review aggregators will turn dozens of reviews into one number, and puts the result in context with Rockstar's own track record. We will update it with the real scores once they are published.

Important: Rockstar Games and Take-Two have not announced an embargo date or time. Everything below about timing comes from press reports and is marked as such.

When GTA 6 reviews are expected to go live

On 26 October 2026, the leaker NateTheHate posted that Rockstar had started sending review codes to the press, with an embargo set for 18 November, one day before release. Insider Gaming said the same day that it could independently verify the report. Several other outlets relayed it, most of them with the same caution: it is a report, not an announcement.

If it holds, reviewers would have had roughly three weeks with the game. That is a comfortable window for an open world of this size, and much longer than the closed-door, play-on-site format a Brazilian journalist had described back in May. We covered that earlier rumor in how GTA 6 press coverage could work without classic review codes. The October reports, if accurate, point to a far more traditional launch.

No time of day has been confirmed. Some sites mention a morning lift on the US East Coast, but nobody has sourced it. For context, the day after the reported embargo is launch day itself, and our launch week calendar lists everything else scheduled between 12 and 20 November.

The precedent: Rockstar likes the day before

A day-before embargo would match Rockstar's habit:

• Grand Theft Auto V: reviews went live on 16 September 2013, the game released on 17 September.
• Red Dead Redemption 2: reviews went live on 25 October 2018, the game released on 26 October.

In both cases, players had about 24 hours to read the verdicts before they could play. Pre-orders and pre-loads were already done by then, which is also the case this year: the pre-load opened on 10 November.

How Metacritic will score GTA 6

Metacritic is the aggregator the industry quotes most, and the one Take-Two executives mention on earnings calls.

• The Metascore is a weighted average of critic reviews, on a 0 to 100 scale. Metacritic converts every outlet's grade (a 9/10, four stars, an A-) into that scale, and gives some publications more weight than others. The exact weights are not public.
• It appears only after a minimum number of reviews. Until then the page keeps showing "TBD". With a game this size, that threshold should be crossed within minutes of the embargo.
• Scores are tracked per platform. PS5 and Xbox Series X|S versions can end up with slightly different Metascores, depending on how many outlets reviewed each one. Most early reviews of console games tend to be done on PlayStation.
• The color code: green means generally favorable, yellow mixed, red negative. A score of 90 or more is described as universal acclaim, and games that reach it with enough reviews get a "Must-Play" badge.
• User scores come later. Metacritic has held back user reviews for a short period after release since 2019, a measure introduced to slow down review bombing. So the user score will not be there on embargo day, only the critics' one.

How OpenCritic will score GTA 6

OpenCritic works differently and is often preferred by players who want more transparency.

• Top Critic Average: the headline number, an average of scores from outlets OpenCritic flags as "top critics". There is no secret weighting.
• Critics Recommend: the percentage of all critics who recommend the game. A game can have a high average but a lower recommendation rate, or the opposite, which tells you how divided the press is.
• The tier badge: OpenCritic sums both numbers up in a rank, from Weak to Mighty. The Mighty tier, with its eagle icon, is reserved for the best-reviewed games of each year.
• Unscored reviews count too. Some outlets do not use numbers. OpenCritic still lists them and counts them in the recommendation rate.

In practice, check both. Metacritic gives you the number everyone will repeat on social media, OpenCritic gives you a better feel for how unanimous the verdict is.

What Rockstar's past games scored

Rockstar sits at the very top of both aggregators. Here are the Metacritic numbers for its last main releases, on their original consoles:

GTA V kept its 97 on PS4 and Xbox One when it was re-released in 2014. Very few games have ever scored this high, which is exactly why the bar for GTA 6 is so awkward: a 92 would be an excellent score for almost any other game, and it would still be read as a disappointment by part of the audience.

What Take-Two has said about scores

Take-Two's leadership has never pretended scores do not matter. In a May 2026 interview on The Game Business podcast, reported by The Shortcut, CEO Strauss Zelnick said critical reception matters as much today "as it has in the past", and described Rockstar's scores as "typically in the mid-90s, sometimes high 90s", a "reflection on Rockstar's commitment to quality".

On the same podcast, Future's content director Dan Dawkins pointed out that the media landscape has changed a lot since GTA V and Red Dead Redemption 2, which could make a near-perfect average harder to reach. Review culture is more fragmented, more outlets weigh in, and a single harsh review moves a weighted average more when everyone else is in the 90s.

What to expect, realistically

We will not predict a number. Nobody outside the review pool has played the game, and anyone quoting a "leaked" score before the embargo is guessing. What we can do is list the factors that usually shape a score of this kind:

1. The single-player campaign. Reviews will judge the story of Lucia and Jason first. Our guide on GTA 6 story length explains why even three weeks may not be enough to see everything, so expect some reviews to say so.
2. Technical state at launch. Frame rate, loading and bugs on base PS5 and Xbox Series S often pull scores down by a point or two. The Edge preview gave a first impression, but a full review covers much more ground.
3. Online modes. Live services are rarely judged before launch, because they need real players on real servers. Any online component will likely be reviewed later, or added as an update to early reviews.
4. Differences between platforms. If the PS5 and Xbox versions behave differently, their Metascores can drift apart over the first week.

The Metascore you see on the evening of the 18th will also move. Early scores tend to come from the biggest outlets, and the average settles as smaller sites publish over the next days.

How to follow the scores without spoilers

Review day is risky if you want to go in blind. Headlines are safe, but reviews quote missions, characters and sometimes plot beats, and video reviews show footage from late in the game. A few tips:

• Read the score and the verdict paragraph only, then close the tab.
• Prefer aggregator pages, which show short pull quotes rather than full reviews.
• Mute keywords on social media for a few days. Our guide on avoiding GTA 6 spoilers lists the settings to change on each platform.

Reviews are also the first step of awards season: a strong Metascore would make GTA 6 a serious contender at The Game Awards 2026, even with a release so late in the eligibility window.

In short

• Reviews are reported to go live on 18 November 2026, the day before launch. Rockstar has not confirmed it.
• Metacritic and OpenCritic both show "TBD" for now, and will fill up within minutes once the embargo lifts.
• GTA IV scored 98, GTA V and Red Dead Redemption 2 both scored 97 on Metacritic. That is the bar.
• User scores will arrive after launch, not on review day.

We will update this page with the Metascore and the OpenCritic Top Critic Average as soon as they are live.