Will GTA 6 Be Playable on PS4 and Xbox One? Here's What We Know

Grand Theft Auto VI is one of the most anticipated games, but it’s officially planned only for new hardware. Rockstar’s promotional art and trailers emphasize the game’s scale and detail, which current-gen consoles can handle more easily than the aging PS4/Xbox One generation.

Grand Theft Auto VI (GTA 6) has finally been announced after years of speculation, and gamers are eager to know what platforms it will support. A big question on many players’ minds is whether the new GTA will be playable on last-generation consoles – the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One – or if it will be exclusive to newer hardware. Below, we break down official announcements, Rockstar’s statements, technical limitations, and hardware comparisons to understand if GTA 6 has any chance of coming to PS4 and Xbox One. In short, all signs point to GTA 6 being a current-gen exclusive, leaving older consoles behind, but let’s examine the details.

Official Platform Announcements for GTA 6

Rockstar Games has made it clear which platforms GTA 6 is targeting. In a press release and subsequent updates, the company confirmed that GTA 6 will launch on May 26, 2026 for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S – with no mention of last-gen consoles. The initial announcement (in late 2023) proudly stated GTA 6 was coming to “PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S” in the planned release window. This effectively signaled that the game is skipping PlayStation 4 and Xbox One entirely, focusing on the newer consoles. Rockstar’s official website likewise lists only PS5 and Xbox Series X/S under “Available on” for GTA 6.

It’s worth noting that GTA 6’s release timeline has shifted – originally anticipated for late 2025, it was officially delayed to May 2026. Crucially, the supported platforms have remained the same: only the current generation of consoles. There has been no indication from Rockstar of any surprise last-gen version. In other words, all official communications point to GTA 6 being a next-gen (now current-gen) exclusive at launch. The absence of PS4/Xbox One in any announcement is telling. Normally, if a major title were cross-generational, the publisher would include those platforms in press releases. Here, their omission speaks volumes – Rockstar is not developing GTA 6 for the older hardware.

Rockstar’s Stance on PS4 and Xbox One Support

If there was any doubt from the initial announcement, Rockstar’s subsequent statements have put it to rest. Rockstar Games has officially declared that GTA 6 will only be available on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, with no support for the PS4 or Xbox One. In plain terms, when fans asked “Will GTA 6 come out on PS4/Xbox One?”, the answer from Rockstar has been “No.” The company has made it clear that the new Grand Theft Auto is a product of the latest hardware generation and won’t be back-ported to the older consoles.

This stance was highlighted in Rockstar’s communications and by gaming press covering the topic. For example, an article from early 2025 noted that Rockstar confirmed GTA 6 will not support older-generation consoles, emphasizing that it’s a next-gen-only release by design. When GTA 6’s 2026 release date was announced, the messaging consistently described it as exclusive to PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, leaving millions of PS4 and Xbox One owners disappointed but not entirely surprised. Simply put, Rockstar’s stance is that last-gen consoles are not in the plan for GTA 6’s launch.

It’s important to mention that Rockstar hasn’t explicitly blamed any one factor like sales or install base for this decision – instead, they’ve consistently hinted that it comes down to what the game requires technically. Sam Houser, founder of Rockstar, said GTA 6 aims to “push the limits of what’s possible in highly immersive, open-world experiences”. Achieving that vision appears to necessitate leaving behind the constraints of 2013-era machines. So far, Rockstar has not suggested any change in this policy, and there are no official plans for a PS4 or Xbox One version of GTA 6 at this time.

Hardware Limitations Preventing a Last-Gen Release

Why exactly is Rockstar forgoing the huge player base on PS4 and Xbox One? The answer lies in hardware limitations. The PS4 and Xbox One are now over a decade old, and their technical specs simply may not handle a game as ambitious as GTA 6. Rockstar’s decision to exclude those older consoles is “due to the game’s ambitious technical requirements and expansive open world,” according to reports on the official announcement. In other words, GTA 6 is being built with cutting-edge graphics, enormous scale, and complex systems that would be too much for the last-gen hardware to run effectively.

Early information about GTA 6 hints at why it needs the power of current-gen systems. The game is said to feature photorealistic visuals, a massive open world (including the fictional state of “Leonida” with Vice City), and more advanced AI and physics than any previous GTA. One report noted that the GTA 6 map could exceed 48 square miles in size – almost double GTA V’s world – with dynamic weather and high-density crowds. Such scope and detail would place an enormous strain on older consoles. Even GTA V, originally released in 2013, pushed the PS4 and Xbox One hard when upgraded for those systems; players experienced performance and stability issues in GTA Online on last-gen as the game world expanded. GTA 6 aims to go far beyond GTA V in fidelity and complexity, and Rockstar “doesn’t wish to revisit” the technical struggles of squeezing a huge game onto underpowered hardware.

In short, the PS4 and Xbox One simply lack the horsepower for GTA 6’s new features. Last-gen consoles have limited memory and older CPUs/GPUs that would likely struggle or even fail to run the game’s engine at acceptable performance. Rockstar is known for pushing the envelope with open-world detail (for example, Red Dead Redemption 2 skipped the Xbox 360/PS3 generation for similar reasons). By targeting only PS5 and Series X/S, the developers can fully utilize modern tech – such as advanced lighting, large crowds, and faster storage – without the need to downscale the game to an extent that compromises their vision. As one analysis put it, GTA 6 is “designed to stretch the limits of what modern hardware can deliver,” which means older systems “simply can’t keep up”.

Current-Gen vs. Last-Gen: Hardware Differences

To understand the situation, it helps to compare the hardware capabilities of current-gen consoles (PS5, Xbox Series X/S) versus last-gen (PS4, Xbox One). The differences are significant:

• CPU Power: The PlayStation 4 and Xbox One use 8-core AMD “Jaguar” processors from 2013, which run at relatively low clock speeds (1.6 GHz on base PS4). In contrast, the PS5 and Series X feature 8-core Zen 2 CPUs around 3.5 GHz – a leap in processing power and efficiency. This means the new consoles can handle far more complex AI, physics, and background processes than the old CPUs. In fact, the PS5’s CPU architecture is vastly more powerful than the PS4’s, giving developers headroom that simply didn’t exist on last-gen.

• Graphics (GPU): The improvement in graphics power is even more dramatic. For example, the standard PS4’s GPU is capable of 1.84 teraflops (a measure of graphical computation), whereas the PS5’s GPU pushes 10.3 teraflops – almost nine times more processing power for graphics. The Xbox leap is similar: the original Xbox One managed around 1.3 TF, the mid-gen One X upgrade had 6 TF, but the Xbox Series X boasts 12 teraflops. This huge gap means GTA 6 can have much higher-fidelity visuals, larger draw distances, and more on-screen elements on new consoles. The older GPUs would struggle to render the likely density of GTA 6’s world. As one tech comparison noted, the PS5 is “vastly more powerful” than the PS4 in both CPU and GPU, and “smokes its predecessor in every category”.

• Memory (RAM): Memory is a critical factor for open-world games. The PS4 and Xbox One have 8 GB of RAM, while the PS5 and Series X come with 16 GB – double the memory. More RAM allows for bigger worlds and more detailed assets to be loaded at once. GTA 6 will likely use very high-resolution textures and numerous AI-driven NPCs; 8 GB might not be enough to hold all that data without constant loading. With 16 GB, the new consoles can maintain the complex environment of GTA 6 more comfortably. Last-gen systems, by contrast, could face out-of-memory issues or have to aggressively cut down detail to fit the game’s requirements.

• Storage Speed: Perhaps one of the most game-changing differences is storage. The PS5 and Xbox Series X/S use ultra-fast solid-state drives (SSD), whereas the PS4/Xbox One use much slower hard disk drives (HDD). The PS5’s custom SSD can read data at about 5.5 GB per second, compared to roughly 50–100 MB/s on the PS4’s HDD. This isn’t a small tweak – it’s an orders of magnitude improvement. For a game like GTA 6, which likely streams an immense amount of world data on the fly (as you drive through a huge city, for example), the SSD enables quick loading of textures and objects. On a PS4’s hard drive, the world of GTA 6 might hitch or pop-in constantly, or require long load screens, due to the slow data throughput. The new consoles’ storage essentially allows the seamless, detailed open world that Rockstar is building, whereas older drives could be a bottleneck.

• Additional Graphics Features: The current-gen machines also support advanced graphics features like ray tracing (realistic lighting and reflections) and higher resolutions/frame rates. While the base PS4 and Xbox One struggle to output 1080p at stable frame rates in many newer games, the PS5 and Series X target 4K resolution and smoother frame rates (60fps or beyond) for big titles. GTA 6 is expected to leverage these newer capabilities, delivering more lifelike visuals. Last-gen consoles would likely have to disable many of these features and significantly reduce resolution and frame rate to run the game at all, leading to a vastly inferior experience – if it could run acceptably in the first place.

In summary, the hardware gap between current and last-gen is massive. The PS5/Xbox Series X|S are roughly an order of magnitude more powerful in GPU performance and come with faster everything (CPU, memory, storage). This gap explains why more and more game developers in 2024–2025 are dropping support for the older consoles. In GTA 6’s case, the complexity of the game’s world and systems appear to demand the capabilities of the new consoles. As one outlet succinctly put it, “those still on PS4 or Xbox One will have to step up to the latest hardware in order to play” this next-generation experience. The design of GTA 6 is tied to the strengths of modern hardware, and trying to shoehorn it into decade-old tech would mean severe compromises (if it were even feasible).

Conclusion: What We Know About GTA 6 on Last-Gen

As of now, all reliable information indicates that Grand Theft Auto VI will not be playable on PS4 or Xbox One. Rockstar Games has confirmed the game for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S only, and there are no official plans to release GTA 6 on the previous generation consoles. The official announcements and statements from Rockstar make it clear that GTA 6 is a current-gen exclusive, designed to leverage the power of the newer hardware. This decision is backed by solid reasoning: the aging PS4 and Xbox One simply can’t meet the game’s technical demands without unacceptable sacrifices in performance or quality.

By the time GTA 6 launches in 2026, the PS4 and Xbox One will be nearly 13 years old – ancient in console terms – and the industry (including Rockstar) is moving on. While this might be disappointing to players who haven’t upgraded yet, it aligns with how major titles evolve with technology. Rockstar is focusing on delivering the best game possible on modern platforms, rather than constraining their vision to accommodate old machines. Unless the company announces some streaming or cloud version (which has not been hinted at, and even that would depend on current-gen servers), there is virtually no chance GTA 6 will come to PS4 or Xbox One.

In conclusion, GTA 6 is poised to be a showcase for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, and not a cross-gen title. If you’re hoping to play the next Grand Theft Auto, you’ll need one of the newer consoles (or possibly a high-end PC, if a PC version arrives later). As of now, what we know is clear: GTA 6 is leaving last-gen behind. Players on PS4 and Xbox One will have to upgrade to experience the sprawling neon streets of Vice City in GTA 6’s new era. That’s the reality of the situation – and it’s backed up by Rockstar’s own words and the technical facts we’ve seen so far.

GTA 6 is confirmed for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, and won’t be released on PS4 or Xbox One based on everything we know. Rockstar has cited the game’s ambitious scope and advanced features as reasons it demands the power of current-gen hardware, meaning last-gen consoles are not getting this new GTA installment. The bottom line: if you’re still on a PS4 or Xbox One, GTA 6 is one game that you will not be able to play on that platform – you’ll need to switch to a newer console to join the action in Vice City once GTA 6 launches.