Xbox has apparently pulled off an extremely interesting deal around GTA 6, and the scoop comes from Tom Warren, journalist at The Verge. According to him, Microsoft has secured exclusive streaming rights to Rockstar Games' title at launch, which would make Xbox Cloud Gaming the only platform where you can play GTA 6 via the cloud, for a period that remains unknown. Above all, the move could let Microsoft offer the game to PC players, given that Rockstar still hasn't announced a PC version of its next blockbuster. And that's the wild part. The information comes from an internal Xbox meeting, during which divisional boss Asha Sharma reportedly told staff that Microsoft was preparing something around GTA 6 that "no other console manufacturer has done to date". The exact nature of the deal wasn't spelled out during the meeting, but according to The Verge's sources, it does indeed involve exclusive rights to streaming the game.
The trick to playing on PC without owning a PC
In practice, this would mean GTA 6 could be played via cloud gaming at launch, but only through Xbox Cloud Gaming. For PC players the stakes would obviously be far higher, since Rockstar Games has only announced GTA 6 for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. With no PC version, Xbox could pitch its service as the only official way to play the game on a computer from day one, without needing to own a console. How long that exclusivity would last remains unclear. Microsoft hasn't officially commented on the deal and Rockstar hasn't announced a PC version of GTA 6. We'll have to wait for confirmation from both companies to learn the precise terms of the partnership and how long Xbox will hold on to those exclusive streaming rights.
And this news hasn't exactly fallen out of the sky: it comes just as Microsoft has overhauled how Xbox Cloud Gaming works. From November onwards — the very month GTA 6 launches — Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers will be capped at 15 hours of streaming, versus 10 hours for Premium members and 5 hours on the Essential tier. A change that could obviously take on a whole new significance with the arrival of a game as hotly anticipated as Rockstar Games'. For Xbox, it would be a tidy coup in any case, since GTA 6 could become a major shop window for its cloud gaming service. The strategy would let Microsoft reach an audience that owns neither an Xbox Series X|S nor a PS5, while handing Xbox Cloud Gaming a particularly strong selling point against rival platforms.
