Rockstar has kicked off a new GTA+ cycle, and Month 53 is now live for subscribers. Running from August 6th through September 9th, this month's lineup includes a free vehicle, a fresh paint job, member-only discounts, and the usual list of standing perks that come bundled with the $7.99 (£6.99 / €7.99) monthly subscription.

The Headline Freebie: Gallivanter Warden

The marquee giveaway this month is the Gallivanter Warden, handed out for free exclusively through The Vinewood Car Club. Members can claim it by visiting the Club, where it'll be flagged FREE for the duration of the promotion — outside of GTA+, the car normally runs well over a million GTA$ through Legendary Motorsport.

Alongside the free ride, subscribers get a livery unlock for the Declasse Tampa GT (the Los Santos Machine design) and two new Chameleon Paints — a Light Purple Pearl finish for both the body and wheels — claimable at any Auto Shop or Vehicle Workshop.

Free Clothing and Discounts

This month's wardrobe drop includes the Pink SN x PRB Bomber Zipped Jacket and the PRB Tee & Shorts, both free for GTA+ members.

On the discount side, subscribers can save:

• 60% off the Garment Factory

• 50% off Drift Tune Upgrades and Terrorbyte Bureau Tech

There are also GTA$ and RP multipliers running for the month: 3x on Drift Races, and 2x on both The FIB Files and Garment Factory Daily Income.

Standing GTA+ Benefits Still in Play

Beyond the monthly rotation, GTA+ continues to carry a long list of permanent perks:

• Extra aircraft storage — five additional slots on top of whatever the McKenzie Field Hangar provides, no hangar purchase required.

• The Vinewood Car Club — a members-only showroom offering test drives and a 20% purchase discount on a rotating vehicle lineup, which this month includes the Warden itself, the Pegassi Toreador in War Camo, the Truffade Thrax, the Annis Euros in Manga Classic livery, and several others.

• The Vinewood Car Club Garage — a 100-slot vehicle garage in Pillbox Hill, complete with its own in-garage customization workshop and an app for collecting business earnings remotely.

• Remote business management — GTA+ members can handle staffing and collect earnings from the Hangar, Warehouses, Bail Office, Arcade, Nightclub, and Hands-On Car Wash straight from their in-game phone.

• GTA+ Games Library — full access to GTA Online, the GTA Trilogy Definitive Edition, GTA V Story Mode, and a bundle of other Rockstar titles including Red Dead Redemption, L.A. Noire, and Bully, plus mobile ports of Liberty City Stories and Chinatown Wars.

• Double Lucky Wheel spins — two spins every 24 hours instead of one.

• Faster, free taxi service — free fast travel via Downtown Cab Co., with cooldowns cut from 48 minutes to just 5.

• Gun Van perks — a permanent map marker for the Gun Van plus extra discounts and exclusive weapon skins.

• Free vehicle requests through the Interaction Menu.

• $500K cash, deposited automatically every month.

• 15% bonus GTA$ on every Shark Card purchase — for example, a Megalodon Card jumps from a standard $9.2 million to $11.5 million.

• Free MC, CEO, and VIP abilities.

The Bottom Line

Month 53 keeps the GTA+ formula largely unchanged: a free car, a handful of cosmetics, some targeted discounts, and the same deep bench of permanent quality-of-life perks that have defined the subscription since launch. Whether it's worth the monthly fee still comes down to how much of that standing benefit list — the garage space, the taxi perks, the Shark Card bonus — actually gets used.

A new GTA Online Weekly Update has arrived, and this time Rockstar is turning two of Los Santos' most iconic fictional beverage brands into rival factions. The Brand War Event Week runs from August 13th through August 20th, and it's stacked with free cosmetics, a new prize vehicle, bonus payouts, and a two-week Twitch Drops promotion tied to the Sprunk-versus-eCola rivalry.

Pick a side: Sprunk or eCola

The centerpiece of this week's update is a soda-fueled brand war between Sprunk and eCola. Players can link their Twitch and Rockstar Games accounts to take part in select Twitch Drops-enabled streams running from August 13th through August 26th. Backing Team Sprunk or Team eCola during that window unlocks exclusive gear — the Sprunk Sweatsuit or the eCola Tracksuit — plus the chance to earn up to GTA$2,000,000.

Even players who skip the Twitch Drops angle can get in on the branding war. Free Sprunk and eCola bodysuits are available at every Clothing Store, and a complimentary Declasse Hotring Sabre (Sports) is up for grabs at Southern San Andreas Super Autos. Logging in this week also unlocks a Sprunk x eCola livery for that same Hotring Sabre, along with matching vanity plates available at any Vehicle Workshop.

Kortz Center Heist gets a refresh

The Kortz Center Heist is getting a mid-life boost this week. Rockstar has introduced new Primary Targets for the heist, reset its first-completion bonus so returning players can cash in again, and added an extra GTA$400,000 for anyone who finishes it without dying.

New prize ride and vehicle rotations

This week's LS Car Meet challenge rewards consistency: place in the top 4 of an LS Car Meet Race three days in a row to unlock the Enus Deity as a Prize Ride, which otherwise runs GTA$1,845,000 at Legendary Motorsport.

The rest of the vehicle lineup has rotated as usual:

• Premium Test Ride: Karin S95 (PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC Enhanced)

• Test Track Vehicles: Vapid Clique Wagon, Överflöd Autarch, and Pegassi Osiris

• Luxury Autos (Rockford Hills): Benefactor LRC GT and Pfister X-treme

• Simeon's Auto Shop: Obey Tailgater S, Shitzu Keitora, Mammoth Patriot Mil-Spec, Benefactor Stirling GT, and Progen GP1

Bonus payouts across the board

Beyond the brand war itself, Rockstar has boosted rewards across several other activities this week. Hotring Circuit races and Freemode events are paying out quadruple rewards, while Odd Jobs and the Community Series see triple payouts. GTA+ members also get early access to the new Gallivanter Warden SUV ahead of its general release — expected to run around GTA$1,597,500 at Legendary Motorsport once it's available to everyone.

When does it end?

The Brand War Event Week runs through August 20th, when Rockstar is expected to roll out its next weekly reset — though the Twitch Drops promotion tied to Sprunk and eCola sticks around a bit longer, through August 26th. As always, Rockstar typically pushes new weekly updates every Thursday, though the exact timing can shift slightly around DLC releases, seasonal events, or bank holidays.

Grand Theft Auto VI hasn't even launched yet, and it's already rewriting the rules on what players are willing to pay for a pre-order. According to Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick, more fans have pre-ordered the $99.99 Ultimate Edition of GTA 6 than the $79.99 Standard Edition — a notable result given the backlash that greeted the pricing structure when it was first revealed.

Zelnick Confirms the Premium Skew

The revelation came during Zelnick's now-routine post-earnings press tour. Fresh off Take-Two becoming the world's largest publicly traded video game publisher, the CEO made his regular stop on CNBC's Squawk Box, where hosts pressed him on which edition of GTA 6 was actually moving units. Asked directly whether fans were opting for the $79.99 or $99.99 version, Zelnick didn't hedge: "both," he said, before clarifying that sales are "skewing premium edition."

It's a striking admission. When Rockstar first unveiled the two-tier pricing structure back in June, the response from parts of the fanbase was less than enthusiastic — critics called out the Ultimate Edition's exclusive in-game content as a "scummy" way to gatekeep features behind an extra $20. Rockstar has since indicated that Standard Edition owners will eventually be able to purchase an upgrade, though no details on that add-on have been announced.

Why the Premium Tier Is Winning

Zelnick's explanation ties the trend to who's actually pre-ordering months ahead of launch in the first place. He suggested the skew "might be a reflection of the fact that the most avid consumers are the ones who are pre-ordering" — in other words, the die-hard fans willing to commit early are also the ones least likely to blink at an extra $20 for exclusive cosmetics, vehicles, and other bonus content.

That theory tracks with earlier signals from the fanbase. Back in May, a poll from Insider Gaming found that more than 80% of respondents said they'd be willing to pay $100 for GTA 6, well before the official pricing was even locked in.

Zelnick was also careful to frame the $80 base price itself as restrained, despite industry speculation earlier this year that GTA 6 could become the first $100 game across the board. "Our goal is to deliver way more value to consumers than what we charge them," he said, describing GTA 6 as "an incredible bargain" relative to the scale of the experience Rockstar is promising.

No Discounts on the Horizon

Fans hoping to snag either edition at a reduced price around the holidays shouldn't hold their breath. Zelnick indicated Take-Two has no plans to discount GTA 6 for Black Friday or Christmas, consistent with the company's long-standing approach of holding firm on pricing for its biggest releases.

The Bigger Picture

The pre-order numbers arrive alongside a string of strong signals for Take-Two heading into GTA 6's release. The publisher recently confirmed pre-orders have "gone much better than expected," and the news follows closely on the heels of the announcement that Grand Theft Auto VI: An Extended Look will premiere on Netflix on August 27 — a move Zelnick teased as "worth watching" without giving away specifics.

Whether the early Ultimate Edition surge holds up once the game actually launches on November 19 remains to be seen, but for now, Take-Two's math is simple: the fans who can't wait are the fans willing to pay the most.

Grand Theft Auto Online players are opening their wallets more than ever, even as sales of the base game GTA V show clear signs of slowing down. That's the picture painted by Take-Two Interactive's latest quarterly earnings presentation, delivered to investors on Friday morning.

Shark Cards Keep Selling, Even as GTA V's Growth Stalls

According to Take-Two, recurring spending in GTA Online — the category that covers Shark Card purchases and other in-game transactions — grew by 3% during the quarter. Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick also confirmed that GTA+, Rockstar's subscription service, is "thriving" in terms of new member sign-ups.

It's a notable contrast to the trajectory of GTA V itself. Take-Two revealed that the game has not yet crossed the 235 million lifetime copies sold mark that had been expected by this point. GTA V hit the 230 million milestone back in May, and had been adding roughly 5 million copies sold every quarter — a pace it maintained in every quarter but this one and a single quarter the year before. Even so, GTA V remains one of the most-downloaded PS5 titles on a monthly basis, more than a decade after its original release.

Rockstar Still Investing Heavily in GTA Online

Asked directly whether Rockstar still needs to pour significant resources into keeping GTA Online running, Zelnick confirmed that it does — and that the studio has no plans to change course. The comments suggest Rockstar intends to keep supporting the live-service title with continued investment even as attention increasingly shifts toward GTA 6.

The earnings call also arrived at a notable moment for Take-Two more broadly: the publisher officially became the world's largest publicly traded video game company this week, following its acquisition of EA.

Why It Matters

The numbers tell a familiar story for GTA Online: even as the base game's raw sales growth naturally decelerates after more than a decade on the market, the online mode's monetization keeps climbing. It's a reminder of just how central Shark Card and GTA+ revenue have become to Take-Two's bottom line — and why Rockstar continues to treat GTA Online as a live product worth ongoing investment, rather than something to be wound down ahead of GTA 6's launch.

Take-Two Interactive doesn't usually sound surprised by its own business. On Friday, it did.

Speaking on the company's Q1 Fiscal Year 2027 earnings call, CEO Strauss Zelnick described early Grand Theft Auto VI pre-order activity as "unprecedented and astonishing," a phrase he doesn't reach for lightly. GTA 6 pre-orders were only live for five days during the reporting quarter, which ran from April through June, yet Zelnick said the response was strong enough to catch even his own team off guard.

"I can say that the level of preorders is unprecedented and astonishing, and we're very grateful for that," Zelnick told analysts. "But they are so unprecedented that we just don't know how it'll translate into sales... We genuinely don't, and we just don't believe in claiming victory before it occurs."

Take-Two didn't hand over hard numbers. No units sold, no pre-order revenue breakdown by title — the company has stayed tight-lipped on specifics, even as outside estimates swirl. Analytics firm Newzoo pegged the first five days of digital pre-order spending at roughly $260 million globally, which it called a record opening pre-order week for any game in its dataset. Other estimates have floated even higher, though none of that is confirmed by Rockstar or Take-Two.

What the company did confirm: total net bookings for the quarter hit $1.39 billion, and quarterly revenue landed at $1.39 billion as well — above the $1.32-$1.37 billion range Take-Two had guided investors to expect. Zelnick attributed the beat primarily to stronger-than-expected performance from the NBA 2K and GTA franchises, with NBA 2K net bookings up 7% and GTA up 3% year-over-year.

Recurrent consumer spending — Take-Two's term for the ongoing revenue that flows in from GTA Online, NBA 2K microtransactions, mobile purchases, and similar sources between big releases — held up well too, dipping just 1% year-over-year and making up 84% of the quarter's net bookings. Mobile was the one soft spot, down 7% year-over-year, though Zelnick chalked that up to a tough comparison against last year's Color Block Jam launch rather than any deeper problem.

On pricing, Zelnick pushed back on any notion that GTA 6's standard and deluxe editions were priced wrong. "I think that Rockstar got it right in terms of the pricing of this standard edition and the pricing of the deluxe edition, and I think there's no doubt that consumers are really excited about both," he said, adding that the mix between the two tiers has been encouraging.

The strong start led Take-Two to raise its full-year guidance. The company now expects fiscal 2027 net bookings to land a few hundred million dollars above its earlier $8 billion target, with GTA 6 doing most of the heavy lifting. For context, that full-year number implies GTA 6 alone will need to generate somewhere in the neighborhood of $1.3 to $1.5 billion in net bookings in the weeks following its November 19 launch — a target that, based on Friday's commentary, Take-Two now sounds confident it can clear.

Zelnick also touched on marketing plans ahead of launch, teasing more surprises to come. "Rockstar is known for trying new things and innovating, and I am hopeful you will see more innovations," he said, pointing to Thursday's news that a Grand Theft Auto VI: An Extended Look will premiere on Netflix on August 27 at 3 p.m. ET / 8 p.m. BST — an unusual venue for a Rockstar reveal, and a sign the studio is willing to break from its usual playbook as launch day approaches.

GTA 6 is still set to release November 19 on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.

Rockstar Games has released a fresh piece of key art for Grand Theft Auto VI just weeks ahead of the game's next major reveal, giving fans their first proper look at protagonists Jason and Lucia together outside of a gas station.

The artwork, officially titled "Jason and Lucia: The Heist" (with the underlying file named "Jason and Lucia Robbery"), depicts the pair standing in front of a petrol station and arrives alongside confirmation of what is effectively GTA 6 Trailer 3 — though Rockstar is branding it as Grand Theft Auto VI: An Extended Look. Multiple versions of the image have been made available, including both logo and logo-free variants across several aspect ratios, giving fans flexibility to use the art as wallpaper or social media banners regardless of device.

A Netflix-first premiere

The bigger story tied to this art drop is where fans will be able to watch the new footage first. In a surprising move, Rockstar has partnered with Netflix to give the streaming service exclusive early access to the extended gameplay look. The trailer is set to premiere on Thursday, August 27th at 3PM ET / 8PM BST — a full six hours before it becomes available anywhere else.

That head start means anyone hoping to be among the very first to see the new footage will need an active Netflix subscription, a notable shift in how Rockstar has traditionally rolled out marketing materials for the game.

What's next

With the countdown to August 27th now underway, expect a fresh wave of speculation over what the extended gameplay look will reveal — from mission structure to map details to further glimpses of Vice City. In the meantime, the new artwork gives fans something to dissect and share while they wait.

Grand Theft Auto VI remains set for release on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.

Rockstar Games has finally broken its silence on the next major look at Grand Theft Auto VI, confirming both a date and a genuinely unexpected venue for the reveal. Rather than dropping the footage straight to its own channels, Rockstar is handing the exclusive premiere to Netflix — a first for the studio, and a sign of just how far its marketing partnerships have expanded ahead of the game's launch.

An Extended Look, Streaming First

According to a newswire post on Rockstar's official site, the video — titled "Grand Theft Auto VI: An Extended Look" — will debut on Netflix at 3pm ET / 8pm BST on Thursday, August 27th. Netflix has already stood up a dedicated landing page for the premiere, complete with a reminder feature so subscribers don't miss the drop. The listing simply teases an extended look at "the next evolution" of the franchise.

It's a striking move. Trailers for a Rockstar release have always lived on YouTube and Rockstar's own site as a matter of course; routing the first watch through a subscription streaming service is new territory, and it says something about the scale of the cross-promotional deals now being built around GTA 6.

Not a Netflix Subscriber? You'll Wait Six Hours

Fans without Netflix accounts aren't shut out entirely, but they will be waiting. Rockstar confirmed the footage will land on its YouTube channel and website later the same day, at 9pm ET — a full six hours after the Netflix debut. That gap has already drawn criticism online, with a number of fans annoyed that access to the footage now effectively hinges on a streaming subscription, even if only temporarily.

A Teaser to Tide Fans Over

Alongside the announcement, Rockstar released a short teaser clip giving another glimpse of protagonists Jason and Lucia, paired with new artwork. It's a brief appetizer rather than substantial new footage, but it's the clearest visual confirmation yet that the full extended look is close.

With a firm date now locked in, the countdown to August 27th is officially on — whether fans choose to watch it via Netflix first or hold out for Rockstar's own upload six hours later.

Rockstar Games has rolled its GTA Online weekly update into the second half of the Summer Heist Event, and this stretch — running August 6th through 12th — is shaping up to be the more lucrative of the two weeks. The headline draw is the return of the Panther Statue, one of the rarest and most valuable finds in the game, alongside a guaranteed million-dollar giveaway for anyone who simply logs in.

The Panther Statue Is Back

For players chasing big paydays, this is the week to run The Cayo Perico Heist. Rockstar is guaranteeing that the Panther Statue — normally a rare pull — will appear as the primary target on your first playthrough of the heist during the event window. Escaping with it isn't just about the payout, either: successfully completing the heist finale with the statue in hand also unlocks the exclusive Panther Tour Jacket.

The statue has a reputation for good reason. With a full four-player crew, a successful run pulling the Panther Statue can pay out somewhere in the neighborhood of GTA$4.19 million, making it one of the single biggest scores available anywhere in GTA Online right now.

Rockstar is sweetening the Cayo Perico loop further by bringing back Assault on Cayo Perico and Cayo Perico Survival for the week, both offering bonus rewards, while Motor Wars (Cayo Perico) and Shipwrecks continue paying out double GTA$ and RP.

Free GTA$1,000,000 Just for Logging In

As part of Rockstar's End of Summer Giveaway, any player who logs into GTA Online between August 6th and August 12th will receive a free GTA$1,000,000, delivered within 72 hours — no missions, heists, or purchases required. Logging in during the window also nets a handful of cosmetic extras: the Sunset Glow Necklace and Blue and Pink Glow Shades.

Kortz Center Heist Gets a Refresh

The Kortz Center Heist — Rockstar's newer art-heist activity — is rotating in a fresh set of Primary Target paintings for the week. The heist's first-completion bonus has also been reset, and pulling off a run without dying nets an extra GTA$400,000 on top of whatever artwork you walk away with. As always, stolen paintings can either be sold off for a quick profit or hung in your Mansion for players building out a collection.

On the technical side, Rockstar quietly shipped a batch of fixes for the Kortz Center Heist finale this week, tightening up several stealth and detection issues players had been reporting — including guards being alerted without any clear trigger, a camera near the loading bay that could spot players in disguise, and a security camera in the hedge maze that could go invisible mid-mission.

The Rest of This Week's Update

• FIB Priority File: This week's file is The Project Breakaway File, which pays out double as part of the standard Priority File rotation.

• Casino Wheel: The Lucky Wheel's top prize this week is the Declasse Drift Tampa ($995,000 from Legendary Motorsport). GTA+ members get two spins every 24 hours instead of one.

• LS Car Meet: Win four days of Car Meet Races in a row to unlock the Coil Raiden ($1,375,000 from Legendary Motorsport) as a Prize Ride.

• Premium Test Ride: The Übermacht Sentinel XS is available to test this week on PS5, Xbox, and PC.

• Discounts: Notable markdowns include 60% off the Karin Kuruma and Kuruma (Armored), 40% off Benny's Original Motor Works conversions, 30% off the Lampadati Toro, Albany Cavalcade XL, Canis Castigator, HVY Vetir, Pegassi Reaper, Dinka Kanjo SJ, Brute Armored Boxville, Progen Itali GTB, BF Weevil, Obey 8F Drafter, and Pfister Comet Safari — plus 50% off the Heavy Rifle and 30% off the Combat Shotgun for GTA+ members.

More Community Events on the Horizon

Rockstar has also hinted at what's coming next. In a message sent to select community members, the studio teased "more community events including a celebration of Los Santos' most beloved brands, Twitch Drops, GTA Online businesses taking center stage, and much more" in the weeks ahead — suggesting the Summer Heist Event is just the opening act for a busier summer content push.

The next GTA Online weekly update is expected to land on August 13th, 2026, at roughly 10 AM BST / 5 AM ET.

Rockstar Games has pushed out yet another server-side update for GTA Online, this time targeting a fresh batch of bugs plaguing The Kortz Center Heist finale. The fix arrived alongside the Cayo Summer Special Event Week, which runs through August 5th and includes an End of Summer Giveaway, and lands just days after the previous round of finale-focused hotfixes.

This is now the second background patch in short succession aimed at cleaning up issues introduced with the Kortz Center Heist update, part of a broader pattern of post-launch fixes Rockstar has been rolling out since the DLC dropped. Background updates don't require a download — they're applied server-side — and have become a routine part of the aftermath following major GTA Online content drops.

What Got Fixed

According to patch notes published by Rockstar Support for July 30th, the update addresses a long list of finale-specific problems, including:

• Guards being alerted with no apparent trigger during the finale

• The hedge maze guard near the sewer exit alerting others when stunned

• A cutscene delay when entering via the skylight

• Guards being alerted by player noise inside the hedge maze

• CCTV dialogue continuing to play after the system was disabled by EMP

• A moving camera becoming hidden during the mission

• Guard blips showing a shorter detection range on the minimap than intended

• The CCTV footage deletion prompt appearing even after footage was already deleted

• Players respawning near the Kortz Center despite dying elsewhere

• NOOSE agent armor being tougher than intended

• Players in disguise still getting spotted by cameras at the loading bay entrance

• Security room guards being alerted too easily

• A guard spawning behind players who enter through the staff entrance

Outside of the heist itself, the patch also fixes an issue in the Mission Creator where prop spawning options failed to reappear after returning from Test Mode.

More Patches Likely on the Way

These fixes come on top of the sizeable list of bugs already addressed in the full 1.73 Kortz Center Heist patch notes. Given how frequently background updates have been rolling out over the past couple of weeks, more are likely on the way as Rockstar continues ironing out issues from this summer's DLC.

Rockstar has kicked off a new GTA Online Weekly Update, and this time the spotlight is firmly on Cayo Perico. Running from July 30th through August 5th, the "Cayo Summer Special" event week reshuffles several recurring modes and sweetens the payouts on the island, while also setting up a bonus stretch for players once the week wraps.

Motor Wars Gets a Cayo Perico Twist

The headline change this week is the boosted payout structure for Motor Wars, which is running exclusively on Cayo Perico and paying out double GTA$ for the duration of the event. It's a limited-time shift that gives players a reason to revisit the island beyond the heist itself.

Free Gear and a Summer Send-Off

Logging in during the event unlocks a trio of cosmetics — the Tropical Bangles, Tropical Glow Necklace, and Pacific Standard Sweater — at no cost. Players who complete The Fleeca Heist Finale within the event window also earn the Fleeca Circuit livery for the Übermacht Cypher within 72 hours.

Rockstar is also teeing up what it's calling the End of Summer Giveaway, which runs August 6th–12th, immediately after this event week closes. Simply logging in during that stretch nets a flat GTA$1,000,000 bonus, delivered within three days. As part of the same rollout, the Panther Statue returns to El Rubio's vault in The Cayo Perico Heist starting August 6th, giving heist crews a reason to run it again for the extra payout.

Kortz Center Heist Refreshed

The Kortz Center Heist is getting a shake-up of its own, with new Primary Targets rotating in and the heist's first-completion bonus resetting for anyone who hasn't already claimed it. Players who pull off a death-free run this week earn an additional GTA$400,000 on top of the usual rewards. The new targets are:

• A Cast of Characters

• Mi O Melee

• To Beat About the Bush

Mansion Owners Cash In on the Fine Art Collector's Program

Anyone who owns a mansion and logged into GTA Online between June 17th and July 13th qualifies for the Fine Art Collector's Program's Elitist Tier rewards, available through August 5th. That haul includes a GTA$1,000,000 discount on the Art Studio, a free Vault Keypad Art Studio upgrade, the Kortz Center Heist Primary Target painting "The Outcome of Endeavour," the "The Crescent Tense" mansion sculpture, and a free Western Company Annihilator Stealth, claimable from Warstock Cache & Carry.

This week's FIB Priority File, the Fine Art File, also pays double — a natural companion to the art-heavy rewards track.

Vehicles, Robberies, and Podium Prizes

The usual weekly vehicle rotation is in full swing alongside the event content:

• Salvage Yard Robberies: The Gangbanger Robbery yields a Pfister Comet S2 Cabrio with the sought-after LS Pounders plate, The McTony Robbery offers an Invetero Coquette D10, and The Podium Robbery rewards a Vapid Dominator GTT.

• Podium Vehicle: The Casino's lucky wheel is offering the Übermacht Cypher ($1,550,000 at Legendary Motorsport), with GTA+ members getting two spins every 24 hours instead of one.

• Prize Ride Challenge: Placing top five in an LS Car Meet Race four days running unlocks the Karin Boor ($1,310,000 at Southern San Andreas Super Autos).

• Premium Test Ride: The Överflöd Entity MT, available across PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC Enhanced.

• Test Track Vehicles: Imponte Ruiner ZZ-8, Truffade Adder, and Vapid Uranus LozSpeed.

• Luxury Autos (Rockford Hills): Albany Merula and Ocelot E-Stride.

• Premium Deluxe Motorsport (Simeon's): Classique Broadway, Dinka Blista Kanjo, Dinka Chavos V6, Invetero Coquette D1, and Truffade Z-Type.

Gun Van, Races, and the Weekly Challenge

This week's Gun Van is stocked with the Railgun, Service Carbine, Machete, Combat Pistol, Compact Grenade Launcher, and Tactical SMG, alongside the standard throwables and armor tiers (with boosted drop rates for GTA+ subscribers across the board).

Racers have three routes to chase this week: the Premium Race "Crossing Paths," the HSW Time Trial "Textile City," and the standard Time Trial "Ocean Highway." The Weekly Challenge tasks players with winning two Adversary Modes for a reward of GTA$100,000 and the Manor Tie-dye Tee.

Discounts and Bonus Payouts

Rockstar is running a fairly deep discount slate this week, led by 60% off Paleto Bay Businesses, the Galaxy Super Yacht (including modifications), and both the armored and standard Karin Kuruma. High-End Apartments and Benny's Conversions are 50% off, while a batch of vehicles — including the Truffade Adder, Truffade Z-Type, and Imponte Ruiner ZZ-8 — sit at 30% off.

On the payout side, bonuses stack up across Shipwrecks (2x GTA$ & RP), Motor Wars on Cayo Perico (2x GTA$), A Superyacht Life missions (2x GTA$ & RP), Community Mission Series (3x GTA$ & RP), and first-time completions of both The Fleeca Heist Finale and The Pacific Standard Heist (2x GTA$ each).

With the event closing out on August 5th and the End of Summer Giveaway picking up the very next day, Rockstar isn't giving players much of a reason to log off this week — or next.

Rockstar Games has quietly drawn a line under an era of its mobile catalog, confirming that its titles on iOS now require iOS 17 or later to receive updates and official technical support. The change was outlined in a new support notice on Rockstar's customer service site and first reported by RockstarINTEL.

What's Changing

According to <cite index="2-1">Rockstar's own support page, support for its games on iOS now requires iOS version 17 or greater, and devices still running iOS 16 or below will no longer receive game updates or technical support.</cite> Importantly, this isn't a kill switch. The games themselves won't stop working, and nothing is being removed from anyone's device.

Rockstar's FAQ clarifies that players can still <cite index="4-1">download and play their existing iOS titles on versions earlier than iOS 17, but they won't receive any further game updates and won't be able to get technical support from Rockstar going forward.</cite> For anyone affected, the company's guidance is simply to update their device to iOS 17 if their hardware allows it.

Why It Matters

The timing is notable because Rockstar has been unusually active in the mobile space over the past couple of years, not scaling it back. The studio brought Red Dead Redemption and the GTA Trilogy — The Definitive Edition to phones and tablets, and older mobile ports like Bully, Max Payne, and San Andreas received surprise updates within the last year or so. A number of these titles, plus Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories and Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, are also part of the GTA+ subscription's mobile lineup.

That backdrop makes the iOS 17 cutoff feel less like Rockstar stepping away from mobile and more like routine platform housekeeping — the kind of minimum-spec bump most long-running live-service and ported titles eventually require as Apple's own OS moves forward and older hardware ages out.

The Catch for Some Players

The wrinkle is that not every affected user can simply tap "update." Some iPhones are permanently capped at iOS 16 and are not eligible for the iOS 17 upgrade at all, meaning there's no path back to official support short of buying newer hardware. For owners of paid titles like Grand Theft Auto III, Vice City, and San Andreas on older devices, that's a harder pill to swallow than a typical "please update your app" notice, since money changed hands for software that may now quietly stop receiving fixes on their specific device.

Rockstar hasn't given a precise date for when this policy takes effect or signaled any further changes beyond ending updates and support — the company's notice points affected users toward Apple's own instructions for upgrading to iOS 17 as the recommended next step.

The Bigger Picture

Dropping support for a five-generation-old mobile OS isn't unusual in the games industry; maintaining parallel builds for aging operating systems is expensive, and few studios want engineering time tied up supporting hardware from years past. What makes this one worth watching is simply the contrast with Rockstar's recent mobile momentum — a company actively expanding its phone and tablet lineup while simultaneously trimming the tail end of devices it will keep updating.

Rockstar Games appears to be taking a more hands-on role in the FiveM modding scene, according to a report from RockstarINTEL. The outlet reports that Rockstar has been supporting community-made projects for use on FiveM servers, based on information shared with FiveM content creators.

A Push Beyond GTA Roleplay

Rockstar and Cfx.re, the organization behind FiveM, are reportedly working to elevate "Non-GTA RP" projects within the platform. While most players associate FiveM almost exclusively with GTA roleplay servers, the platform actually hosts a much wider range of server types and content that has nothing to do with RP — and plenty of players simply aren't interested in that format.

The apparent aim is to give server owners more "pick up and go" game modes they can install as a base and then customize further, making it easier to get varied content running quickly.

Enter StreetKings

The first concrete example tied to this initiative is something called the StreetKings Framework — a progression-based experience drawing inspiration from Rockstar's own Midnight Club series and the broader "golden age" of arcade racing games. The core idea is that a player's car becomes an extension of their identity, with everything unlocked through actual play rather than handed out.

According to the report, the framework is built out with:

• Custom cinematic racing camera angles

• Full controller support

• Dynamic, unscripted police chases

• Global leaderboards

• Events players can discover organically in the world

• A custom in-game phone system

• Vehicle upgrades, achievements, multiple race types, and tuning shops

The goal, per the outlet, was to build a fast-paced arcade racing experience that stands apart from anything else currently on FiveM.

Who Made It

StreetKings was built by two established FiveM creators, Envi-Scripts and 919Design, who have each been producing FiveM content for several years. The two reportedly spent months developing the framework before pitching it directly to Rockstar and Cfx.re, receiving an enthusiastic response.

From there, Rockstar backed the project's development, and it has since been made an official txAdmin Recipe, now sitting in FiveM's "Popular Recipes" section. The FiveM team also gave the pair a platform to launch a companion project — the official StreetKings server — which has been added to the "Featured Servers" list on the FiveM homepage. A launch trailer for the server has also been released.

What It Signals

If accurate, this marks a notable shift: rather than simply tolerating third-party mods, Rockstar and Cfx.re seem willing to actively promote and platform them through official channels like txAdmin Recipes and the Featured Servers list. For a modding scene that has historically operated somewhat at arm's length from its parent studio, official backing — and homepage placement — is a meaningful vote of confidence, and could encourage more non-RP creators to pitch original concepts rather than working in the shadow of GTA Online.

Rockstar Games has quietly cut off access to GTA Online's gambling-style minigames for players in Australia, a change that's already generating frustration within the game's community.

Players logging in from Australia who try to use features at the Diamond Casino & Resort are now met with a simple "This feature is not available for you" message. According to dataminer and community member Tex2, the affected features include:

• House

• 3 Card Poker

• Inside Track

• The Lucky Wheel

• Blackjack

• Roulette

• Slots

Notably, this applies even to the Lucky Wheel, a feature that doesn't require players to spend any real-world or in-game currency to spin — a detail that's added to fans' frustration since even the free, low-stakes elements of the casino are now off-limits.

Not the First Country to Be Affected

Australia isn't breaking new ground here — it joins a long list of countries where GTA Online's casino content has been restricted since The Diamond Casino & Resort launched back in 2019. Countries including Portugal, Poland, and Greece faced similar restrictions when the update first rolled out, with varying degrees of access depending on local gambling laws.

The core issue comes down to regulation, not Rockstar's own preference. Different countries enforce gambling laws at different speeds and with different thresholds, and simulated casino games — even ones using fictional in-game currency — can fall under those rules. Some regions allow access to the games but restrict players from using "Paid Cash" (money bought through Shark Cards) to buy chips, while still permitting play with "Earned Cash" accumulated through normal gameplay. In Australia's case, it appears the restriction goes further, blocking the features outright regardless of currency type.

What This Could Mean for GTA 6

The bigger implication here is forward-looking. If GTA 6 includes any gambling-adjacent content similar to the Diamond Casino, it's reasonable to expect the same regulatory patchwork to apply — meaning Australian players (and others in similarly regulated markets) could see those features locked from day one rather than added later.

For now, Rockstar hasn't issued any official statement explaining the change or confirming whether it's tied to new Australian regulatory action, so the exact trigger behind the timing remains unclear. What is clear is that this is largely viewed as a compliance decision rather than a choice made by Rockstar itself, following the same regulatory pressure that's shaped casino access in other countries since 2019.

Grand Theft Auto 6 appears to still be tracking toward its November 19 release, and fans may not have to wait much longer for fresh details. According to a gaming insider, news on the game should surface next month, though some fans remain uneasy about the release timeline given the long stretch of silence since pre-orders opened.

What the insider is saying

The claims come from insider NateTheHate, who has built a reputation for reliable Rockstar-related leaks. In a recent post, he reiterated his belief that GTA 6 will launch in November as scheduled, based on what he currently knows. He followed that up by saying he anticipates a meaningful amount of information about the game to emerge in August.

This isn't a new stance for him — he's previously suggested that only some kind of major, unforeseen setback could realistically push the game past its November 19 date. Given his track record, that consistency is giving some fans a bit more confidence.

Anything else on the Rockstar front?

When pressed for additional Rockstar news, the insider said it's still too early to share anything concrete, though he hinted he might have more to say as certain unspecified projects get closer to reality. Speculation naturally points to things like a next-gen version of Red Dead Redemption 2, which he's floated before. Meanwhile, the previously rumored Switch 2 port hasn't seen any fresh movement.

The bigger picture

Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick reaffirmed last week that the company still expects the game to hit its stated release date. Still, with over a year having passed since Rockstar last shared anything official about GTA 6, some fans worry a delay into 2027 could be looming. For now, though, there's no concrete signal pointing that way — just a long stretch of quiet that's testing everyone's patience as summer rolls on.

Rockstar Games has pushed out yet another behind-the-scenes patch for GTA Online, this time targeting lingering issues from The Kortz Center Heist update. The fix arrived alongside this week's Event Week content, which introduced the new Pegassi Ignus Pursuit vehicle, and follows an earlier round of server-side fixes the studio issued shortly after the heist update first launched.

Since The Kortz Center Heist DLC dropped this summer, Rockstar has been steadily cleaning up a string of bugs that frustrated players. One of the more notable problems involved a helicopter sequence during the heist that could block players from finishing the mission entirely — a fix players will likely welcome, given how heist-ending glitches tend to derail entire sessions for a crew.

Because this is a background update, players won't need to download anything. Rockstar applies these changes server-side, which is standard practice following a major GTA Online content drop, so nothing about the rollout itself is unusual.

What Got Fixed

According to Rockstar Support's patch notes for July 23rd, the update addressed several specific issues:

The Kortz Center Heist

• Mansion plaques and trophies were showing up as unlocked when they shouldn't have been

• The camera in the Exhibition Hall wasn't moving properly during the heist finale

• The Stealth Annihilator was dropping to the ground unexpectedly when players got the rappel prompt during the finale

General fixes

• Grace Whitney wasn't fleeing as intended during the Most Wanted – Whitney mission

• KnoWay supervisors weren't leaving the area after players collected all three trash bags in KnoWay Out – Trash Talking

• The Velum aircraft was behaving erratically and causing mission failure during Oscar Guzman Flies Again – Setup: Ammunition

These fixes are separate from the much larger batch of changes included in the original patch 1.73 notes for The Kortz Center Heist update, suggesting Rockstar is still working through issues that slipped past initial testing.

Given the pattern of recent months, more quiet server-side patches are likely in the pipeline as Rockstar continues to iron out problems introduced by the summer update.

For most of its history, the Grand Theft Auto franchise has treated modders as adversaries rather than allies. Rockstar has a long track record of sending cease-and-desist letters to third-party modding platforms, and GTA 5 — nearly 13 years into its life cycle — still doesn't have so much as a Steam Workshop page. On paper, that history makes betting on GTA 6 modding support look like a losing wager.

But dig past the surface-level pessimism, and the evidence starts pointing the other way. While a full-blown Steam Workshop still looks unlikely, there are real signals that GTA 6 could end up being the most customizable entry the series has ever produced — just through a different door than fans might expect.

Rockstar's Big Bet on User-Generated Content

The clearest signal is Rockstar and Take-Two's evident push toward user-generated content, or UGC. GTA Online has already started rolling out missions specifically designed to teach players how to build their own content within the game, a clear precursor to whatever UGC tools are planned for GTA 6. It's a strategy that looks a lot less like modding-as-nuisance and a lot more like modding-as-feature — provided it happens on Rockstar's terms.

The FiveM Acquisition Changed Everything

The strongest piece of evidence, though, predates GTA 6 discussion entirely: Rockstar's 2023 acquisition of Cfx.re, the studio behind FiveM and RedM. Those two platforms have long been the backbone of GTA Online's massive roleplay server scene, and for years Rockstar treated them as a legal target rather than a partner. Instead, the company bought them outright.

That decision looks even more deliberate in hindsight. In January 2026, Rockstar launched the Cfx Marketplace, an official storefront for community-made mods built on the infrastructure it now owns. The move came paired with a less fan-friendly footnote — cease-and-desist orders sent to rival modding platforms that Rockstar now considers competitors to its own, sanctioned marketplace.

Taken together, the message is fairly clear: Rockstar isn't opposed to modding. It's opposed to modding it doesn't control or profit from.

Don't Expect Full Modding Support on Day One

Even with that shift in philosophy, there are practical hurdles. Deep modding traditionally requires PC access, since consoles are locked down by design and don't allow the kind of file-level customization PC players take for granted. That likely means UGC tools will initially function more like an in-game mission editor than a true modding suite, at least until GTA 6 arrives on PC — which almost everyone expects to happen eventually, even if it isn't part of the initial console launch.

Once the PC version does land, more traditional modding will likely open up considerably. The bigger unknown is how far Rockstar is willing to push customization on consoles. If GTA 6's engine was built with UGC flexibility baked in from the ground up, some observers have floated comparisons to Roblox-style creation tools — a scenario that would represent a dramatic departure from how the series has always operated. That's speculative territory for now, but it's not baseless given Rockstar's recent moves.

The Bottom Line

All signs point toward GTA 6 supporting mods in some official capacity — Rockstar wouldn't have spent money acquiring FiveM's parent company if it planned to keep locking modders out. The real question isn't whether GTA 6 will support mods, but how expansive that support turns out to be, and whether console players get a meaningful slice of it or have to wait for a PC release to see the full picture.

A fresh GTA Online Weekly Update has kicked off in the wake of The Kortz Center Heist content drop, rotating in new vehicles, heist targets, and bonuses for the week running July 23 through 29.

New Vehicles

Two new rides anchor this week's update. Law enforcement roleplayers and pursuit-vehicle collectors can now pick up the Police Pegassi Ingus Pursuit/Interceptor for $4,376,250 at Warstock Cache & Carry. Meanwhile, the Grotti Veleno GT has opened up to the general player base, priced at $3,000,000 through Legendary Motorsport.

Login Reward

Players who log in this week will automatically receive the Knuckleduster Tee.

Kortz Center Heist Refresh

The Kortz Center Heist gets a new rotation of Primary Targets, and its first-completion bonus has been reset — meaning players can earn it again. Completing the heist without dying nets an extra $400,000. This week's targets are:

• The Outcome of Endeavour (Fine Art Collectors only)

• Winter

• Nowhere in Particular

• I Hear Voices

• I, Fruit

Fine Art Collector's Program Payout

Mansion owners who logged into GTA Online between June 17 and July 13 are now eligible for Elitist Tier rewards, claimable through August 5. The haul includes a $1,000,000 discount on the Art Studio, a free Vault Keypad Art Studio upgrade, the Outcome of Endeavour painting, the Crescent Tense sculpture, and a free Western Company Annihilator Stealth (claimable from Warstock Cache & Carry).

FIB Priority File and Salvage Yard Robberies

This week's FIB Priority File is "The Brute Force File," which pays double as usual for Priority Files. Over at the Salvage Yard, the robbery rotation includes the Grotti Stinger TT (Podium Robbery), Übermacht Cypher (Gangbanger Robbery), and Canis Seminole Frontier (Cargo Ship Robbery).

Casino, Car Meet, and Test Drives

The Casino podium vehicle this week is the Vapid Ratel ($1,873,000 from Southern San Andreas Super Autos), with GTA+ members now getting two lucky wheel spins per day instead of one. Over at the LS Car Meet, placing in the top five of a race for three consecutive days unlocks the Dinka Postlude ($1,310,000) as a Prize Ride.

The Premium Test Ride vehicle is the Grotti Brioso R/A, available across PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC Enhanced. Test Track vehicles this week are the Dewbauchee JB 700W, Pegassi Tempesta, and Pegassi Torero. Over at Legendary Motorsport's Luxury Autos showroom in Rockford Hills, the Benefactor Läufer and Grotti Veleno GT are on display, while Simeon's Auto Shop is stocking the Benefactor Vorschlaghammer, Declasse Tulip M-100, Pfister 811, and Vapid Retinue Mk II.

Gun Van, Races, and Time Trials

The Gun Van's rotating stock includes the Combat Shotgun, Compact EMP Launcher, Military Rifle, Compact Grenade Launcher, Flare Gun, and Knuckle Dusters, alongside throwables (Pipe Bombs, Proximity Mines, Sticky Bombs) and the full armor tier lineup.

This week's Premium Race is Cutting Coroners, the HSW Time Trial is set in Sandy Shores, and the standard Time Trial takes place at the Observatory.

Discounts

• 50% off: Chameleon Paints, McKenzie Field Hangar

• 30% off: Benefactor Vorschlaghammer, Declasse Tulip M-100, Dewbauchee JB 700W, Enus Windsor Drop, Karin Technical, Pegassi Tempesta, Pegassi Torero, Pfister 811, Vapid Retinue Mk II

Bonus GTA$ and RP

• 5x on HSW Race Series

• 4x on Associate and Bodyguard Salaries

• 3x on Overtime Rumble

• 3x on Community Series

• 2x on First-Time Completion of The Titan Job

Weekly Challenge

Complete The Kortz Center Heist without dying to earn $400,000.

GTA+ subscribers can check the full list of this month's membership perks separately, as Rockstar continues rolling out the July benefits package alongside the weekly rotation.

The group of current and former Rockstar Games employees seeking formal recognition as a union has reached a significant milestone in their campaign, announcing their first official meeting with Rockstar management.

The Rockstar Games Workers Union (RGWU) shared the update in a social media post, revealing that the sit-down took place shortly after the group solidified its position as the largest video game studio union in Europe. Its membership reportedly spans several dozen former staff who were dismissed last year, alongside what could be hundreds of current Rockstar employees.

According to the union, the meeting produced real movement. The RGWU says it successfully argued that "workers' voices need to be heard and that we can collaborate to achieve this," and came away with a commitment from Rockstar to build out a structured roadmap aimed at speeding up the negotiation process. The two sides are now also working toward defining a "bargaining unit" — essentially, the scope of employees the union would be authorized to represent.

The RGWU was clear that voluntary cooperation isn't the only path forward. In its statement, the group noted that if talks over a voluntary recognition agreement stall, it's prepared to pursue statutory recognition — a legal route that would compel Rockstar to recognize the union once it can demonstrate it represents a sufficient share of the workforce.

Among the union's core demands are an end to crunch culture, greater pay transparency, more flexible working arrangements, protection from layoffs, and restrictions on the use of AI in development.

The meeting arrives against a turbulent backdrop for Rockstar's labor relations. The company has separately been accused of fostering crunch conditions and unfair pay practices, and recently suffered a legal setback in its case against the employees it terminated last year. Adding to the pressure, lawmakers have accused Rockstar of attempting to obstruct the legal proceedings tied to that dispute altogether.

For now, the milestone meeting represents the clearest sign yet that organized labor efforts inside one of gaming's biggest studios are gaining real traction ahead of GTA 6's launch — though whether that translates into a finalized agreement remains to be seen.

With GTA 6 now out, one lingering question fans keep circling back to is whether cheat codes will make the cut. Rockstar's growing emphasis on GTA Online and user-generated content has some wondering if the classic cheat system still has a place in the series — or whether it's being quietly phased out in favor of a more curated, monetized experience.

There's no official confirmation either way. But the franchise's own track record gives us plenty to work with.

The Case for Cheats Returning

Cheat codes have been a series staple since the very first Grand Theft Auto in 1997. Early implementations were rough, but the feature persisted, and starting with GTA 3, cheats became a fixture of every mainline entry that followed. That's an unbroken streak spanning nearly three decades — strong enough precedent that most fans expect single-player cheats to carry over into GTA 6 as well.

Some have pointed to alleged references to cheat systems found in the 2024 GTA 6 leaks as further evidence, though that claim traces back to a single unverified source and hasn't been corroborated elsewhere. It's worth treating as speculation rather than confirmation.

Don't Expect a Money Cheat

Even if cheats do return, one is unlikely to make it in: an instant-cash cheat. Rockstar left this out of GTA 5, forcing players to grind missions or exploit the stock market during the assassination storyline to build wealth quickly. Given that history, GTA 6 will most likely follow the same approach — no shortcuts to a fat bank account. The hope among fans is that GTA 6 offers better-paying, more engaging missions so grinding for cash doesn't feel like such a slog this time around.

GTA Online Is a Different Story

Whatever happens with single-player cheats, GTA Online almost certainly won't get any. Rockstar has never allowed cheat codes in the multiplayer mode, largely to preserve competitive integrity and protect its economy of in-game purchases. Players may still stumble on exploits here and there, but Rockstar has historically cracked down on those with bans, so anyone tempted to use one should tread carefully.

Bottom Line

Nothing is confirmed, but history is a strong indicator: single-player cheats are likely to return in some form, a money cheat almost certainly won't, and GTA Online will remain cheat-free as always.

Rockstar Games has quietly rolled out a server-side patch for GTA Online, addressing a string of bugs that surfaced after last week's launch of The Kortz Center Heist update. The fixes, dated July 16th and 17th, arrived without requiring players to download anything — Rockstar pushed the changes through a background update, which the studio typically uses to resolve issues discovered shortly after a major DLC drop.

What's Been Fixed

The patch tackles several problems that had been frustrating the community since the summer update went live. Among the highlights:

• Epic Games account holders who ran into an "Activation Required" error after downloading the update should no longer see that message.

• Players who completed the criteria for the Fine Art Collector program but never received their rewards should now be credited properly.

• A payout bug affecting repeat completions of Doomsday Heist Acts I, II, and III has been corrected, restoring the rewards to their intended values.

• Mansion Trophies and Plaques that were getting swapped between players have been fixed.

• Several vehicle-crashing issues tied to actor-controlled AI vehicles — including Oscar Guzman's Velum 5-Seater and Pernell Moss's Annihilator Stealth — have been resolved. The Annihilator Stealth in particular was failing to hold its hover during the Kortz Center Heist, which caused it to skip the rappelling sequence and crash outright.

• Missing equipment inside the Art Studio, used as the staging ground for the new heist, has also been restored.

Quick Turnaround

Community data-miner Tex2, a regular source of early patch details, was first to share notes on the background update. Rockstar's response time has been notably fast this cycle, with fixes landing roughly 48 to 72 hours after issues were first reported — quicker than the studio's usual turnaround for post-launch bug fixes.

Background patches like this one are routine for GTA Online following a major content drop, since they let Rockstar resolve problems server-side without forcing players through another client update. Given the scale of The Kortz Center Heist update — which introduced the new art gallery heist, Art Studio mansion upgrades, and a wave of vehicle and Mission Creator changes — some early hiccups were expected, and this cleanup pass appears to be Rockstar's first major response to community feedback since launch.

After more than a year of near-silence, the team behind FiveM has confirmed that the Enhanced-edition version of the popular modding platform is about to launch. Cfx.re, the group that develops FiveM, shared the news in a development update posted to its official forum this week, ending months of speculation from a community that had grown increasingly restless waiting for concrete details.

FiveM for GTA V Enhanced will enter early access on Tuesday, July 21st, 2026. The "early access" label is a deliberate choice — the developers acknowledged that a launch of this scale is likely to come with early hiccups, and framed the initial rollout as the start of an ongoing collaboration with server owners and players rather than a finished, polished product.

What's Changing Under the Hood

The bulk of Wednesday's post focused on the technical work that's gone into the new version, touching on networking, scripting runtimes, server-side performance, and the tools developers use to build and manage FiveM servers. It's a broad list, and it reflects just how much of the platform has reportedly been rebuilt to run on the Enhanced version of GTA V rather than the legacy release most servers still rely on.

Two changes stood out as concrete, player-facing improvements:

A redesigned installer. Setup now gives users far more control over where FiveM lives on their machine, including the ability to route cached server files to a separate folder or drive — a small but meaningful fix for anyone who's had to juggle limited disk space. The installer will also let users create desktop and Start Menu shortcuts on setup, and adds proper support for repairing or uninstalling an existing installation without digging through folders manually.

Smarter cache handling. The client will now automatically clear out cached files tied to servers that no longer serve them, cutting down on the digital clutter FiveM installs have been known to accumulate over time. Cfx.re says this is just the first step — the team is planning further additions down the line, including automatic cleanup for servers a player hasn't visited in a while, along with a dedicated cache management screen built into the game's settings menu.

Why This Has Been Such a Long Wait

FiveM for GTA V Enhanced was first announced well over a year ago, but Cfx.re has said relatively little publicly since then, a quiet stretch that fueled frustration among roleplay and mod server communities eager for a modernized platform. This week's update is the clearest signal yet that the wait is nearly over, and it comes with enough technical detail to suggest the team has been heads-down on the rebuild rather than sitting on the announcement.

Community members can expect the early access launch to be a work in progress by design. Cfx.re has framed the coming weeks as a feedback-driven process, with further refinements expected to roll out based on how the platform performs once real servers and players get their hands on it.

FiveM for GTA V Enhanced goes live in early access on July 21st, 2026.

Grand Theft Auto 6 may have already banked a quarter of a billion dollars before a single copy has shipped, according to new analysis from games industry research firm Newzoo. The report, which projects the title's first-week digital pre-order haul and models what launch week could look like in November, paints a picture of the most anticipated release in gaming history backing up its hype with real money.

The Pre-Order Numbers

Newzoo, an analytics firm that counts major publishers like Take-Two Interactive among its clients, tracked digital pre-orders across PlayStation and Xbox storefronts in six countries — the United States, United Kingdom, France, Italy, Germany, and Spain — during the final week of June, when pre-orders went live. In that window alone, GTA 6 generated roughly $180 million, which Newzoo says is the largest opening week for pre-orders it has on record. Notably, that figure excludes any physical, disc-less boxed copies sold at retail.

To estimate a global total, Newzoo extrapolated from GTA 5's console player base, noting that around 69% of that game's lifetime console audience is concentrated in the same six markets. Applying that ratio produces an estimated $260 million in worldwide pre-order revenue in the first week alone — already more than the reported production budget of GTA 5.

What Launch Week Could Look Like

Beyond pre-orders, Newzoo used the early sales trajectory to model what GTA 6's actual launch week might generate once the game arrives on November 26. The firm's projections put worldwide launch week revenue somewhere between $3.3 billion and $5.2 billion, with its central estimate landing around $4.5 billion.

That figure is built on an anticipated 51 million copies sold in the first week, at an average price of $88 per copy — a blend of the $80 standard edition and the $100 Ultimate Edition.

If those numbers hold, GTA 6 would set a new bar for entertainment launches of any kind, dwarfing opening-week totals for prior Rockstar releases and most blockbuster film debuts combined.

Grain of Salt

It's worth noting these are modeled projections from a third-party analytics firm, not confirmed sales figures from Rockstar or Take-Two. Newzoo's methodology leans heavily on extrapolating from GTA 5's historical player distribution, which assumes GTA 6 will follow a similar regional adoption pattern — a reasonable but unconfirmed bet. Actual results won't be clear until Take-Two reports post-launch earnings.

Still, even as an estimate, the numbers underscore just how much commercial weight is riding on GTA 6's November release — and how far ahead of launch that money is already coming in.

Arion Kurtaj, the hacker responsible for the massive 2022 GTA 6 gameplay leak, has been transferred from a secure psychiatric hospital to a standard prison ahead of a fresh criminal trial.

Kurtaj was convicted on multiple counts of hacking and fraud after infiltrating Rockstar's internal systems and leaking 90 clips of early GTA VI footage years before the game's release, alongside GTA V's source code. Because of his autism diagnosis and doctors' concerns that he posed a continued risk, he was handed an indefinite hospital order rather than a standard prison sentence back in early 2024. That arrangement has now come to an end.

A prison transfer, months in the making

Signs of a shakeup first surfaced back in March, when reporting emerged that Kurtaj had managed to smuggle a phone into the hospital and was bragging on Snapchat about how comfortable his stay had been. At the time, there was no official confirmation from UK authorities about what, if anything, would change as a result.

That confirmation has now arrived. BBC reporter Joe Tidy revealed that Kurtaj has been moved into a standard prison cell, where he'll stay at least until his retrial begins. Tidy noted that court-imposed reporting restrictions had prevented journalists from covering the move until July 14, when a High Court judge lifted those restrictions and cleared the way for the story to break.

What comes next

According to Tidy, Kurtaj hasn't seen the last of the courtroom. Doctors have now deemed him medically fit to stand trial, and he's set to face a traditional criminal trial in November. Given how his first brush with the justice system played out, the odds don't look to be in his favor this time around.

Rockstar Games appears to be listening. Just days after sweeping payout cuts across GTA Online's heist roster sparked a wave of community anger, the studio has made an unannounced adjustment to The Doomsday Heist that partially walks back the reductions — a sign that player pushback is already having an effect.

The Backlash That Started It All

The trouble began with the launch of The Kortz Center Heist update, which arrived alongside a broad economy overhaul that quietly slashed cash rewards across more than 20 existing heists and missions. The Cayo Perico Heist, long regarded as one of the most efficient money-makers in the game, took some of the hardest hits — its Pink Diamond primary target dropped from $1.3 million to $910,000, roughly a 30% cut. The Diamond Casino Heist and The Doomsday Heist weren't spared either, with reductions across the board landing anywhere from 20% to 40%.

Rockstar attempted to soften the blow by introducing a weekly completion bonus, giving players a payout multiplier the first time they finish select heists each week. Setup mission rewards for the Original Heists and Doomsday Heist were also increased. But for many players, it wasn't enough. The changes still meant lower ceilings on repeat runs, and since the cost of getting into these heists in the first place hadn't budged, the return on investment took a visible hit.

Players didn't hold back on social media and forums, with many pointing out how steep the cuts felt given that GTA Online is winding down ahead of GTA 6's launch. The general sentiment was that Rockstar was making it harder to earn GTA$ right as the game entered its final stretch.

Rockstar Responds

Now, as spotted by GTA community member @PLTytus, Rockstar has gone back and adjusted The Doomsday Heist without any formal announcement. The new payouts are still below where they sat before the Kortz Center Heist update landed, but the first completion of the week now pays out more than it did pre-update — a partial reversal that suggests the studio is reacting directly to the criticism.

It's a modest concession rather than a full rollback. Players are still pushing for further buffs to Cayo Perico, the Diamond Casino Heist, and the new Kortz Center Heist itself, all of which remain untouched by this latest tweak. Still, the move signals that Rockstar hasn't dismissed the backlash outright, and it raises the question of whether more adjustments could follow in the coming days or weeks.

For now, the takeaway for players is straightforward: the economy shakeup isn't necessarily final, and continued pressure from the community could shape further changes before GTA Online heads into its last chapter ahead of GTA 6.

Rockstar Games isn't done with GTA Online yet. In the wake of The Kortz Center Heist update, the studio used its latest Newswire post to drop a string of hints about what's still to come for the nine-year-old online mode — including a fresh seasonal Mission Series, more dripfed vehicles, and a Halloween refresh that's arriving within weeks.

A Heist Update That Wasn't the Finale

Plenty of fans assumed The Kortz Center Heist would be the last major content drop before GTA 6 arrives. That theory made sense on paper: last year's mansions-focused update already felt like a natural sendoff, and Rockstar has spent months signaling that its attention is shifting toward its next release. But the studio's own newest post makes clear that GTA Online's road doesn't end here.

Reception to The Kortz Center Heist itself has been mixed. The new heist missions are being well received, but changes bundled in alongside them — including nerfed heist payouts and a handful of bugs — have left some players feeling the update went out more with a whimper than a bang. That disconnect between the quality of the new content and the state it launched in is likely part of why Rockstar felt the need to reassure players that more is on the way.

What's Actually Coming

Buried at the bottom of the newswire post, Rockstar laid out a rough roadmap for the next few months:

• Community Mission Series expansion — Rockstar says it will keep adding "quality creations" to the Community Mission Series on a regular basis. The Kortz Center Heist update already overhauled the Mission Creator tools, and this is where that investment starts to pay off for player-made content.

• A Halloween refresh, arriving soon — More zombies, ghosts, and ghouls are planned for later this month, continuing Rockstar's tradition of giving Los Santos a seasonal makeover around Halloween.

• A seasonal Mission Series this fall — Rockstar confirmed a dedicated seasonal Mission Series is planned for autumn, though specifics haven't been shared yet.

• More vehicles on the way — Additional cars will be dripfed into the game over the coming weeks and months, with an emphasis on drift-capable vehicles joining the existing lineup of datamined rides players have been tracking.

Why Rockstar Keeps Feeding a Game It's Trying to Move On From

GTA 6 has already been delayed multiple times, and that's forced Rockstar into an unusual position: keeping GTA Online's live-service engine running far longer than it likely intended to. The mode is still one of the most reliable revenue generators in gaming, so letting it go quiet isn't really an option — even as development and marketing attention increasingly point toward the next title.

That tension is likely to define GTA Online's final stretch. Rockstar isn't treating any single update as the send-off; instead, it's continuing to drip-feed community content, seasonal events, and vehicles for as long as the game remains the primary Grand Theft Auto experience players have access to. Whether the fall Mission Series ends up being the actual last hurrah — or just another chapter in a game that keeps finding reasons to stick around — remains to be seen.