GTA 6 fan gets early access to game after Rockstar grants dying wish

Terminally ill man given access to highly-anticipated game 10 months ahead of official release date

The first trailer for Grand Theft Auto VI was officially released ahead of schedule on 4 December, 2023 due to a leak. The release date for GTA 6 is 19 November, 2026 (Chris Delmas/ AFP via Getty Images)

A terminally ill fan of the Grand Theft Auto video game series has reportedly been granted early access to GTA 6 following a plea from a family member.

There is still 10 months until the official release date of the highly-anticipated game, which was originally meant to launch last year.

Ubisoft developer Anthony Armstrong made the appeal to GTA developer Rockstar Games for his family member to play the next installment in the series after he was given six to 12 months to live.

In a post to LinkedIn in December, Mr Armstrong asked his network for help to fulfill his family member’s wish to play the game before he died.

“The reason I am reaching out is that they are a huge GTA fan and, with this latest update, he may not be around long enough to actually get to see GTA 6 launch,” Mr Armstrong wrote in a since-deleted post.

“Best case scenario he will be leaving us the same month it does... It’s my hope that one of you may be able to set up an exclusive playtest, so he can have a chance to experience the game before passing.”

In an update to the post several weeks later, he wrote: “We spoke to them today and got great news. That’s all I can really say, but thank you all from the bottom of my heart.”

Scenes from the trailer of Grand Theft Auto VI are shown on a smartphone and monitor in New York on 5 December, 2023 (AP Photo/Peter Morgan)

Rockstar Games released the first trailer for GTA VI in December 2023 after clips of the game were leaked online.

The release date was originally scheduled for 2025, however delays have pushed it back to 19 November 2026.

It is not the first time that Rockstar Games has given a terminally ill fan a chance to play one of its games before its release.

In 2018, a man suffering from neurofibromatosis type 2 was allowed to play Red Dead Redemption 2 several weeks before its public launch after his father reached out to the game’s developer.

Two Rockstar Games employees came to the man’s house with a private demo of he Western-themed action-adventure game, which he was able to play for several hours before they left.