On Tuesday, Rockstar Games gave us some details about how Grand Theft Auto VI will look and run on current-gen consoles. But there was a fascinating buried lede in that blog post.
Specifically, it will actually be possible to play GTA 6 on a last-generation Xbox One console at launch. There is, obviously, a huge catch to that: You’ll only be able to play it that way by streaming the game over the cloud. The actual news here is that GTA 6 will be playable through Xbox Cloud Gaming, a feature available to Xbox Game Pass subscribers, starting at 1 a.m. ET on Nov. 19, the day the game comes out.
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Using Xbox Cloud Gaming, you’ll be able to stream GTA 6 to an Xbox Series console or an Xbox One. I’m not entirely sure why you’d stream it to one of the newer consoles instead of just running it natively, but the option is there, nonetheless. If you play GTA 6 this way, the stream will use the Xbox Series S version’s graphics settings.
Of course, there is one final very relevant detail here: Starting this month, Xbox has imposed strict hourly limits on cloud gaming. You can only stream games for five to 15 hours per month, depending on which version of Game Pass you pay for. There’s also the matter of game streaming being subject to the whims of internet quality, so things like buffering, latency, and poor visual quality can be part of the experience.
So, it might still be worth it to just try and find a current-gen console instead.
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