Rockstar's supposed GTA 6 pre-order evidence is actually years old

Hopes are rising that GTA 6 pre-orders are imminent, but not all the evidence is created equal. As Best Buy employees are reportedly getting prepped for the pre-order campaign, fans have noted a bit of code on Rockstar's own website that similarly seemed to hint that early purchases are starting soon. Unfortunately, this is one of those many instances where you should be cautious about what you read on the internet.

By digging into the source code of Rockstar's GTA 6 website, fans found a line labeled "cta_preorder." Twitter user Sanju Das posted an image of the code in question, and you can easily verify it for yourself by heading over to the official site in a desktop browser like Chrome, right-clicking, choosing "inspect," and then typing "preorder" into the search box.

Boom, there it is – the "cta_preorder" code. CTA here likely means "call to action," as in the marketing speak for the "preorder now" button you usually see on a website for an upcoming game like this.

Latest Videos From

Unfortunately, while the code is real, it's not new. Wayback Machine archives of the page going back to 2024 still have the cta_preorder tag in place. While yes, it is likely a backend preparation for the eventual announcement of pre-orders, it's not evidence that this announcement is coming soon.

Of course, GTA 6 is due to launch on November 19, and that means Take-Two and Rockstar need to start taking early purchases soon, just like with any normal video game. But then, GTA 6 isn't really a normal video game. The hype is off the charts, and fears still linger that GTA 6's price could be as high as $100. One way or another, pre-orders will set that speculation to rest. And hey, maybe trailer 3 won't be far behind.

GTA 6 should be $80 so the whole "struggling" industry can raise game prices, Bank of America says, and players will accept it because they love AI.