GTA VI Codes and Region Locks: PlayStation vs Xbox

PlayStation GTA VI codes are locked to 9 account regions; Xbox codes are not. Japanese codes expire May 8 2027. What it means for gifts, imports and GTA+.

Last checked: Oct 11 2026. We read Rockstar's country lists on that date. If Rockstar changes them, this page changes with them.

The short answer: a PlayStation code for GTA VI only works on a PlayStation account registered in the same region as the code. An Xbox code is not region-locked. And a code bought in Japan stops working 170 days after launch, which is May 8 2027.

That matters more than usual for this game, because every copy is a code. The physical version is a download code in a box with no disc (see our pre-load and physical copy page). So a box you import, or a code you send to a friend abroad, falls under the same rule as a digital purchase.

At a glance

Item	PlayStation	Xbox
Codes locked to a region?	Yes, to the region of the account	No
Number of code regions	9	n/a
Countries in those regions	63 (our count)	n/a
Japanese code expiry	170 days after Nov 19 2026: May 8 2027	Not stated for Xbox
Rockstar's advice for everyone	Buy from a retailer in your account's country	Same
GTA+ pre-order month	Tied to the account that pre-ordered; not offered in 8 country stores	One per platform account

What is counted, and how

The region rules come from Rockstar Support's editions article (last updated Aug 18 2026), which we read in full on Oct 11 2026. Its country lists are reproduced in the table below, grouped as Rockstar groups them. The count of 63 countries is ours: we added up the nine lists (1 + 15 + 2 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 2 + 6 + 34 = 63).

The pre-order country lists come from a separate Rockstar Support article, last updated Jun 26 2026, which is more than three months old. Rockstar says the game "will be made available in additional countries", so treat those lists as a floor, not a final word. The Rockstar Store's own shipping rules come from its FAQ, read the same day.

We did not test any code ourselves, and we did not check prices outside the US.

The rule, in Rockstar's words

Rockstar Support makes three statements that work together:

Region restrictions are "based on the region associated with your platform account".
If you buy either version in a region different from your account, "that version must match the region of your platform account".
It is "recommended that you buy and play from a retailer that is in the country of your platform account to avoid potential activation problems".

Then it splits by platform. For PlayStation, it lists which account countries can use codes bought in each region. For Xbox, one line: "Codes purchased are not region-locked."

Note that the advice in point 3 is general. Even on Xbox, Rockstar suggests buying in your own country.

PlayStation code regions: the full list

This is our table, built from Rockstar's list. A code bought in a region works only on accounts registered to a country in the same row.

PlayStation code region	Account countries that can use it	Count
Brazil	Brazil	1
LATAM	Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay	15
North America	Canada, United States	2
Korea	South Korea	1
Japan	Japan (codes expire 170 days after Nov 19 2026)	1
United Kingdom	United Kingdom	1
Saudi Arabia & UAE	Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates	2
Rest of Asia	Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand	6
Rest of EMEA and Asia	Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine	34
Total		63

Some groupings are not what you might expect. The UK is its own region, separate from the rest of Europe. Brazil is separate from the rest of Latin America. Australia, New Zealand, India and South Africa share a region with continental Europe. So a code from a German shop works on an Australian account, but a code from a UK shop does not work on an Irish account.

Codes from the Rockstar Store

The Rockstar Store sells the physical code-in-box, and its FAQ sets its own PlayStation rule by shipping address:

Rockstar Store shipment to	PlayStation account countries the code works in
United States or Canada	United States, Canada
United Kingdom	United Kingdom
Any other country it ships to	Austria, Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland (17)

The store ships to 20 countries: those 17 plus the US, Canada and the UK. It adds that duties and taxes may apply outside the US and UK.

Japanese codes expire: the date arithmetic

Rockstar says product codes in Japan expire 170 days after their issuance date, "which is the launch date (November 19, 2026)", because of regional regulations. Counting forward:

Step	Days added	Running total	Date reached
Rest of November (Nov 20 to 30)	11	11	Nov 30 2026
December	31	42	Dec 31 2026
January	31	73	Jan 31 2027
February (2027 is not a leap year)	28	101	Feb 28 2027
March	31	132	Mar 31 2027
April	30	162	Apr 30 2027
May 1 to 8	8	170	May 8 2027 (a Saturday)

Rockstar does not say whether a code dies at the start or the end of that day, or in which time zone. It lists the expiry under PlayStation's Japan region and does not say whether Xbox codes sold in Japan expire too. The safe plan is to redeem a Japanese code well before May 2027, ideally the day you get it.

Where you can pre-order, by store

From Rockstar's Jun 26 2026 list:

Store	Pre-order countries listed
PlayStation Store	62
Xbox Store	39
Rockstar Store	30

One gap stands out. Taiwan is in PlayStation's "Rest of Asia" code region, but it is not on the PlayStation pre-order list, and PlayStation's GTA+ offer page excludes the Taiwan store. By Rockstar's code table, a Taiwanese PlayStation account can use a code bought in Hong Kong or Singapore. The GTA+ pre-order offer, however, does not run on the Taiwan store.

What it means for gifts and imports

Situation	PlayStation	Xbox
Gift to a friend in the same region	Works	Works
Gift from the US to a friend in the UK	The code will not work on a UK account	Rockstar says codes are not region-locked; it still advises buying in the account's country
Importing a cheaper box from another region	Works only if your account is in the code's region	Not region-locked by Rockstar's rule
A box bought in Japan, kept unopened as a gift	Expires May 8 2027	Expiry not stated for Xbox
GTA+ month on a gifted or physical code	None. Physical copies do not include GTA+, and PlayStation's month cannot be transferred	None for physical. One per platform account

The GTA+ point catches gift buyers. On PlayStation, the month "can only be redeemed on the account used to pre-order the game". The month follows the buying account, not the person who ends up playing. Our pre-order bonuses page has the full GTA+ terms, and our editions page covers which version to buy.

Trivia

Ireland and the UK are in different PlayStation code regions, but a code from a Rockstar Store order shipped to Ireland works in 17 European account countries.
Rockstar's PlayStation code table says "Turkey", while its pre-order list from June uses the country's official name, Turkiye (written with an umlaut).
The Rockstar Store pre-order list from June names 30 countries, including Japan and Australia; its current shipping list names 20, and neither Japan nor Australia is on it.