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“Grand Theft Auto 6,” indisputably this year’s most anticipated video game, is now serving as a tool for at least one U.S. Army unit to encourage soldiers to reup their military service commitment.
The U.S. Army’s 3rd
Infantry Division based at Fort Stewart, Georgia, is offering some active-duty soldiers a four-day pass to play “GTA 6” when it is released in November. According to the division, the offer is available to soldiers who sign a reenlistment contract for a minimum of two years (and up to six years) between Aug. 1 and Nov. 14, 2026.
“The idea was to have a unique incentives program that connects to what soldiers are interested in,” Lt. Col. Angel Tomko, spokesperson for the 3rd Infantry Division, said in a statement to Variety.
So far, 20 of the eligible 130 soldiers in the Fort Stewart’s 9th Brigade Engineering Battalion have reenlisted with the Army thanks to the “GTA 6” perk, according to Tomko, confirming a CBS News report on the program. The battalion has a new career counselor “who approached unit leadership with an idea for an updated creative incentives program” to reach fiscal year 2027 reenlistment goals, Tomko said.
Rockstar Games’ “GTA 6,” which has been in development for more than a decade, is set to release Nov. 19. Preorders for the game opened June 25, priced at $79.99 for the standard edition and $99.99 for the “ultimate” version (which will include “an exclusive collection of premium vehicles, weapons, apparel, and action threaded across all aspects” of the game).
In reporting earnings for the June quarter, Strauss Zelnick, CEO of Take-Two Interactive (Rockstar’s parent company), said the level of preorders for “GTA 6” has been “unprecedented and astonishing.” Zelnick added, “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.”
