GTA 6 Is Preloading in NZ First, and Dataminers Reckon Our Copy Is Missing 704KB of Something

GTA 6 is finally on Kiwi consoles. PS5 preloading opened at midnight local time, which made New Zealand the first country on the planet to start pulling down Rockstar’s monster download. Dataminers were in the files within hours, and one of the first things they reckon they found is a tiny chunk that’s missing from the NZ and Australian copy.

Nobody outside Rockstar knows what that chunk is yet. It’s 704KB, so it isn’t a missing mission. But after our “calm down, Reddit” piece on the censorship rumour, it’s the first actual file-level evidence that our build differs at all.

The preload: when, where and how big

• PS5: preloading opened at midnight local time on Tuesday 10 November, for anyone who pre-ordered digitally. That’s 12am NZDT here and 12am local in each Australian state, so we got first dibs again.
• Xbox Series X|S: one global start at 12am GMT on 10 November, which is 1pm NZDT on Tuesday 10 November (11am AEDT).
• The size: up to 212GB depending on your console, according to Rockstar. Clear some space or start deleting old Call of Duty installs.
• Code-in-box copies: retailers should have them from 12 November. There’s no disc inside, just a download code, so you’re downloading the same file either way.
• Launch: 19 November on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, and it unlocks here first at midnight. Here’s our full launch-times breakdown.

What the dataminers say is missing from our copy

According to dataminer TexFunz2, as reported by VGC, the PS5 build is split into 32 PlayGo chunks. PlayGo is Sony’s system for only downloading the parts of a game your console needs. Two of those chunks are labelled “restofworld”.

• core_restofworld: about 1.28GB. TexFunz2 suggested this is content changed or cut for some regional versions, likely Japan’s.
• core_restofworld001: about 704KB. TexFunz2 posted that it is “confirmed missing” from the Australia and New Zealand version.
• What it might be: nobody knows. Another dataminer, PLTytus, guessed it’s “very small, some logo/brand maybe”. That’s a guess, not a finding.
• Rockstar’s position: no comment so far. Its official channels have been busy announcing a launch music festival in Miami instead.

VGC points out that Australia has form here. GTA III and Vice City both shipped with content removed in Australia, so local suspicion isn’t coming from nowhere.

The other stuff in the files: online hints and PS5 Pro

The files are encrypted, but the PS5 metadata is talkative. GameSpot and Polygon both picked up the same finds, all from dataminer posts on X rather than anything Rockstar has confirmed.

• Multiplayer hooks: the account PlayStation Game Size found PS5 activity entries for “joinSession”, “launchActivity” and “launchMultiplayerActivity”. Rockstar hasn’t announced any online mode for GTA 6.
• Story as its own download: the story is a separate chunk in the preload, which has people guessing the online side will be split off later.
• PS5 Pro: according to a post by Zuby_Tech, the files point to 120Hz support on PS5 Pro, plus references to Sony’s PSSR upscaling. Rockstar hasn’t said a word about Pro features.

Industry chatter has the new online experience landing sometime in 2027, but that’s insiders guessing, not a date. Treat all of this as a strong hint, not a feature list.

Our take

704KB is about one dodgy JPEG. If Rockstar has cut something from our copy, it’s more likely a billboard, a logo or a licensed brand than anything you’ll miss on a Saturday night in Vice City. Don’t go buying a VPN and a fake Japanese PSN account over it.

But Rockstar could kill this in one sentence, and staying silent while Aussies dig through their own downloads is a bloody silly look. Given the GTA III and Vice City history, Australia has earned the right to be paranoid. Meanwhile, the real horror story is clearing 212GB off your SSD.

Reckon it’s a censored billboard, a missing logo or nothing at all? Come argue about it in the GetRekt Discord. Everything else GTA 6 lives on our Grand Theft Auto VI page.

Sources

• PlayStation Blog: Grand Theft Auto VI pre-download begins November 10
• VGC: Rockstar details GTA 6 pre-load date, time and file size
• VGC: GTA 6 may be censored in Australia and other regions, dataminer suggests
• TexFunz2 on X: core_restofworld001 missing from the AU and NZ version
• PLTytus on X: restofworld chunk notes
• GameSpot: GTA 6 preloading is live, files mention multiplayer and PS5 Pro features
• Polygon: GTA 6 preloading goes live, revealing files that tease multiplayer
• Pure Xbox: GTA 6 Xbox preload times
• Rockstar Games on X: GTA VI: The Festival announcement