GTA 6 Is The First Game I’ve Seen With A Best-Before Date
Overview & Key Takeaways
We're about four months from the launch of the biggest game of the year: Grand Theft Auto 6. The hype is no doubt through the roof, but if you're in Japan, you'll need to turn that excitement into immediate action because you'll have a limited amount of time to redeem the code that comes in the game box.
As outlined in a June 24 FAQ on Rockstar Games' support page, Japanese gamers will have 170 days to use the code, or it'll expire. The official wording is as follows:
Product codes in Japan will expire 170 days after the issuance date, which is the launch date (November 19, 2026), due to regional regulations.
This means that, from the time you buy the game, you'll have just shy of six months to redeem the code if you live in Japan. Otherwise, like opened condiments and pantry-stored brown rice, your code will go bad and straight-up expire. It's not necessarily shocking, since most digital codes don't tend to be redeemable forever, but it is odd that Japan is the only region with this sort of stipulation thus far.
170 days isn't even that long, either! Here are some other things that are about as long as or last longer than six months:
- This Redditor's sobriety from three years ago. (Congratulations, BTW.)
- The tourist season, as seasonal resort locations tend to open their doors for about five or six months.
- Academic school years in certain parts of the United States.
- This random TikTok, which is apparently 170 days of Thanksgiving.
- Honey (because it outlasts everything).
- Cockroaches (because they can outlast just about everything).
- Welsh actor Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins' sanity after 170 days in quarantine.
- Renowned environmentalist Sonam Wangchuk stayed in Ladakh jail for only 170 days in 2025.
- If your passport has less than six months of validity, some foreign nations may deny your entry.
- Butter, which can last up to six months in the freezer.
- Bleach essentially becomes water if it sits in your home for six months. (Please don't drink it, I beg of you.)
I could go on. Again, this only applies to Japan (for now), but it's funny to think of GTA 6 as having a best-before date. We've reached out to Rockstar for clarification and will update this post if and when we get a response.
Anyway, Grand Theft Auto 6 may be just a code in a box, but you may have noticed that it isn't launching on PC. This is customary for Rockstar Games, and one former employee explained that the console-first approach allowed the team to produce a far better PC port. The lack of a PC release probably won't impact the sales of the game, as predictors suggest that the highly anticipated crime could generate between $3.3 billion and $5.2 billion in global sales after its first week.
We’re about four months from the launch of the biggest game of the year: Grand Theft Auto 6. The hype is no doubt through the roof, but if you’re in Japan, you’ll need to turn that excitement into immediate action because you’ll have a limited amount of time to redeem the code that comes in the game box.
As outlined in a June 24 FAQ on Rockstar Games’ support page, Japanese gamers will have 170 days to use the code, or it’ll expire. The official wording is as follows:
Product codes in Japan will expire 170 days after the issuance date, which is the launch date (November 19, 2026), due to regional regulations.
This means that, from the time you buy the game, you’ll have just shy of six months to redeem the code if you live in Japan. Otherwise, like opened condiments and pantry-stored brown rice, your code will go bad and straight-up expire. It’s not necessarily shocking, since most digital codes don’t tend to be redeemable forever, but it is odd that Japan is the only region with this sort of stipulation thus far.
170 days isn’t even that long, either! Here are some other things that are about as long as or last longer than six months:
- This Redditor’s sobriety from three years ago. (Congratulations, BTW.)
- The tourist season, as seasonal resort locations tend to open their doors for about five or six months.
- Academic school years in certain parts of the United States.
- This random TikTok, which is apparently 170 days of Thanksgiving.
- Honey (because it outlasts everything).
- Cockroaches (because they can outlast just about everything).
- Welsh actor Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins’ sanity after 170 days in quarantine.
- Renowned environmentalist Sonam Wangchuk stayed in Ladakh jail for only 170 days in 2025.
- If your passport has less than six months of validity, some foreign nations may deny your entry.
- Butter, which can last up to six months in the freezer.
- Bleach essentially becomes water if it sits in your home for six months. (Please don’t drink it, I beg of you.)
I could go on. Again, this only applies to Japan (for now), but it’s funny to think of GTA 6 as having a best-before date. We’ve reached out to Rockstar for clarification and will update this post if and when we get a response.
Anyway, Grand Theft Auto 6 may be just a code in a box, but you may have noticed that it isn’t launching on PC. This is customary for Rockstar Games, and one former employee explained that the console-first approach allowed the team to produce a far better PC port. The lack of a PC release probably won’t impact the sales of the game, as predictors suggest that the highly anticipated crime could generate between $3.3 billion and $5.2 billion in global sales after its first week.
