Comcast is offering some of its Xfinity Internet customers the opportunity to boost their download speeds ahead of the release of the much-anticipated sequel in the “Grand Theft Auto” franchise, but not everyone will be able to take advantage of the perk.
Earlier this week, Comcast said Xfinity Internet customers will be offered the opportunity to boost their download speeds up to 2 Gigabytes per second (Gbps) — the fastest speed offered in most areas where Comcast doesn’t offer pure fiber Internet service — with the perk running now until early December.
That news came after Charter said it was automatically increasing Internet speeds for its Spectrum customers to coincide with the release of Grand Theft Auto VI, which becomes playable on supported consoles next Thursday.
Comcast’s speed boost offering is a little different: A spokesperson for the company said only Xfinity Internet customers who use a company-provided gateway will be eligible for the upgrade — meaning hardcore gamers who invested in their own modem-router setups won’t be able to take advantage of their offering.
Comcast is also requiring gamers to enroll in the company’s Xfinity Membership offering, a free loyalty program that also unlocks discounts on things like movie rentals and gives customers the opportunity to win prizes throughout the year. Eligible customers with Xfinity Internet gateways will be able to activate the speed boost through the Xfinity Membership platform.
The Internet boosts offered by both companies mean most gamers should be able to download Grand Theft Auto VI — which is over 200 GBs on PlayStation 5 consoles — in well under an hour. On release day, download times could be increased, even with the speed boosts, if servers run by Sony, Microsoft and other game distributors are overwhelmed; to mitigate this, most consoles are allowing gamers to download most of Grand Theft Auto VI now, with small files containing decryption keys downloaded next week, allowing the game to be played on launch day.
More information about Comcast’s speed boost is available on their website.
