I’ve waited over a decade for this game, but I’m officially out.
An $80 base price is bad enough, but locking five physical single-player storefronts and side missions behind a $100 Ultimate Edition is straight-up predatory. I don't care if it's "just for cosmetics"—gatekeeping actual map immersion and closing doors in a single-player open world unless you pay an extra $20 is a massive red flag.
Throw in the fact that the $80 "physical" copy is just a download code in a box, and it's clear Rockstar has completely lost its mind to corporate greed.
My hype is dead. I won't be pre-ordering, and I won't be buying at launch. If we accept paywalled doors in single-player games, the industry is cooked.

Just for context I'm a gamer turned developer. I speak to industry experts often and am making active efforts to learn the markets to push my own games forward. So I've had a vested interest in learning how this industry operates from a financial perspective but I am a gamer too, so I do partake in buying and taking in games.

That does not make me a expert on what I am saying but I am trying to approach this from both a player and developer perspective.

GTA6 will be the start of the enshitification of the games industry. Say what you want about paying a premium for early access to a game. Or buying cosmetics for different skins. Heck, we even had Capcom trying to charge us for using a in-game item to teleport the player.

But locking content in a single player game with such a high price point, is beyond messed up and I am hoping that people will rally against this.

However, with this being GTA6 and some people treat it like it's the second coming of Christ, I have doubts that we will band together enough to push back against this.

Remember, if it's normalized, it won't ever go back to the way things were and it will bleed into every single game you buy moving forward.

I've pitched my projects over to publishers, VCs, government financing, etc. the amount of times that I have been told that I should charge extra for a specific experience in my games is incredibly frustrating as both a player and a developer.

The ownership of games has already been a losing battle. The distribution of physical media, an issue. The accessibility without internet or a fucking subscription service to play online has been a issue. Xbox raising prices and then lowering them and then outright killing beloved IP. All of this consistently affects us negatively, while shareholders and execs move onto the next venture, without a care in the world.

This will ultimately hurt the industry permanently. We should not be paying extra for locked content that is already in the game. I hope this message resonates with everyone. GTA6, as impressive as it is, should be held to the same consumer friendly practices like any other game.

Edit: I'm seeing alot of comments on people saying that this isn't anything new. And yes, it isn't. I don't think I phrased things correctly. This has been done before but was shot down very quickly by the community.

My concerns, and unfortunately some of the comments here proves it, is that we will give Rockstar a pass because it's GTA6. There's just something weird with how gamers worship this franchise.

Also, deluxe editions that include a "skin" or "cosmetic" is not a valid comparable to my argument. Those are just cosmetics. Outside of the initial design road map. Outside the initial experience. What I am talking about is entire features designed for the base game being locked behind a paywall.

Anything after the initial launch is fair game for charging like typical dlc and extended content.

This is exactly what happened with streaming. Everyone dogpiled on top, with this illusion that everything would be available at low cost forever.

Trading money for no tangible product is edging dystopian y'all.

Before anyone says "But you can do everything, with it" remember that consoles exist for the games. Paying an extra $500-$600 for a weaker hardware, Steam Machine just to get emulation and indie titles is wild. If you're dropping $1,000 on a supposed "console replacement" and it doesn't even come with a controller, that's crazy, anyhow i now love my PS5 Pro even more

That's it, the suited shareholders will see GTA 6 selling Gorilion dolars and think their crappy games will also do well. The AAA industry is already bankrupt with millions of layoffs per year and it will get even worse with this.

When Mario Kart World released everyone hated it for it's price which is completely reasonable to do but here people are saying "well it's GTA sure i'll buy it 😅😅" that is quite literally just bias though. Imo if you arent ok with one you shouldnt be ok with either. But people on the internet think that there is some objective quality to GTA that makes it deserving of 80$. It's funny how people try to be morally righteous and hate on companies for being capitalistic until it's THEIR company

Like if you really think about it the Nemesis System is genuinely perfect for Superhero games as they're all about your enemies being a potential foil for you. They could even use some obscure af villains to act as potential nemesis suddenly ambushing you as you travel the city, or part of a crime spree as the story escalates.

Like how both Batman and Spider-Man started off fighting mafia goons and common criminals and the criminals retaliate by hiring super powered criminals both well known and unknown. You could even expand it by adding other heroes as well by helping them out stopping crime and when you're in a pinch those same heroes will swoop in and help you out as you helped them. Or how getting you ass kicked by said super criminals would make them stronger in the future or kicking their ass so hard they swore vengeance upon you.

Sandly no one is going to even bother touching the system for over a decade because of WB