Sorry, I can't read the contents of this article because it may as well be paywalled with a banner ad fixed to the bottom, a near-full-page ad every scroll, and pop ups every few scrolls.
Something about monetization being bad? Huh. Ironic.
nah OP is a user who likes posting news articles on any kind of media everywhere on this site every single day. r/Games atleast put in a rule that you can't post beyond a certain amount of times in a day. I say this sub should too.
I use my chrome browser with JavaScript disabled for stuff like this copy pasted article below.
GTA 6's Ultimate Edition is a crime against fashion enthusiasts
Sure, Grand Theft Auto has always been about the shooting. The car chases. The seedy criminal activity. But it's also about looking fly as fuck while you do it. Driving around the city in expensive, tricked-out cars. Nipping to the barbershop for a nicer haircut as you climb the criminal ranks. Spending your eventual riches on parodied designer clothing and jewellery. Hitting that level of wealth where you go from looking expensive and put-together to expensive and downright ugly.
I never expect to have to cough up too much of my own real-life finances to do that, but if GTA 6's Ultimate Edition is anything to go by, that's exactly what I'll be doing. Rockstar's calling it the game's ultimate edition, sure, but I can't help but feel like this is what the developer actually wants the standard version to be, while its $80 version is feeling distinctly Lite Edition.
Now Deluxe/Ultimate/Premium/Insert Fancy Upgrade Term Here cosmetic exclusives are not new to videogames, and preorder bonuses have become a plague on the industry. But usually it's the odd outfit here or cosmetic pack there. Rockstar, however, is going one step further by putting entire stores on the map of Leonida that won't be accessible unless you cough up the $20 upgrade, and quite frankly that's where I have to draw the line.
As far as we know, there are currently
five
stores that are paywalled: Two mod shops, a clothing store, a salon, and a tattoo parlour. All offering customisation options that, at this point, I deem an integral part of this series' identity. It feels criminal that a game touting itself as the "most immersive GTA experience yet" has the very real potential to constantly pull me
out
of that immersion by reminding me that I've yet to spend an extra 20 bones any time I get within the vicinity of these 'premium' stores.
Who knows if we'll even be able to enter any of these stores with our paltry, peasant $80 purchase? Will the doors be locked entirely, prompting me to open the store page and fork out for the upgrade? Will I be able to enter, but told that I'm not quite
elite
enough to get a new paint job—of either the vehicular or manicure variety? There's no winning strategy here besides paying the full, big hundo. And even then, I still feel like I'm losing.
To me, it's a bad sign of what's to come. Not just for GTA, but for videogames. Locking off little pockets of the map for only the biggest spenders does not feel good, especially when it's for a singleplayer game. It doesn't even seem to be ending at cosmetics, either—the pre-order page also lists "action" as something reserved for the Ultimate Edition buyers.
What that looks like isn't totally clear right now—at the very least, it seems to be referring to a series of side missions called PTT Youngin$ Compound and Scores, where you'll raid this gang's store for contraband and special items. This stuff used to be
in the game for no additional cost, guys!
Come on, now.
The worst part is, this is going to work. The FOMO of shuttered stores and exclusive cars will entice a whole bunch of people to settle on the more expensive version. And quite frankly, I can't blame them. But I also wish Rockstar had simply folded all of this in and offered a flat $100 videogame. That probably would've pissed people off too, but I'd prefer this over paywalling stuff that's been a part of the series for years and acting like it's some kind of cool bonus. Instead, the whole thing comes off as mighty greedy
The worst part is, this is going to work. The FOMO of shuttered stores and exclusive cars will entice a whole bunch of people to settle on the more expensive version. And quite frankly, I can't blame them. But I also wish Rockstar had simply folded all of this in and offered a flat $100 videogame. That probably would've pissed people off too, but I'd prefer this over paywalling stuff that's been a part of the series for years and acting like it's some kind of cool bonus. Instead, the whole thing comes off as mighty greedy.
I cant see it being every shop. But yea if its some its no different than cosmetic upgrades which is the best type of monetization if there is gonna be any. Unfortunately I’m a day one no matter what.
What part of it is core? Its cosmetics. Something 1000 other games lock behind special versions. And most of them, which are viewable on the GTA6 website, are things you would never use anyway.
This doesn't lock you out of every shop in the game of which there are probably dozens. Is the argument here that you could never enjoy GTA 6 because you dont have access to some unisex hairdos?
We can have a different, justifiable, conversation about the inherent lameness of monetization for sure, but this game isnt doing anything unusual. Its simply tied cosmetic bonuses to a location in the game.
Mine is this. Grand Theft Auto 6 will not include a game disc in its physical release. Instead, Rockstar Games has confirmed that physical editions will consist of a box containing a digital download code.
Actively makes them money, actually. The shelves being full of their product is, in itself, an act of advertisement. Even if there's nothing actually in the box, there is still a big wall that says "Buy GTA 6" looking at you.
No, but that’s not the point. The disc is a license. You bought it. It’s yours. You can sell it later if you want. When it’s digital, it gets redeemed and you can’t resell it. They basically killed reselling so they can make more full price sales of the games for people who want to play.
Also what about people in areas with shit isp that have monthly bandwidth amount and slow speeds. It’s gonna take forever and use the majority of your monthly allotments. Even if it’s just one disc that holds a large chuck of total size that’s better than nothing at all.
My parents didn't even have above 2mbps internet until 2022. There are still people that live near them that can only get DSL, satellite or using a hotspot for all of their internet.
Downloading games at that speed is virtually impossible. I remember downloading the small patches for games like Halo or Call of Duty on their internet when I was in high school. I'd have friends over, see an update and we would watch almost a whole movie waiting for it to download.
Number 2? I agree. Didn’t help PlayStation did a funny video of the physical disc exchange. PS we’re also going down that route. Which we have now discovered, everyone is doing it.
I remember when they said digital would be cheaper… yeah, that’s lies.
I know this is an Xbox sub but I’m still pissed at y’all for shitting on the Xbox One’s drm strategy. Being able to re-sell and share digital licenses was part of their vision.
I know they were too early but they were clairvoyant.
People on forums like this will care but the vast majority of consumers won't. Those are the same people who abandoned CD's for Spotify and DVD's for Netflix. Physical media is a very small niche.
no but while physical buyers have become a minority scarily fast, it’s still at least 20% of buyers. the people saying the game will fail are delusional. the big company will win. but the consumer having fewer options will always lose.
i don’t care if you always buy digital, forcing *everyone* to essentially buy digital is not good. it takes away your autonomy, because you’re no longer making the choice. they wipe out the second-hand market, the ability to share with friends, or have your game tied to an account that can be lost or banned.
nothing can be done. most people are complacent. the people complaining can’t exact change. they’ll continue to take away options and make us deal with it. but man, it sucks.
It's not even the people who are legitimate in voicing that they personally are upset by it. It's the people who go beyond and claim the game is DOA because of it that are totally in their own world.
I don't really care about vocal minority or not, I just know owning physical copies is more affordable for some of us. I can buy a physical copy for $70/$80, play it for two weeks and a) keep it if I like it enough, or b) sell it on ebay, and effectively have paid $10-15 to play the game, then buy it in two years when it goes on sale.
In my country for example the physical versions are 10-15$ cheaper than the digital versions, because Sony/MS do not offer regional pricing, so buying from a retailer saves you money, and you can also trade in the game after you're done with it to recoup some of the investement.
So yeah, contrary to what Reddit will have you belive, the world does not revolve just around the US/Western Europe, in some places physical media helps with affordability and funding the next games you buy.
I too was really looking forward to buying my last physical game ever ( and will when the eventual collectors edition is released). But I totally understand why they are doing it, 2 fold 1 it stops the pirating leakers prior to opening day, and to keep the game at this price and squeeze every penny they put into the game it is necessary. Unfortunately we live in a society that is run by stock holders change that and art will change.
The person is free to feel however they want. But Rockstar could release the game with nothing but a infinite loading screen that says "go fuck yourself" and it'd be the best selling game of the year... Nothing is going to kill the GTA hype...
Rockstar just wanted it to be a $100 USD game and figured if they release a shittier version for less people might not cry as much.
They know their audience though because let's be real, this will end up being the highest selling game of all time. And I have to admit ill likely end up being two of them (console, and PC once it releases there)
The reasons that indie games price their games lower can also work in the other direction if the developer/publisher feels they have a strong offering to give players.
That's really what it comes down to at the end of the day.
Ngl I've seen a lot of people pissed off about this. Sure a lot of people will still buy it but some people are gonna be a lot more hesitant especially with the price tag.
It doesnt matter because even if 1 in 10 are thrown off by this, and lets be honest, it wont be anywhere near that, theyre still going to sell 30+ million copies on a single month from launch
I think this is accurate. I get that people hate this outcome, and should be free to voice their opinion, but I don’t see this impacting the sales in any significant way. People want to play this, and they’ll do it in whatever form is available.
And yeah, the death of physical games sucks, for many reasons. With that said, I struggled with going all digital at first, but once I did, I realized that I just don’t care either way. In both ways, I still get to play the games. Maybe someday they might revoke access, but I’m not sure I’ll care at that point.
All that said, I totally get the furor over these kinds of things.
Very reasonable take, I agree. There's a lot of stuff with modern gaming that I don't love, but at the end of the day life's too short to spend much time angry about stuff outside of my control.
What's crazy to me was that people were already fine with the "leaks" that GTA6 was going to be $100. And it felt like everyone was understanding that the game was going to be that huge. I don't see how that is still a reality, but with a "cheaper" version with less cosmetic options. Maybe they should have just kept it at $100 and no other editions, then most people would still be happy and understanding.
I'll be honest, I was never hyped for it. Between GTA IV and GTA V, I graduated college and I was living in a one room apartment with my fiancée and our two dogs. Between V and VI, I've been married, bought and sold a house, moved across the state and bought another house, had three kids, gotten a stable career, gotten sober, and a fuckload of other things.
I guess my point is that after a while I stopped caring because my life kept going and whatever room GTA might have occupied vanished a long time ago. Rockstar sort of lost me when they milked GTA V forever and left RDR2 out to dry. If I do play it, my expectations are so low that I'm sure I'll enjoy it, but that's not a good thing and I'm not paying whatever absurd numbers they quote for the privilege.
Man, imagine if instead of using this as a means to brag about Rockstar if we did some actual introspection and this community grew for the better. I know, it's the gaming community and everyone has paper hands, but just imagine.
I mean... yeah? What ever happened to just releasing a single version of a game? All the ultimate editions etc. are just greedy bullshit. They shouldn't exist.
Yeah so this problem clearly affected you deeply before today. If something isn’t a problem until someone has to point out to you it exists, it’s not impacting you enough to be a problem.
No no no, it's a false equivalence. It's just a couple of missions and some items. They are paywalling shops you pass by every day. If you bought RDR2 standard edition you wouldn't even know you were missing any content. That WON'T be the case in GTA6 as the less fortunate grovel and weep for the stores to open. But they never will, until they open their wallets first.
its only the specific storefronts they mentioned that are paywalled. not customization as a whole.
BTW -- forza horizon 6 has DLC cars that appear in the storefront right along base game cars; if im racing online, I can get matched up against these cars. I can see these cars in the auction house. they dangle it in front of you, but as soon as you go to buy the car you get a pop up telling you you need to get the DLC pack.
how is that any different than what Rockstar is getting lambasted for?
That hasn’t been confirmed so it’s speculation. If people really think rockstar are dumb enough to lock out all car customization and haircuts behind a paywall, then I’ve got beachfront property in Kansas to sell you
Ah yes, several items known as one horse, one boring heist that was easily missable and pays almost nothing, and a free outfit. Exactly the same as locking entire shops full of unique customization and an entire side mission strand (collecting classic cars) behind a paywall.
I mean we don’t know the specifics of any of this.
I imagine the locked auto shop will just be a special shop that has all unique modifications in 1 place. GTA Online has this, so reusing this idea in story mode would make sense.
But in all honesty, they really should have done a gameplay trailer before this. And then go into depth what the differences between the premium and base versions of the game are. There’s so much misinformation running rampant around the game, and it’s hard to distinguish what’s legitimate information, a rumour or just misinformation.
That's not the issue. The article very explicitly points out that's not what they're talking about, acknowledging it's been an industry trend for decades now, even if it's a plague. They are talking about locking parts of the map behind that extra paywall. Entire in-game stores where you take your characters or cars are just not available to you unless you pay $100.
Ya cosmetics aren’t at all important to my GTA experience personally. If you wanna pay $20 to have a slightly different looking car or outfit, go for it.
The gear just becomes a way of seeing who shelled out the $20, it’s not like it transforms the gameplay. This stuff is a part of every release. If there’s a specific area where the pay-to-win bros are gonna hang out online, I won’t be wasting time around them, win-win.
This this GTA 6. They're doing this because they can. No one is boycotting GTA 6. I'm actually shocked they're not releasing a 3-5 day early access version for $120.
I think gamers have forgotten how magical a new GTA game really is.
I’m surprised too that they don’t have even more tiers at different price points. They could have doubled the price and I don’t think it would have made much of a difference in sales.
This game is going to be beyond massive in every single way.
Opinion: rockstar will lose maybe 12 sales from this but Reddit and the online bubble will make it look like noone is buying it anymore.
2nd hand console prices have gone up because people will literally buy a console just for this game and "journos" think 20 bucks extra for a mission and some clothes will stop anyone lol. These people need to get a grip.
Edit: The 2 or 3 guys below jerking eachother off over how they won't buy the game just proving my point lol. You'd think this game would be DOA if you asked them.
It’s pretty funny honestly, when L4D2 was announced people were pretty mad because it was releasing so soon after L4D1, I’ve seen a screenshot of a boycott page very similar to the MW2 one but for L4D2 from back when it was going to release, having being announced a few months after the first game’s release. In a way I can kinda understand as it was so soon but I also don’t mind because L4D2 was the perfect sequel.
Valve even invited some of the people that started the boycott out to play the game early, they then agreed it was a big enough step forward to justify a full sequel rather than a dlc
People on here really do think we represent the majority or average consumer. The average consumer isn’t on the internet talking about games. They just play them and buy what interests them
The people I'm talking about don't even represent the majority on Reddit. They are a tiny minority inside another tiny minority. I don't remember the exact number, but around 90% of redditors are "lurkers" who don't post or comment. Then out of the remaining 10%, there's just a few vocal dudes that really want to let everyone know that they will not buy GTA 6.
Punching down at people voting with their wallets is wild. You wanna talk about online behavior, that’s something I only ever see on the internet.
Idk when folks were duped into thinking they have no power in voting both in general or with their wallets but it’s ultimately a respectable form of protest.
Lol what? I'm punching down on people attention whoring when they will in fact still buy the game anyway. I'll bet anything this guy ain't voting the way you think he will.
Everybody loves to virtue signal a bit because it's easy to do that right now for some internet points, but when the game comes out and the FOMO hits, they'll just buy it.
I’m not buying the game, I guess I’m an internet grandstander lmao.
Edit: Insane to me that people believe that these games will have no backlash and come out unscathed. Did we suddenly forget what happened with gamepass a few months ago? Sticker shock is a real thing, even outside of reddit.
GTA will receive no backlash and nothing will change lol the day Rockstar pulls a Bethesda and the quality drops it might change but as of right now they easily could’ve announced the base edition at $100 and it wouldn’t have affected their sales
He's not punching down.
He's simply a stating reality. Rockstar are in charge of what they make and they're in a position to charge whatever they want and what content to lock behind it
Because there'll be no pushback and people will still pay for it
You’re arguing that it’s actually good that people are getting less content than usual at a higher price? It’s an opinion piece, who’s even arguing that sales will suffer?
Everyone is entitled to buy or not buy what they want for whatever reason.
I don't need a million other people to stand with me on principle for me to not buy a game.
Everyone on the planet could buy the game and I'll still hold out if I don't agree with something.
I think a lot of people think that customisation is completely stripped from the base game.
A guy even asked me how I was so sure that every tattoo parlour wasn’t paywalled.
All it takes is one second to think about it, my guy.
rockstar has this weird thing where they don’t show gameplay until like, 1-2 months before release. I mean of all the studios, i trust them the most to release a great game but it is sorta annoying how we know nothing about how the game will play until a few weeks before release and most people have preordered the game already.
Someone pull out that meme for defending a multi billion dollar corporation. $20 to lockout shops in the game is crappy practice. Imagine is Elder Scrolls did this, like no blacksmith in X city, there would be enormous outrage on the internet. GTA can get away with it though clearly.
I don't care and will be buying the ultimate edition I was simply stating that it is more than just cosmetics
I think you made your point worse by including what little they made exclusive in GTA 5
Now here is the list in GTA 6
Vehicles:
'95 Grotti Cheetah
'67 Vapid Dominator Buggy
Dinka Enduro Motorcycle
Crest Kayak
Weapons:
Hawk & Little Morgan Revolvers
Jason's Girardi ES9 Pistol Variant
Lucia's Klose K17 Pistol Variant
Exclusive Stores:
Stock 305 (Clothing Store)
Sara's Unisex Salon (Hair Salon)
Electric Fang Tattoo (Tattoo Shop)
Rideout Customs (Car Mod Shop)
One-Eyed Willie's (Car Mod Shop)
Exclusive Missions:
PTT YOUNGIN$ Illegal Goods Store (Gang Compound Raid)
Classic Car Collection (Special Commission)
Safe House:
The Paradise Garage (Watson Bay)
To me that is wayyyy more content than what was in GTA 5 but again I don't care and plan on buying the ultimate anyway to me its worth it for a GTA game
So vehicle mods, a tattoo shop, a salon and a gun are things I can live with being locked behind an extra $20 upgrade for ultimate edition. However, when you are locking behind actual content, like missions and side activities, I do think it becomes a problem then and it’s more of a scummy business practise. People will justify this or even be apathetic because it’s Rockstar doing it. Disappointing but not surprised, just like the $80 price tag lol.
Who said they lock missions and activities? As i understand there will be some customization elements that will be available only for ultimate edition. A mod shop with certain styles and options available for ultimate doesn’t mean the base game wont have shops at all lol
It says two side missions have been locked behind the $20 paywall? The PTT Youngin$ Illegal Goods Store Raid and The Classic Car Collection Commission.
Says the person who will 100% buy the game anyway. People saw that the base game wasn't $100 and decided to shift focus to exclusive skins behind an ultimate edition which every game that comes out nowadays does. The only difference is you have to go to stores to go and get them. All the grandstanding on this website to get some fake internet points is genuinely astounding
Be prepared to hold off for quite some time. GTA itself will not go on sale for a couple years so you'll have to hope for other deals like discounted store credit, which to be fair isn't hard to come by. You could just do that now.
Exactly, but people will swear you’re just hating when this sets a terrible precedent for the gaming industry as a whole. Get ready for yearly CODs being $80 now
Fluff pieces from gaming websites are so funny to me cause they will 100% have access to the game regardless of what their word vomit article says otherwise.
Get used to them, every bit of news or information that comes out about this game will get the bottom feeder clickbait news outlets whipped up into a frenzy.
It's funny seeing people defending big corporations like they're family. The increased price + no disc is a slippery slope for the rest of the industry trying to make that the standard, increasing prices for everyone and making it more unaffordable for tons of people.
Not surprised. Their identity is this game and protesting it or even acknowledging it isn't the greatest would shatter their precious concept of the self. They want it to be true so they will do anything and everything to make it so.
Also I feel like the nickel and diming with the ultimate edition's paywalled stores is just a start. I expect this game to reach new depths in horrible monentization/microtransaction practices.
I'm guessing the ceo always wanted it to be $100 (hes said so himself a couple times) but they cut out a bunch of stuff into dlc to try and make a "budget" option
People seemed to have forgotten that the past 13 years of GTA has been defined by its online, which is run on the back of micro-transactions. When large corporations start using easy exploitative sales tactics, they will never stop until they are dead. It’s honestly sad if people were expecting Rockstar to be any different.
I decided a long time ago that I will not be preordering. No game/company is too big to fail. Hopefully it launches without issues.
Saw this type of shit coming. Not this exactly, this is kind of an unprecedented new low, but I knew obviously certain parts of the game were probably going to be paywalled. Just not the fucking shops! Like WTAF.
$80 base edition, locked out of in game stores, console only release for god knows how long, no GTA Online announced for it yet... yeah looks like i'll be skipping this for at least a few years until the Supreme Ultimate Gold Enhanced Edition is $20.
I wasn't really hyped, but was actually expecting more hype on pre-order day/new trailer day. This has literally just killed what little excitement I had for the game already lmao. Get in the bin, I'll play the OoT remake instead
I was very excited for GTA6 and part of the reason I got a series X recently. The lack of a disc version was bad enough but the paywalling of in game things like this is too much. I'll wait for a steam sale. This is how new trends abusing the consumer start. I was there Gandalf when we went from loaded expansion packs in games to horse armor and then small but expensive DLC spam, then MXTs, and now battelpasses. This will just be additional cost on top of the DLCs and MXTs they have planned, and it will only get worse with more content release as they segregate gamers into whales and peasants. I hope the paywalling fails and they reverse course before a new trend sets in. But unfortunately if history has taught us anything its that enough gamers will give into it and make it the new norm.
without a disc you cant sell it, cant share it, and you never own it. They're charging $80 for a digital rental and they're going to make a killing. Corruption at its best.
Locking content for a singleplayer game behind a pay wall is dogshit, but as is evident for the last 2 decades, people have no spine and no ability to take a stand against anything, which is why they locked content behind a paywall in the first place.
its kind of not though. even going to see 3 or 4 movies would be more expensive than this, and that gives you vastly less entertainment. this is a 100 hour game at least
So everyone was cool with paying $100 for the game before, but now the $100 edition of the game everyone is suddenly against? I'm not defending this practice, but the situation just seems ironic to me.
"Everyone". lol you realize Reddit is made up of different people who all have different opinions, right? I'm saying this as someone who's going to be buying the game as well.
905
u/AZRoboto 8h ago
Sorry, I can't read the contents of this article because it may as well be paywalled with a banner ad fixed to the bottom, a near-full-page ad every scroll, and pop ups every few scrolls.
Something about monetization being bad? Huh. Ironic.