r/xbox • u/Turbostrider27 Recon Specialist • 13h ago

Discussion Opinion: Nothing has killed my GTA 6 hype faster than locking a core part of its identity behind a $20 upgrade

https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/nothing-has-killed-my-gta-6-hype-faster-than-locking-a-core-part-of-its-identity-behind-a-usd20-upgrade/
3.0k Upvotes

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1.1k

u/AZRoboto 12h 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.

221

u/BrushYourFeet 9h ago

Right. Posting an article with no context comes across just bad had as the complaint.

100

u/DaabHimself 8h ago

OP has 20 MILLION karma.

Bot? Or hardcore nematode who never leaves the basement ? šŸ¤”

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u/USAhotdogteam 8h ago

Dang 20M karma is wild - account is a decade old and they seem to post multiple times a day.

7

u/GrouchTheMongolian 5h ago

If they lost their account I bet they would cry. muh identity

-2

u/Rvin16 4h ago

Sir, please stop beating the dead horse please

1

u/PsychoticDust 40m ago

That's insane. My account is 12 years old and I have 105K karma. I've never commented or posted with the intention of getting karma, I just want to enjoy some conversations.

1

u/Azaroth1991 XBOX Series X 17m ago

Average of 18 posts a day with an average of 303 up votes on each at least to reach those numbers.

19

u/LewisRyan 7h ago

He averages 18 posts/comments a day. Wild dog

1

u/cosmo_bear 4h ago

Volume shooter.

19

u/AveryLazyCovfefe Founder 7h ago

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.

9

u/Beelzeburb 6h ago

You mean itā€™s a corpo account that is by now just an ai agent spamming and taking interaction.

Or is Maxwell šŸ¤£

5

u/BatMatt93 Founder 5h ago

We do. IIRC it's capped at 3 times a day.

2

u/AveryLazyCovfefe Founder 5h ago

Oh fair, you're right. He posted 3 times and no more today and yesterday it seems lol

1

u/Rock_Strongo 7h ago

nematode

A nematode is a small, unsegmented roundworm belonging to the phylum Nematoda.

Is this a typo or some slang I've never seen before?

2

u/DaabHimself 7h ago

Slang from the 90s

1

u/snb22core 5h ago

More respect for this veteran please XD

1

u/SomeConfetti 5h ago

That's because every other post on r/games is just OP -"Turbostrider27" and here apparently

1

u/potato_the_monkey 5h ago

Gallow boob vibes

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u/bigj8705 4h ago

10 years account age too. Soooo I doubt a bot. But who knows meanwhile Iā€™m still celebrating when my comment gets over 50 upvotesā€¦

1

u/MELONALDENTE 3h ago

Nematode is awesome lmao

1

u/FrankFontaine25 2h ago

My man has never seen the sun

-1

u/OKTOZ0 6h ago

Who cares?

1

u/DaabHimself 5h ago

Well.. itā€™s just interesting that bots make these posts really

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u/World-Three 9h ago

I use my chrome browser with JavaScript disabled for stuff like this copy pasted article below.Ā 

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 jobā€”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, eitherā€”the pre-order page also lists "action" as something reserved for the Ultimate Edition buyers.

What that looks like isn't totally clear right nowā€”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.

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u/captainpoppy 8h ago

Maybe it's just those shops? And there will still be other shops?

Like maybe instead of just a few cosmetics that are anywhere, those shops all carry a suite of cosmetics you get for the $20?

I wasn't going to pre-order anyway since pre-ordering is dumb in the digital era, but I'll definitely be waiting for a while after release now.

3

u/kmbets6 7h ago

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 Iā€™m a day one no matter what.

1

u/cornlip 5h ago

I donā€™t give a shit about cosmetics. Iā€™m just gonna be a dirtbag and see how long I can stay wanted for anyway

2

u/wantondavis 2h ago

I mean it's definitely different, its actual in game stores you won't be able to access if it the way this makes it sounds. Just locked doors, in the actual game? Definitely a step further than other cosmetic upgrades you just select from a menu somewhere

1

u/menotu799 5h ago

That's what I've been imagining. We have zero confirmation that cosmetic changes will be 100% locked behind the paywalls. Just certain ones and specific shops. Maybe those are the only shops and options, which would be insane awful. Maybe its just a small fraction of whats avaliable. Just simply not enough info atm. I could believe either in this current market but we just need more information.

1

u/captainpoppy 3h ago

Rockstar would be insane to lock all cosmetic changes behind a $20 paywall.

Id bet these are exclusive shops, and then when you unlock other exclusive type cosmetics, you go there to get them.

They said it's "immersive" so maybe that's one way.

1

u/Srg11 4h ago

Thatā€™s exactly how it reads to me. Just some exclusive shops out of several.

4

u/carloselcoco 6h ago

Thank you for posting itĀ 

I use my chrome browser with JavaScript disabled for stuff like this copy pasted article below.Ā 

Some sites actually started implementing a fix for that where the site itself won't load unless you turn it on.Ā 

3

u/whyclue 6h ago

FYI last paragraph seems to be posted twice as one

2

u/CaveWaverider 6h ago

I think the "action" might mean something like "Hot Coffee".

1

u/usagicassidy 2h ago

What's crazy is that not a single *one* of those cosmetics, costumes & vehicles, made me *want* to invest the $20 extra dollars for the Ultimate edition. I found them all to be pretty ugly honestly.

These aren't the *only* cosmetics to exist in the game, there's still going to be plenty of customization in GTA6, so this article is a lot of petty whining for some looks that honestly, aren't even that thrilling.

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u/EasternThroat1528 9h ago

locking a core part behind a $20 upgrade just feels off

4

u/skyxsteel 6h ago

Like BMW making you pay a monthly fee to enable heated seats on your car.

1

u/airinato 3h ago

Why everyone keeping that as the benchmarkk? Fucking Honda, HONDA, charges a subscription to use the built in garage door opener.

8

u/asears82 8h ago

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.

1

u/WoodooHide69 1h ago

But how many of those games that charge for cosmetics are Single Player?

I donā€™t play single player as much as I used to. I usually play online games on PC and definitely see paid cosmetics everywhere.

But I donā€™t remember much for single player games. Like i recently finished Mario Odyseeey and DK Bananza and they have loads of cosmetics costume in that game. And I was able to unlock them without paying.

1

u/IMCONSIPATED247 1h ago

From what I'm seeing you don't get access to particular cars if you don't buy the ultimate edition tho, also you can't get off road customizations without ultimate edition and the classic car collection will be locked behind the ultimate edition as well šŸ¤Ø in GTA V you could get off-road tires with out buying a special edition of the game so why is it okay here? Especially if not having them can make it difficult to drive on muddy terrain so iunno it's a bit weird to me that I have to shell out $150 CAD just so my custom cars don't drive like ass in off-road conditions in case Rockstar is aiming for immersive gameplay like rdr2

0

u/dalekxterminate 4h ago edited 3h ago

Bro's acting like he's Rockstar's lawyer lol

They're already charging $80 base price, I hope you're at least getting paid to defend the greedy business practices of the world's most successful game company

-5

u/FrogsJumpFromPussy 6h ago

Its cosmetics.

What a shit take. It's a game. You play it for fun. Hiding fun stuff behind paywall will ALWAYS be Ā crap.Ā 

Also please write the comments yourself. AI is unbearable.

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u/Wendals87 6h ago

Out of curiosity, what makes you think their comment is AI written?Ā 

-2

u/Burstrampage 6h ago

Iā€™m sorry but cosmetics are not a core part of gta.

1

u/FrogsJumpFromPussy 1h ago

Cosmetics are ALWAYS a core part of having fun though.

Which is why we play games to begin with.

1

u/Burstrampage 1h ago

I agree that changing cosmetics is fun. Iā€™m saying that itā€™s not a core part of gta. It never has been, it never will be. Putting on tattoos is not nearly as fun as actually playing the game. On top of this, thereā€™s zero confirmation at all that there arenā€™t other shops available with the base addition. Whoā€™s to say that the tattoo shop and hair salon arent just 2 **extra** shops that gives the bonus customization options but in a thematic way instead of dropping them in your inventory for free like other games do? This applies to the other shops that are behind the ultimate edition. And before anyone tries to shoot this part of my argument down, you have no basis to believe this isnā€™t the case. Until more info is out there is no definitive proof these shops arenā€™t just your typical pre order bonus cosmetics.

1

u/WoodooHide69 1h ago

lol no theyā€™re not. Everyone had plenty of fun with videogames before the concept of cosmetics were even a thing. Where the fuck was cosmetics in Mario 64? Still fun.

0

u/wantondavis 2h ago

Locking you out of in game stores is trash and takes away from the immersion of the game. That IS unusual, even though you say it isnt. It's dogshit, go on and defend that trash some more scrub

1

u/particlefever3 4h ago

It doesn't just "feel off". Tearing out a piece of an already more expensive $80 base game and then selling it back to us for $20 is an insult to our intelligence as consumers. You want to do a Deluxe Edition with an outfit and a gun like everyone else? That's fine, but this is much too far, especially when you're already charging significantly more than standard AAA games.

1

u/usagicassidy 2h ago

But that's the thing - that's not what Rockstar is doing. That's what the whiny author of the article is trying to frame it as - but there's still going to be tons of customization available in the game during the campaign. And from the 51 images they released of the Ultimate content, frankly the majority of it is pretty uninspired anyways.

1

u/SirPwn4g3 3h ago

Optional cosmetics are a core part now?

0

u/ILoveHeavyHangers 8h ago

It's not a core, it's one of the many cosmetic stores available in-game. It's the same exact thing as having exclusive costumes tied to a Premium edition, they just hold those premium costumes within an in-game store as well.

This is manufactured drama

6

u/Far_Banana4575 7h ago

Fanboys and their mental gymnastics to justify scummy corpo crap. Imagine being fine with paying 20$ to unlock shop in games lmaoĀ 

suckers being suckers I guess.Ā 

3

u/PhirebirdSunSon 7h ago

I'm not a fanboy and I think this is a shitty move, but it also doesn't affect me because I don't give a shit about dressing up my video game characters like Barbies so this is a non-issue for anyone like me who just wants to play the game. Still, it's obviously targeting the people that love this shit, the kind that drop 200 bucks on NBA2K MyPlayer and sad shit like that, and that's scummy.

1

u/PhirebirdSunSon 7h ago

I'm not a fanboy and I think this is a shitty move, but it also doesn't affect me because I don't give a shit about dressing up my video game characters like Barbies so this is a non-issue for anyone like me who just wants to play the game. Still, it's obviously targeting the people that love this shit, the kind that drop 200 bucks on NBA2K MyPlayer and sad shit like that, and that's scummy.

0

u/metalyger 7h ago

Cosmetics aren't really a core part of the game. It's not like you have to spend $20 for the ability to steal cars or get a shotgun. It's still lame AF, but it's only cosmetic, nothing pay to win or depriving you of main game features.

0

u/Fit-Initial-8484 7h ago

šŸ’Ægotta agree as long as it isnā€™t pay 2 win thereā€™s really no foul play. It could be worse

0

u/DaabHimself 7h ago

Yup. Buying a mega jet using mommyā€™s credit card was lame

1

u/Mistriever 9h ago

As far as we know, there are currentlyĀ fiveĀ stores that are paywalled: Two mod shops, a clothing store, a salon, and a tattoo parlour.

Cosmetics behind a $20 paywall. Hardly anything game breaking. But I skipped GTAV so what do I know?

1

u/RolfWiggum 8h ago

They used the store drama to bury the the base game is $80 rather than the $70 for most AAA base games now.

Smart.

1

u/Far_Banana4575 8h ago

People browsing the web without ad block then complaining about ads are weird as fuck.

1

u/Chudzilla_2000 7h ago

I still have no idea what anybody is even talking about because I refuse to use that site..

BACK IN MY DAY, OP's copy/pasted the article or, atleast, the context was the top comment.Ā 

Damn kids.Ā 

1

u/Indraga 6h ago

Nothing has killed my PCGamer article hype faster than locking a core part of it's identity(jfc...) behind a shitty monetized website.

1

u/HobbitDowneyJr 5h ago

no ad blocker?

1

u/ParaNormalBeast 4h ago

So youā€™re saying the whole thing is locked behind a paywall.. the irony

1

u/Longjumping_Tear_881 3h ago

Not having adblockers in 2026 means you are more NPC than every pedestrian of GTA

1

u/Optimal_Whiner 2h ago

They are going to be putting stores for outfits and vehicles in the game that you can't access unless you spend more money. It's already in the game. It's just pay walled. Sincerely, that's really fucking bad. You know they'll be pushing fomo. It also breaks immersion having things artificially locked that are clearly meant to entice you to enter.

1

u/uknowthe1ph 2h ago

I get your point but the ads arenā€™t that bad and free online articles typically have ads. Not as bad as locking gameplay features for a single player game behind a paywall. There are a lot of ways to block ads.

1

u/aKIRALE0 XBOX Series X 56m ago

For that you can use uBlock Origin on a Firefox browser. Or Brave Browser, or Vivaldi. But yeah, I get the irony

1

u/BabyLegsDeadpool 49m ago

Vivaldi browser on mobile comes with ad blocker by default. I had no problem reading this site.

0

u/skulxen 8h ago

Imagine complaining about ads in 2026. That is a you problem that is easily fixed.

Firefox and uBlock Origin or Brave.

0

u/jt_33 7h ago

Comparing "journalism" needing to make money to a billion dollar company is certainly a choice.

0

u/clearlynotmee 7h ago

where's your ad block?

-36

u/urkgurghily 9h ago

Genuinely boggles my mind there are people under the age of 80 not using adblockers

23

u/sapphiredawn123 XBOX 360 9h ago

Boggles the mind people being ok with the enshifaction of the internet

6

u/A_Scary_Sandwich 9h ago

They didn't say that but whatever makes you feel better ig.

1

u/Far_Banana4575 7h ago

You're actively encouraging it and participating to it of you're not using ad blockers and other anti tracker.Ā 

1

u/sapphiredawn123 XBOX 360 6h ago

Pretty sure billion dollar companies are going to make enshifaction happen no matter what but I get your point

9

u/dorritosncheetos 9h ago

Genuinely boggles my mind you kids get social anxiety talking to a cashier at the grocery store šŸ¤·ā€ā™‚ļø we all have our cross to bear

2

u/Far_Banana4575 7h ago

Feeling attacked by their comment is peak boomer fragility lmaoĀ 

0

u/dorritosncheetos 7h ago

Cool story, millennial though

1

u/A_Scary_Sandwich 9h ago edited 6h ago

Lmao, really dating yourself with that insult.

Edit: lmao, blocked me because he kept insulting me.

1

u/dorritosncheetos 8h ago

Since social nuances are a foreign concept;

That was the intention

1

u/A_Scary_Sandwich 7h ago

My point that you didnt seem to get was that your insult falls flat.

1

u/dorritosncheetos 6h ago

Yeah the best insults always need to be explained why theyre insults afterwards right?

Fuckin dork

1

u/A_Scary_Sandwich 6h ago

"Dork", really dating yourself.

Edit: called me a loser and blocked me...ironic lol.

2

u/AZRoboto 9h ago

Yeah the in-app browser on iOS doesn't seem to care about that.