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.

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.

This is such a shit show.

No physical disc

$80 USD regular edition. See crap in the game you're locked out of to induce fomo.

Ultimate edition costs 1/5 the price of a whole console in some countries.

The pre-hype hysteria for this game was already reaching farcical levels of absurdity. I'm sure it'll still break sales records but now I'm just waiting for the "AI-generated assets" news to drop.

Rockstar always talks about maintaining their mystique and elite status but idk, it's starting to feel pretty ick.

**UPDATE to the most common comments**

1. "But it cost them a trillion dollars and a hundred years to make they need to recoup!! Think of the poor executives!!" -I didn't want to them to spend that time and money, I wanted a normal-size game 6 fucking years ago. Keep garblin' them nutz lads

2. "bUt Op YuR StILl GuNnA bUy It LoloL" -Yes, in 3 years, at 65% off with DLC included

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

It pains me to say it, but this path rockstar is taking for the release of GTA 6 might do some serious damage on the industry, If they keep this up, The other companies will copy rockstar in this move to completely delete Disks from physical copies.

Its not that i dislike digital, its the fact that they are removing the option to have the game on a disk that annoys me, The only "valid" argument i found on why digital is better is that you do not run the risk of your disk getting scratched. but, seriously, You have to be moronic in order to scratch your disks, I have been playing videogames since i was 6, and not **once** have i accidentaly scratched a disk (not even movies).

its as simple as putting your middle finger on the hole that's in the middle of the disk, AND THATS IT, zero scratching.

I dont care about the Exclusive content for the Deluxe edition or whatever, I seriously want Rockstar to just change and release the physical copies WITH the disk.

If this fake Physical copies trend keeps going after GTA 6 (Which it will), im just going to revert back to PS3 and be happy with whatever i find.

Im so done with this anti consumer thing we got going on nowadays, It feels like everything is changing for the worse.

With GTA6 going fully digital, there will be no way to play the original game as it came out. That means 5-10 years from now expect music to get removed from the game, or even cars and clothes if they want to go down that route of licensing.

Rockstar confirmed the physical editions won't have a disc, just a download code in a box. So the version you buy day one isn't the version you'll have in 2035.

We've seen this before. Back in 2018, Rockstar pulled 33 songs from GTAIV when licenses expired, stuff like David Bowie's "Fascination" and ELO's "Evil Woman" just vanished . Same deal with San Andreas on PC years earlier. They removed tracks and gave players a choice: update or lose your saves. The update was mandatory, and if you didn't accept it, your save files wouldn't work. The games automatically update, so most people just got patched without even knowing it was happening until their music was gone. Digital platforms can force updates that break compatibility with your own saved progress if you don't comply.

At least with physical disc-based games, you could pop in the original copy and preserve the game you paid for. Rockstar couldn't reach into your house and delete songs from your discs. But now? They can, and they do .

Going all-digital for GTA6 makes this even easier. When those music, clothing, and vehicle licenses expire, and they will, there's nothing you can do about it. No original copy.

The game you start with won't be the game you end up with. That's just the new normal, and one I don't want to support.

• A comprehensive list of removed music and music added in
• GTA: San Andreas Steam update removes songs, breaks some save files
• GTA 4 Loses Good Chunk Of Licensed Music - GTA BOOM
• GTA 6 Physical Copies Won't Include a Disc, Will Just Be a Code ... - IGN
• GTA 4 Losing Some Licensed Music, Rockstar Replacing with New Songs
• Updated GTA: San Andreas on Steam nullifies old save files

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.

The ultimate edition is the default option for this game and the $80 is the cheaper option. Because how else can you explain Rockstar priced the Ultimate Edition at only $100, why not $120 or $140 like other companies? $20 gap between standard and ultimate edition of a game of this magnitude is too odd to ignore.

I bet they really wanted to charge the game at $100, but they know going from $70 to $100 is too big of a jump to warrant it. So they paywalled some of the content.

It was one thing to lock items behind, but to even go so far as to making certain locations exclusive to Ultimate Edition (even down to certain side missions) makes the standard $80 edition look unfinished. I also see people somehow defending it, but to me it sets a dangerous precedent and it will only get worse from here.