I Hate That GTA 6 Will Get Away With It

Grand Theft Auto 6 is going to be a disaster. Not commercially. For you and me and the future of gaming consumerism.

There has never been a more anticipated game than GTA 6, and Rockstar knows it. It will be an unprecedented hit, and probably for good reason – Grand Theft Auto has never disappointed; Red Dead Redemption has never disappointed; why would GTA 6 be any different? We haven’t seen a single second of actual gameplay (I expect that to change soon with a third trailer), and Rockstar is effectively guaranteed to turn a profit, regardless of however ludicrously expensive GTA 6 was to develop. Rockstar is wielding this unparalleled power irresponsibly.

GTA 6 Begins The Age Of $80 Games

Years-long conjecture was finally put to an end by Rockstar announcing Grand Theft Auto 6‘s price, $80. This bucks a relatively recent convention of premier, triple-A games – admittedly a nebulous, inexact definition – costing $70, a new price point brought in alongside the first two ninth-generation consoles, the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S. The rationale has been inflation, which is a fair argument from publishers, and I think we’re actually in a time when games are generally being priced accordingly. We occasionally get a “big” game for 40 or 50 bucks. Even Nintendo isn’t slapping a $70 price tag on every game by default.

Yes, it is funny that I brought up Nintendo in a discussion of video game prices, the company that first listed a title at $80, Mario Kart World. But for all the outrage it received a year ago, it so far hasn’t been a problem that’s reared its ugly head a second time. I expect the next 3D Super Mario to be $80, and I wouldn’t put it past Nintendo to use that price point for the Ocarina of Time remake, but it has so far been a one-off. Donkey Kong Bananza didn’t cost $80, neither did Pokémon Pokopia.

Mario Kart World is seen as this bizarre Nintendo outlier. Really? The new Mario Kart? That’s the game we’re charging an extra $10 for?

But GTA 6 is different. Rockstar’s games are different. Eight years on, Red Dead Redemption 2 still has the most detailed, impressive open world – and by quite a large margin, I might add. Where people look at Mario Kart World and scoff at the idea that it is priced at $80, they look at GTA 6 (again, with no gameplay yet shown) and think, “Now that’s a game that is probably worth $80.” It’s a dangerous notion.

Everything else aside, products getting more expensive is bad for consumers. Inflation was a passable excuse for games adopting the new $70 threshold, but wages are not increasing at the same rate. Six years later, Rockstar is trying to raise the bar again, and GTA 6 will probably be the game to succeed. Rockstar knows you will pay $80 for GTA 6. Rockstar knows I will pay $80 for GTA 6. If Mario Kart World was some sort of fluke, easily gotten at a discount when bundled with the brand-new Switch 2, Grand Theft Auto 6 is the game that finally opens the floodgates, releasing on six-year-old hardware that recently saw a price increase.

There Is No Standard Edition, Only GTA 6 Lite

The real kick to the shins, though, is that the $80 version of Grand Theft Auto 6 isn’t really the full game. Deluxe editions are nothing new, and the degree to which various games use them predatorily is a regular point of conversation ahead of major releases. Paid early access gets its due flak, but the prevalence of bonus cosmetics and digital goodies like soundtracks in such editions is generally harmless. GTA 6‘s ultimate edition is already being lambasted as a new, scummy low.

Grand Theft Auto 6‘s $100 ultimate edition, per Rockstar, includes “an exclusive collection of premium vehicles, weapons, apparel, and action” that is “threaded across all aspects of Jason and Lucia’s story, with new items uncovered behind each chapter.” Here is the full list of ultimate edition bonuses:

• ’95 Grotti Cheetah vehicle
• Hawk and Little Morgan revolvers
• Personalized variants of Jason’s Girardi ES9 pistol and Lucia’s Klose K17 pistol
• Vice City style, comprising exclusive outfits, tattoos, and more
• Jason’s safehouse vehicles: an Army fatigue-tinged Dinka Enduro motorcycle and Crest Kayak
• Ganado Retro Build modkit for Jason’s Vapid Ganado low-riding pickup
• Rideout Customs mod shop to customize vehicles – “Only open for business with the Ultimate Edition”
• Sara’s Unisex Salon with signature styles for both Jason and Lucia – “Only open for business with the Ultimate Edition”
• Shitzu Squalo watercraft
• Stock 305 clothing store with exclusive looks for both Jason and Lucia – “Only open for business with the Ultimate Edition”
• ’67 Vapid Dominator Buggy vehicle and a garage to store it in
• Electric Fang tattoo shop – “Only open for business with the Ultimate Edition”
• One-Eye’d Willie’s mod shop to customize vehicles – “Only open for business with the Ultimate Edition”
• Goodtime Gear apparel and accessories
• PTT Youngin$ Illegal Goods Store – “Raid the compound of one of Southside Vice City’s loudest and most socially active gangs and escape safely to score some special items and distinct contraband”
• Classic Car Collection – “Track down a variety of abandoned classic and work-in-progress project cars and revitalize them to their former glory in this special commission from eccentric collector and local fixer, Wyman”

I only list it all out here to show how absurd it is. Exclusive cosmetics aren’t surprising, but it’s genuinely baffling that they’re sold in stores only available to ultimate edition buyers. Let me reiterate: fake clothes are sold in fake stores that won’t even be open in a fake city unless you’ve paid an additional $20 for GTA 6. Game developers often get accused of cutting out content to reconfigure into DLC. Those accusations are usually, likely baseless, but that’s literally what Rockstar has done here. Those stores are going to be somewhere in Vice City, but they won’t be “open for business” unless you drop $100 on the game.

The same goes for the exclusive gang compound and commission – i.e., pay-gated missions. It’s infuriating. There is a growing sentiment that deluxe editions are actually the full versions of games, and the standard editions are nefariously scaled back, a trick to entice more profits. I tend to think it’s an overly strong accusation for most games, but not with GTA 6. That is exactly what Rockstar is doing.

And now the discussion of an $80 price tag is recontextualized. That’s just the price to get in the door, because the full game is actually $100. If I’m a gaming executive, beholden to shareholders, dead set on making the line go up, Rockstar just made my day. If Rockstar can charge $100 for a full game, why shouldn’t we charge $80 for ours? Or $70 for a “standard” edition with locations and missions cut out and locked behind the “ultimate” edition? Then we can say we’re not really increasing our prices.

Rockstar is an industry leader, and it’s leading us into a quagmire of video game pricing. My gut tells me it won’t work for others because they’re not making games on the same level as Grand Theft Auto 6 – and they shouldn’t, to be clear; not every game needs to be a technical marvel a decade in the making. Consumers are smart. They know GTA 6 is an outlier. The pricing is absurd, but what am I going to do, not play it? Besides, Rockstar isn’t leaving us any room to compromise.

Rockstar Killed The GTA 6 Resale Market

I’m sorry to inform you that the situation is yet worse. There is, essentially, no such thing as a Grand Theft Auto 6 physical copy. You can order one, but you won’t get a disc, not even one with a download license on it, which is how most physical copies work nowadays. GTA 6‘s physical version is a box with a code in it.

Let’s get the legitimate reasons for this out of the way first. Rockstar (understandably) doesn’t want actual physical copies of the most anticipated game ever to break the street date. Forcing everyone to effectively use the digital version ensures no one will be playing early, and theoretically combats scalpers.

Conveniently for Rockstar and parent company Take-Two, this also makes it impossible to buy a used copy of Grand Theft Auto 6. If you want to play GTA 6, you have to pay $80. If you want to play all of GTA 6, you have to pay $100. You could wait for a sale, but it’s realistically not going to see a significant discount for quite some time.

Now, I won’t fault anyone for buying GTA 6 – or the ultimate edition, for that matter. Hell, I am going to buy the game on release day, barring the incredibly unlikely event that it’s a dud. I also don’t necessarily fault Rockstar for charging $80 for it. If it’s a truly ground-breaking game, and this is what it takes to keep the developers employed, then fine, charge a premium. (Let’s be real, though; the price is about profit, and not avoiding more layoffs that totally weren’t about union-busting.)

The issues stem from Rockstar’s adverse amount of leverage, combined with the plethora of anti-consumer facets outlined above, and the precedent it sets. Rockstar is going to rake in profits through predatory practices, encouraging other publishers to do the same. Less ambitious games may not be able to pull it off. Like I said, consumers are smart. Grand Theft Auto 6 will get away with it because it’s an almost irresistible release, a potentially generation-defining game. I hate that it might make gaming more unaffordable.

Released

November 19, 2026

ESRB

Rating Pending – Likely Mature 17+

Engine

Rockstar Advanced Game Engine (RAGE)

Multiplayer

Online Multiplayer