The hype for “Grand Theft Auto VI” is arguably the most anticipated game of all time, which makes sense since the last installment released 13 years ago. 

I myself was excited to jump into Leonida, Rockstar Games’ interpretation of Florida, but Wednesday’s price reveal changed my hype into disappointment due to Rockstar’s anti-consumer practices. 

“GTA VI” standard edition preorders are available for $80, with an ultimate edition preorder available for $100. 

The first anti-consumer practice is the game’s pricing; the AAA standard price for games currently is $70. 

However, that’s not to say that companies haven’t tried to push for $80 as Microsoft initially planned to launch “The Outer Worlds 2” last year for $80, but outrage from gamers led to the price being reverted back to $70. 

“Mario Kart World” also targeted an $80 price tag for it’s physical release at launch on Nintendo Switch 2 last year and retailed at such a price. 

While “Mario Kart World” was locked as a Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive, only a game as large as “GTA VI” could allow for the rest of the industry to raise the AAA standard pricing. 

That’s just considering the standard edition. The ultimate edition is where the second predatory practice occurs. 

In the ultimate edition, you get your obligatory cosmetic exclusives, ranging from weapon variants to outfits. This has been a thing in gaming for ages, but “GTA VI” changes things. 

Instead of being entirely cosmetic based, locations and gameplay items are locked behind the ultimate edition, ranging from weapons to vehicle mod shops, which were included for free in the base game of “GTA V.” 

What this means is that while exploring the map, there will be locations completely inaccessible solely because you didn’t pay an extra $20.  

Sure, you get a lot of cosmetics for $20 and there are almost certainly more stores available in the base game, but locking gameplay items behind a paywall is inherently exploitative, as the standard edition of the game no longer contains the completed game. 

That’s not to mention that preordering automatically grants you a free month of GTA+ for an online mode that isn’t included with the game at launch. 

Having the online mode release after launch isn’t anything new for Rockstar, but automatically turning recurring billing on for a subscription is a problem. 

If that wasn’t bad enough, it only gets worse; you can’t even get a physical disc on launch, which is the third greedy practice. 

There won’t be any physical disc of “GTA VI” at launch. Instead, physical copies will contain a digital code. 

Adding to my frustration, a leak was reported on Thursday claiming that “GTA VI” would receive a physical disc after launch in December. 

This is good for game preservation, but just incredibly stupid. 

Why no physical disc is available at launch isn’t something known at this time, but the likely answer is to prevent leaks and theft. 

Yet that’s going to happen regardless of any physical product if it’s valued enough by those wanting to purchase the game. 

Delaying the physical disc also makes it a worthless purchase to preorder the game physically for a code in-box as you’d have to spend the full $80 again for the disc when the time comes. 

The most infuriating part is that this all stems from a leak, not Rockstar themselves.  

For a company spending billions to make their game, you’d think that they could at least put some of that budget towards proper communication and transparency. 

As a consequence of “GTA VI’s” actions, two possible futures arise. 

On one hand, the rest of the gaming industry will aim to set their prices at $80 for standard editions. On the other hand, the gaming community will boycott these prices. 

Let’s be honest: “GTA VI” will sell regardless, as it’s the most anticipated game of all time, but not standing for fair consumer practices will result in a worse gaming industry moving forward. 

Things are already bad enough with abrupt studio closures and subscription price increases. Do you really want to pay more for an incomplete game? 

I sure don’t. 

Luke Brewer can be reached at 581-2812 or at [email protected].