Everything Locked Behind the GTA 6 Ultimate Edition Paywall

Rockstar Games finally confirmed the Grand Theft Auto VI editions and pricing ahead of pre-orders opening at midnight local time on June 25. The Standard Edition is $79.99 and the Ultimate Edition is $99.99. Just like that, everybody breathed a sigh of relief. The feared $100 standard price did not happen. The standard game is $80, and the $100 step-up is optional and likely unnecessary for most.

The only problem? The Ultimate Edition does not just bundle cosmetics. It locks entire in-game shops and two side missions behind the higher price. Most games sell a base version and a pricier "ultimate" version with extra bonuses. Usually, those bonuses are stuff that makes your in-game character look cooler. Unfortunately, the Ultimate Edition for the next Grand Theft Auto appears to gatekeep actual locations and content.

Locking cosmetic items behind a pricier edition is standard industry practice and bothers almost nobody. Locking entire shops and story side missions is different. It means a Standard Edition player, who paid $80, will walk past businesses in the game world they literally cannot enter, and miss quest content, unless they pay $20 more.

For a single-player game, that is a more aggressive monetization choice than the usual deluxe-edition cosmetics, and it is fair to point that out without pretending it is either a scandal or a non-issue. To be fair, the price jump is 'only' $20, from $80 to $100. Rockstar also confirmed the bonuses are "threaded across all aspects of Jason and Lucia's story, with new items uncovered behind each chapter," meaning the Ultimate content unlocks gradually rather than all at once.

You can also upgrade to Ultimate after launch, so it's not like you're locked out of the exclusive content forever. Besides, you get the complete core game either way. The shops and missions are extras and inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. Still, paywalling shops is potentially game-changing, with different players exploring Vice City having different doors open to them.

Whether the difference in the kind of story you get with your playthrough with Lucia and Jason bothers you is a personal call, but this is a deliberate design choice.

Moving on, everyone who pre-orders either edition before November 20 also gets the Vintage Vice City Pack, a free bonus with retro 1980s outfits for Jason and Lucia, a '55 Vapid Stanier sedan, and a Tommy Vercetti-style tropical weapon skin nodding to Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. Again, this pre-order incentive isn't exclusive to Ultimate Edition buyers.

Finally, a detail that has already annoyed millions across the globe is that the physical copy does not include a disc. It is a download code in a box. For the biggest game launch in history, a lot of fans expected an actual disc, especially after earlier promises made by Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick.

So which should you buy? If you want the complete experience with every shop, mission, and vehicle, Ultimate is $20 more, and you can see what you are paying for. If $80 is already your limit, the Standard Edition is the full core game, and as we covered in our budgeting guide, you can always upgrade later. Just go in knowing that "Standard" now means a few locked doors you will see but cannot open without paying more.