Juan Alberto García, the Spanish streamer better known as IlloJuan, spent a couple of minutes on a recent stream showing off his Grand Theft Auto V Collector's Edition, the big physical box from the original 2013 release on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Honestly, it's hard not to feel like the video game industry took a massive step backwards since those days.
The streamer proudly showed off the SteelBook, the physical map of Los Santos and the New Era snapback with the fictional city's logo stitched across the front, which he called "mortal", Spanish slang for something so cool it is almost criminal. He also showed off a physical copy of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, among other PS2-era titles in his collection, including Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater.
Then IlloJuan said what a lot of collectors are thinking: this kind of thing is going to disappear as the video game industry prioritises other things. Just two console generations ago, a Collector's Edition could still mean a literal box of real, physical stuff bundled with the game.
In GTA V's case, the top-tier version cost US$149.99 in 20131 and came with that New Era Los Santos cap, a heist-style security deposit bag with a laser-cut logo key, a fold-out blueprint map of Los Santos, a metal SteelBook case and a pile of in-game bonuses. Even the cheaper US$79.99 Special Edition of the last Grand Theft Auto gave you a physical disc, the SteelBook and the map, which is more than the $99.99 Ultimate Edition of Grand Theft Auto VI currently puts in your hands.
Today, the US$79.99 GTA VI Standard Edition is sold digitally or as a code in a box. Rockstar's store says the boxed version contains no disc2, while its bonuses are digital: vehicles, weapons, clothes, businesses, two side missions and a month of Grand Theft Auto Online's GTA+ service. You get none of the elaborate packaging, the cap that reminds you of better times or anything else that earns a permanent spot on a shelf.
The matching sticker price hides another difference. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics' CPI-U index was 234.149 in September 2013 and 333.918 in July 2026.3 On that measure, US$79.99 in 2013 is about US$114.07 in July 2026 dollars. GTA VI's US$79.99 Standard Edition therefore costs less in inflation-adjusted terms, but the current offer also gives buyers none of the physical extras Rockstar bundled at that price in 2013.
GTA V vs GTA VI Editions
— | Grand Theft Auto V (2013) | Grand Theft Auto VI (2026) |
|---|---|---|
Entry price | US$79.99 Special Edition | US$79.99 Standard Edition |
What that price got you | Physical disc, collectible SteelBook, fold-out blueprint map and in-game bonuses | Digital license, delivered digitally or as a code in a box; no disc or physical extras |
Premium tier | US$149.99 Collector's Edition | US$99.99 Ultimate Edition |
What the premium tier added | New Era Los Santos snapback, security deposit bag with logo key and in-game extras | Digital vehicles, weapons, apparel, businesses, two side missions and a month of GTA+ |
Physical collector's items | SteelBook, cap, map and deposit bag | None in the currently announced editions |
What remains physically in your possession | The game package, SteelBook, blueprint map and other included physical items | A code-in-box case, but no disc or comparable physical extras in the currently announced offering |
What the same US$79.99 sticker price bought in 2013 and 2026.
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To be fair, plenty of old collector's editions were overpriced clutter: plastic statues and art books that went straight into a closet. Even in 2013, you could find people online saying they would never actually use the bag, key or hat. The physical era produced plenty of landfill too. What makes IlloJuan's example land is that the stuff he is holding is the good kind: wearable, tasteful and genuinely usable.
It is not necessarily that people want every piece of physical merchandise to return. It is more about the loss of physical media, especially the well-made editions that feel like something worth keeping. Rockstar Games co-founder Dan Houser has argued that companies should keep making physical editions because there is still a demand for them.
The industry did not walk away from physical extras because every fan stopped wanting them. IlloJuan admitted he could not remember the last time he had gone out and bought a physical game. The habit changed because the financial maths changed.
A cap and a metal case cost real money to manufacture, ship and store. Digital extras cost almost nothing to reproduce and can be distributed to every buyer without filling warehouses. When Take-Two Interactive talks about pulling more value from each player, a warehouse full of snapbacks is the exact opposite of that. IlloJuan's "this is not what gets prioritised" is really a sentence about margins.
Perhaps the fight now should not be about bringing back every physical disc, even if some studios are still choosing to make them. It should be about making sure the license lives on when servers and storefronts no longer do. That same anxiety is pushing fans to rebuild old games on modern PCs before they disappear entirely.
None of this nostalgia will stop GTA VI selling in enormous numbers when it launches on November 19. Rockstar could still announce a physical premium edition later. But right now, IlloJuan sitting there with the last mainline GTA package that put a disc, map and SteelBook on the shelf still stings.