Imagine walking around Vice City and seeing an alluring-looking clothes store beckoning you in, only to be stopped at the door because you don’t have the correct membership. That could be what faces you in GTA 6 if you don’t choose to buy its Ultimate Edition.
We’re finally starting to find out more information about GTA 6 ahead of its November 19 launch. Recent details listed on the Rockstar website have raised questions about the power of its Ultimate Edition, though. Namely, the fact that several of its open-world businesses appear to be locked off from players if they opt to buy the standard edition. Pre-order bonuses and cosmetic gifts are no new thing when it comes to video games, but by the wording here – “only open for business with the Ultimate Edition” – it seems like certain shops, salons, and tattoo parlours won’t be accessible unless you own the more expensive version. So, how might this work, and will some players feel like they’re missing out by not spending those extra dollars?
We’re used to pre-order and special edition exclusives by now — indeed, Rockstar is no stranger, having offered a hardened War Horse and even harder in-game cash for Red Dead Redemption 2 to those who purchased the game before launch — but I can’t think of another game that has stopped you from stepping foot in a building before that’s part of its open world.
These include Sara’s Unisex Salon, in which players can get special hairstyles for both Lucia and Jason, the Stock 305 clothing store, which will provide unique and exclusive “elevated streetwear”, and the Electric Fang Tattoo shop, which is home to designs drawn by real-world artist collective FAILE. Quite how GTA 6 will handle these shops remains to be seen, but there are some pretty obvious ways this may work — either the doors will be locked and you can’t get in, the store could literally be closed for business with no signage or merchandise in the standard edition of the world, or you can walk around these store interiors without actually being able to make a purchase. Perhaps a shop assistant will ask you to purchase a “membership”, which in turn will take you to the PlayStation or Xbox store page for an Ultimate Edition upgrade?
However Rockstar has approached this, when it comes to single-player, it’s all pretty simple: cosmetics look good. But will this sort of perceived VIP exclusivity affect how Rockstar’s new iteration of GTA Online will work?
The current GTA Online community is one with a great amount of creativity and sense of humour, but it’s also home to a world filled with griefing. The ecosystem is built around player expression and identity, with money very much being the fuel that fires it, in both a virtual and physical sense. Therefore, being able to show off that you have access to haircuts, threads, and ink that other players don’t will be tempting for those who do. But those who choose to do so, may do it at their own risk. In my mind, I can already see hordes of players sitting outside of the Ultimate Edition exclusive Stock 305, open only for people deemed “worthy” of entering, waiting for its “VIP” customers to walk onto the street and into a hail of gunfire, an exploding slab of C4, or perhaps the front end of a muscle car. It’s a dog-eat-dog world out there, and I wouldn’t be shocked to see an “eat the rich” mentality permeate through the community.
This isn’t necessarily a concern of mine, but more of a prediction. If you put yourself out there to be noticed, don’t be surprised if you get some unwanted attention, too.
But there’s another Ultimate Edition bonus that may be more of a concern to fans of the campaign, and the first solid point towards what some of GTA 6’s missions may look like. We can all assume and infer from the two previous trailers that we’ll be getting involved in the standard Grand Theft Auto mix of car chases, gun fights, and bank robberies, but now it seems as if Gang Compounds are being added to the mix. It suggests a harkening back to the HD era of the series, such as Vice City and San Andreas, where gangs played a huge part in the stories, and taking over properties and areas of their maps served as key mechanics. But Standard Edition players seemingly won’t get to access one of these missions, suggesting they may well be more like side activities, rather than playing a crucial role in the plot.
The exclusive infiltration features “one of Leonida’s loudest and most socially active gangs, the PTT Youngin$” as Ultimate Edition players will be tasked with finding “a way to raid the PTT Youngin$ Illegal Goods Store in Southside Vice City and escape safely to score some special items and distinct contraband.” Whereas I fully expected GTA 6 to launch with cosmetics that only some could get their hands on, I have to say I’m a little surprised to see gameplay content locked behind a certain edition.
It feels like we’ve long moved on from missions or levels being tied to editions or platforms — GTA 4’s The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony being Xbox exclusives for a year jumps to mind — so it’s an intriguing move from Rockstar to bring this sort of thing back. Time will tell if this in-game opportunity will eventually become available to all, but I’m never really a fan of things like this being kept away from some players in a single-player game.
But I’d be lying if I said this has dampened my excitement for GTA 6 by any meaningful amount, and I’m sure these Ultimate Edition bonuses will be enough to tip me into buying that more expensive version. That’s the whole point of it, after all. If any game series understands how capitalism works, it’s GTA. What do you think? Are you planning on getting the GTA 6 Ultimate Edition for $100 or opting for the cheaper $80 standard edition? Has this extra content pushed you into buying one version over the other? Let me know in the comments!
Simon Cardy is a Senior Editor at IGN who can mainly be found skulking around open world games, indulging in Korean cinema, or despairing at the state of Tottenham Hotspur and the New York Jets. Follow him on Bluesky at @cardy.bsky.social.