When Grand Theft Auto 6 pre-orders went live at midnight, fans discovered something unusual about the physical edition: the box will contain no disc. Instead, Rockstar Games confirmed that physical copies will include a digital download code, a decision that freelance video games journalist Vic Hood said may “irk some physical collectors” even as she called the £69.99 price tag “fairly reasonable”. The more expensive Ultimate Edition, priced at £89.99, will include extra vehicles, weapons and outfits. In the US, the standard version costs $79.99 and the premium $100.
Hood noted that from Rockstar’s perspective the move makes sense, “as it reduces the amount of rebuying and reselling and helps prevent leaks”. Some fans quickly questioned the point of buying a physical copy without a disc, and others asked whether they would be able to resell the game or share the code, as can be done with traditional disc-based editions.
“GTA 6 will cost £70 but physical editions contain a digital download code, not a disc.”
Despite the controversy over the format, there appeared to be less anger about the price increase. One fan posted: “$10 won’t be such a big hit to consumers pockets, but I still hope $80 won’t become the norm.” That $10 increase over the typical $70 price tag for blockbuster games marks a notable shift from 2013, when GTA 5 launched at $59.99.
Joost van Dreunen, a professor of games business at NYU Stern, described the pricing as a “clever strategy” by Rockstar and its parent company Take-Two. “Take-Two is catering to the largest possible audience while offering die-hards an upgraded tier,” he said.
The game itself, which some analysts believe could be the most expensive ever made, will be released on 19 November for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S. Players who pre-order digitally can begin pre-loading on 12 November; the physical version will also be available from that date to support pre-loading.
GTA 6 has been a long time coming. Rockstar confirmed it was working on the follow-up to GTA 5 – one of the best-selling games of all time – in February 2022, after the Covid-19 pandemic delayed development. The road has been bumpy: the studio was hacked and assets from the work-in-progress were leaked online. Now, as pre-orders open, the biggest question for many fans is whether a box without a disc is really still a physical copy at all.