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GTA 6 fans react to Ultimate Edition locking certain shops behind a paywall

As GTA 6 goes up for pre-orders, fans are reacting to the news that certain in-game content will be locked behind the $100 Ultimate Edition.

Jason from GTA 6 wearing a flowery shirt and sunglasses, leaning on a railing.

Rockstar Games

Published: Thursday, 25 June 2026 at 12:42 pm

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The release of GTA 6 was never going to be without incident, but the reveal that players will have to pay to access certain in-game shops has gone down rather poorly.

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After years of waiting, GTA 6 has just been made available to pre-order, and as part of that, players can spend a bit more to get their hands on the Ultimate Edition.

As with many Ultimate Editions, GTA 6's offers all sorts of exclusive cosmetics for players to use.

While you can comment on whether that's worth the money or not, it's largely uncontroversial as cosmetics don't impact gameplay in any way.

But alongside those cosmetics, GTA 6 locks certain shops, salons and tattoo parlours behind the Ultimate Edition paywall, making them inaccessible to anyone who only buys the Standard Edition.

Unsurprisingly, fans are not reacting well to this news.

"And the greed never ends…," one Reddit user wrote.

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Naturally, some fans saw the funny side of things, with one user remarking, "Imagine wanting to go to a clothes shop but the sign says the store is closed because you didn't pay for the Ultimate Edition. Next gen is finally here."

But beyond simply being annoyed at the impact on GTA 6 itself, many players were concerned about wider impacts on the industry, likening it to Oblivion's infamous 'Horse Armour' DLC fiasco.

"I hate you Rockstar," one user began. "This will set a precedent. If this game sells well (which it will), we will start to see companies expect us to pay $80 for a game with content locked behind another paywall."

But other users pointed out that this is not new ground for Rockstar, noting that "Even RDR2 had side missions locked behind a premium version".

It's a somewhat inauspicious way to kick off the final stretch towards one of the biggest games in the world, but as plenty have already pointed out, there's probably very little Rockstar could do that would stop people from buying GTA 6.

"Rockstar prints money. They are doing it because they can," concluded one user.

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Authors

Black and white cut-out portrait headshot of Alex Raisbeck, smiling against a lime green background.

Alex RaisbeckGaming writer

Alex Raisbeck is a Gaming Writer at Radio Times, covering everything from AAA giants to indie gems. Alex has written for VideoGamer, GamesRadar+, PC Gamer, PCGamesN and more.

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