I don’t think I can produce an opinion for the Couch Company that will enrage people more. To be fair to my critics, I would not consider myself a GTA fan. I’ve enjoyed the games over the years; however, I wouldn’t say that I’m a Rockstar loyalist. I’m also aware that just a few articles ago, I put GTA V in my Mount Rushmore of gaming, an opinion I plan to elaborate in depth on the actual podcast in the future. With my bias and potential hypocrisy exposed for you all to criticize, I beg you all to hear me out. I have written a lot about the problems with the industry and the gaming community at large; however, this is the time to accomplish two things: One, we can actually come together and show the industry that gamers are not divided, and that we can put principle over entertainment. Second, we can show developers, once and for all, that standards must be met for the community even to consider purchasing a game.
GTA VI is the most anticipated game in gaming history, not to mention the most expensive game ever made. Those two things shouldn’t be taken lightly, especially for Rockstar Games. The game is estimated to have cost $2 billion to develop, with sales reported at $446 million currently in pre-orders. To make sure we are all on the same page, the development cost so far is only to get the game to launch, and the gross revenue is only from pre-orders. This leaves out the cost to maintain the game over its lifespan, the cost of future content development, and the cost to launch on PC. The revenue left on the table would still come from post-launch purchases and microtransactions. I understand what could happen to real people if this game fails. People would lose jobs, and a legend in the development space could go from top dog to a shell of itself. I don’t care. I want gamers to have the best possible product with the fewest compromises. Even with all the hype, this is the largest financial undertaking a developer has ever taken on. Rockstar Games is relying on you and me to make this a success. This is where our power lies.
The base price for GTA VI is $79.99, a $10 jump from the AAA launch norm over the past few years. I have zero problem paying more to get more, but from my perspective, we are not getting more at all, and that is where my problem lies. Rockstar recently chose to have their first gameplay reveal locked behind Netflix’s paywall, and according to reports, Netflix wrote a 9-figure check to make that happen, which was completely redundant because the same reveal was posted to YouTube only a few hours later. This is me speculating as an individual, but could this grand expense for Netflix be part of why they have increased prices and locked out password sharing for their consumers’ accounts? Obviously I can’t say that for sure, but Rockstar clearly was just in it for the bag, and there was no reason to put the reveal behind a paywall. This is more of a critique of principle.
This game has been in development for at least 12 years, and in the past 2 years, the launch date has been pushed back twice. Usually, that’s a good sign: pushing back the release to get things right. By Rockstar’s own admissions, I think they have lost the plot on what “getting things right” means. With this $80 purchase, here is exactly what you are getting: a single-player version of the game, either on PS5 or Xbox… that’s it. There is no definitive time frame for the single-player version’s PC launch, and no time frame for an online launch. I understand this wasn’t so different in the past, but when are we going to pay more and move toward modern consumer expectations?
Oh, also, the game will run at 30 fps at 1440p resolution. I’m sorry, but can we all agree that’s completely unacceptable? If you have a solid PC, why would you buy the game twice just to play the story early? To give Rockstar a little credit, I, like everyone else, think the game looks amazing, but spending $80 on a story running at 30 frames that’s been worked on for over a decade means there better not be a bug that needs fixing. Today’s standards, unfortunately, show that games are often released unfinished. I understand consoles today can’t match what a $2000 PC can do in terms of frames and resolution, but the base-model PS5 can run games at 120 frames at 1440p. There is absolutely no reason, whatsoever, that a game made for this long, with the most money ever spent, could not deliver on this expectation at launch.
It’s obvious to me that no one plays GTA for its plot. Will they? Yes, but that’s not the reason to keep playing; it’s all about online. Statistics from PlayStation and Steam show that between 22% and 30% (source depending) of GTA V purchasers have finished the solo story. With the other rough 70% not fully indulging in what the base game offers, I think it’s self-evident that online is why we keep playing. From the release of GTA V, there was only a 2-week gap before GTA Online launched. With the upcoming release of the next installment, Rockstar has been silent about an online timeline and their PC launch. I hate to keep beating a dead horse, but for a game being made for the last 12 years, shouldn’t there be at least an idea of when to expect these things? It could be the natural pessimist in me, but I find the silence concerning. The hyper-optimist in me dreams up a scenario where Rockstar is planning to quell our worst fears spectacularly. However, the reality is, we don’t know, and I hate not knowing. Continuing the speculation, in my conversations with other gamers, the idea that online play will have a subscription fee attached has come up. Just another thing that we may have to pay for, and not out of the realm of possibility.
Maybe my call for a boycott is overblown, and it very well could be, but I think I can say, on behalf of all gamers, we have reason to be worried. My biggest wish is that we could make our expectations clear, and that multi-billion-dollar corporations face financial consequences when they don’t deliver.
As always, I hope the best for our community, and at some point we actually get more when we pay more.