Of the bunch of GTA 6 info Rockstar have dropped today, June 24th, the price is the obvious bit that's worth us PC players taking notice of before we resume waiting for any news as to when the game'll arrive on our box of choice, that being the one it's skipping at launch. Turning to the bunch of extra tat that's been made exclusive to the latest Big Stealy Wheely's ultimate edition, however, I think there is one thing worth thinking about in the PCverse.

How much of said tat will be prime fodder for bundling in with the PC version at launch, as Rockstar try and get many people to buy it a second time? I've taken a look back through the contents of GTA 5's terrifying maze of different editions to see what they might suggest on the matter.

So, hopping into a time machine and riding back just over a decade, with a momentary pause to shudder at just how old I'm getting, I arrived at GTA 5's initial PC release on April 14th, 2015. That was a year and a half on from the game's console launch on September 17th, 2013. In between the two points, in late 2014, it launched on PS4 and Xbox One (the PC version was initially set to drop then too, but was delayed). As such, the launch version of GTA 5 on PC was actually a tarted-up enhanced version Rockstar had pulled together to lure PS3 and Xbox 360 players into chucking away more cash, with some PC-specific tweaks and technical sparkle sprinkled on top.

This 2014/2015 enhanced edition's now known as GTA 5's legacy version on PC, having since been supplanted by the expanded and enhanced edition that's the current most up-to-date way to play the game. With the right version pinpointed, there's a very handy table on the GTA Wiki that spells out exactly which of the extras included in the special and collector's editions on console release in 2013 ended up making their way into the enhanced edition that hit PC.

The likes of some stunt plane trials and custom ancestry with classic GTA characters for GTA Online characters were whisked across for free. Bonus cars, weapons, clothes, and tattoos were all made purchasable for in-game money, having been freely given to special and collector's edition buyers. PC edition first time buyers did miss out on some new extra cars and guns for returning Rockstar Social Club members, AKA those who played the original version before buying the enhanced one, but none of these were original version extras to my eye.

So, based on that, if Rockstar were to follow the same pattern for GTA 6, the chances of that game's litany of ultimate edition goodies being bundled into the PC version on release seem good. Notably, the studio appear to be locking five different shops behind the $20 more expensive version, having stated these are "only open for business with the ultimate edition". So, PC players might avoid having to pay extra just to be able to walk into the Electric Fang tattoo shop or mod a car at One-eyed Willie’s.

That's a big if, though. Plenty's changed about how games are monetised in the past decade, and if there aren't any brand new consoles to try and convince players to buy the game on shortly after release on the previous gen (if there are, they'll almost certainly not be cheap), the argument in favour of needing to give these established extras away with a PC launch is weaker.

Do I really care that much if my version of GTA doesn't come with some extra virtual t-shirts and an off-road buggy as recompense for the wait? Not too much, but I can certainly see it being very frustrating if after all that time, folks who paid more on release still have access to whole shops whose doors are closed to me simply because I try and keep my purse strings decently tight. Come on lads, take a time out from ruthlessly battling fired staff who've accused you of union-busting in court, and tell those of us on PC we're getting VIP entry to the special hairdressers.