GTA 6 pre-orders are finally live, and unless you’ve been living under a rock, you already know what the only conversation is making rounds on the internet. Should you go for the Standard Edition, or cough up another $20 for the GTA 6 Ultimate Edition? On paper, the choice seems quite straightforward and sensible to get the Standard Edition for $79.99, which still gets you the base game and pre-order bonuses with that shiny Vice City drip you’ve been gazing at all day today.

Then there’s the elephant in the room: the $100 Ultimate Edition, which isn’t selling you any extra missions or story expansions. Instead, Rockstar is capitalizing on FOMO, which is far more dangerous than the deadliest weapon Jason can use while wrecking the entire state of Leonida.

I spent some time digging through GTA 6’s listing on the PlayStation Store and Xbox Store, and the more I looked at it, the more I confirmed something I already suspected: Rockstar has engineered this whole thing to bleed your wallet dry, and they knew exactly what they were doing.

GTA 6 Ultimate Edition is Designed to Give Base Owners FOMO – F***ed Over, Milked Obviously

So, as you may have already seen in your local store listing, GTA 6 Standard Edition is priced at $79.99 and the Ultimate Edition at $99.99. Hence, that gap we’re talking about is 20 bucks. Basically, a Jackson, two Hamiltons, and some change. Not a steep price, but still pinches where you’re getting content in the name of “premium experience.”

Well, so what will I get if I shell out that additional $20, Rishabh, you may ask. To which I’ll reply: “Oh, nothing fancy. Just the keys to some of the most essential shops locked behind a paywall in Vice City and some boujee drip that’ll make your friends jealous. After all, that’s all the “true GTA experience” is all about, isn’t it? Wear fancy clothes, drive fancy cars, shoot around s**t, and visit a strip club.

Ultimate Edition brings five exclusive shops that owners can access on day one. You can check more about those in our GTA 6 locked shops guide right here. Now let that sink in for a sec. These aren’t some DLC expansions that can change the way you experience the GTA 6 story, right? But they are equally crucial as locations such as a gang compound, a mod shop, a tattoo parlor; all of these locations have been the bread and butter of any GTA title.

So, Rockstar didn’t add these extras to the Ultimate Edition; instead, they took them out of the base game and slapped a price tag on getting them back in the new title. And beyond the locations, we’re talking hundreds of customization options – clothes, weapon skins, car skins, actual cars, tattoos – all sitting behind that $20 wall while Standard Edition players make do with whatever Vice City’s bargain rack has to offer.

Accept It or Not, You Will Eventually Go for the GTA 6 Ultimate Edition Upgrade

Yeah, I mean it. You will eventually give in and shell out that $20 premium. Because what Rockstar has diabolically done is so clever, you won’t see it coming. GTA 6 will feature a chapter-based story progression this time around, and as you complete each chapter, these paywalled locations, cosmetics, and vehicles will start unlocking for everyone, including Standard Edition players. So it’s not like you’re completely locked out forever. You will get there eventually. The catch? Ultimate Edition players have that access from day one.

And this is where Rockstar’s plan becomes crystal clear. Picture this: you buy the Standard Edition. You boot up GTA 6. Your friend who went Ultimate Edition is already roaming Vice City looking like an absolute menace – dripped out, tatted up, rolling in a fully modded truck. You? You look like someone who just woke up on the beach in the game’s opening scene in your underwear.

Ultimately, the jealousy creeps in, and when chapter one isn’t even done, you’re texting your buddy about a particular skin or vehicle they have, and you don’t. That’s the FOMO activating in real time, and that’s when Rockstar’s plan kicks in full gear. Conveniently, you can upgrade to the Ultimate Edition at any point, even when GTA 6 pre-orders close. At any time. Whenever the urge strikes you. Because they built the upgrade path right into the ecosystem, like a dealer leaving the door open.

The GTA 6 Ultimate Edition price upgrade, worth $20, is a steep ask, especially when a game that calls itself a crime drama is out here committing highway robbery on its own player base. You just can’t make this stuff up. But regardless, it’s gonna work. The FOMO will get to gamers, probably millions, and the upgrade button will be pressed more than mashing buttons to enter the cheat codes.

Would a flat $100 game have been better? Maybe. Probably. A lot of players would’ve screamed bloody murder about that pricing, and Rockstar likely knew it. So instead, they split it into an $80 base and a $20 FOMO tax. Smarter. Sneakier. Very on-brand for a company that has spent the better part of a decade turning GTA Online into a second economy.

So, welcome back to Vice City, folks. Leave your wallet at the door – actually carry it with you. You’re gonna need it.