By: Kevin Goodwin

With the release date of the highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto VI quickly approaching, there’s plenty to be excited about, but various concerns seem to be plaguing the hype. It’s been over 13 years since the last new release in the series, leaving fans desperate for a fresh experience. Will it be worth the $80 price tag, or should you save your money instead?

Arguably the biggest concern for the game revolves around ownership rights. On July 1, 2026, Sony announced through a blog post that PlayStation games will no longer be sold as physical disks by January 2028. Since then, many PlayStation fans have been in an uproar, citing that, unlike physical games, digital games can be stripped from the purchaser at any time for any reason. Various complaints have been made over the lack of a physical release for GTA VI, with many people noting that both the soundtrack and the original score, composed by Justice, have CD and vinyl pressings.

Furthermore, the Collector’s Box has received significant scrutiny for the lack of a copy of the game, digital or otherwise, at an eye-watering $400. This exorbitant price is largely due to the Oakley® Frogskins™ sunglasses included, which retail for $150. Previously seen as a promotional product for GTA: Vice City, a coke mirror is also included, replacing the model seen on the original with a pink alligator character. An explicitly decorative swizzle spoon and a blunt-edged razor blade keychain are also covered, among other items. For an M-rated game’s collector’s edition, many of these decisions come off as excessively sanitized.

Security concerns for GTA VI at launch are in question, as the update requirement to play the game at launch continues to rise. As a precaution to delay piracy, PS5 players will be forced to update to firmware version 14.22 in order to play the game. This will likely change in the following days. Much like the original release of GTA V, GTA VI will most likely be locked to 30 FPS, so if this would be a dealbreaker for you, then you’re probably better off waiting until either the PC release or the next console generation. Triple-A games have been following a trend of increasing file size for well over a decade, and GTA VI is no exception. At 212 gigabytes, if you don’t have a lot of data storage, now would be a good time to start making space. If you’re having thoughts about buying the game, I can’t stop you. However, I urge you to wait at least one week after release to determine whether the game is worth your time. While the gameplay reveal looked pretty, so did the trailers for Cyberpunk 2077, and we all remember how great that game ran on launch day.

Kevin Goodwin is a freshman at Holy Family University