Preload and play from minute one.

Predatory practices that rely heavily on FOMO.

Exclusive content and more commonly recently, early access.

I do not care for GTA or Rockstar, and don't see myself ever touching any of their games, but I believe everything we know about games goes out of the window in this scenario.

GTA6 is evidently a cultural event, and many will want to be there minute one whether they regularly play video games or not.

If you’re going to buy it anyway, why not line it up and get it good to go when its released? People are clearly happy to give it a go based on the studio’s previous titles.

Doesn't have to. Already made bank. People are preordering a game which they could just wait a day and download on day one.

At this point it doesn't matter.

How can it not? For most people, it will be a newer and better GTA 5. And that's all it needs to be. From the looks of it, it seems to even surpass that expectation. Maybe lot of people will be disappointed in the beginning, but only because they don't know the entire game yet. If this does not turn out to be a Cyberpunk 2077, then based on Rockstars track record, we can expect them to deliver.

The previews and leaks have looked pretty stunning. I'm not buying in at full price, or on PS5, but I do think it looks incredible.

Say what you will about Rockstar and their shitty, worker-exploiting, union-busting practices, but their last two new games, GTA5 and RDR2, were some of my favorite games of all time.

I can’t imagine the game being anything other than phenomenal.

(Doesn’t mean I’m going to buy it for either my Xbox or my PlayStation.)

I've just restarted playing GTA 5 singleplayer again and it's honestly unmatched. No other game comes close to their level and it was released in 2013. The hype is justified.

Pirate it and seed, even if you're not gonna play.

This is absolutely the way.

Yeah I'll just wait for the inevitable PC recompilation + multiplayer, and then enjoy GTA Online for free. (And then pirate the PC version when it comes up as a double fuck you to Rockstar.)

I mean Rockstar CEO, Strauss Zelnick, a few months ago was literally quoted bragging about how the deluxe version was outselling the standard version since they removed the full game from the standard version.

It downloads itself and is playable sooner. That’s the reason. Is it a good one? No. But it’s a reason.

I’m surprised you can’t pre download encrypted parts to ease the download time on launch.

I think Playstation has always attracted the most basic of gamers, and that, of that 76%, about 76% are completely unaware of Sony's position on physical gaming. And that's probably a conservative estimate.