GTA Online announced a subscription service on March 25, which will provide paying players with certain benefits and bonuses. The news faced harsh criticism from large parts of the community.
This subscription service was announced by GTA Online: In a long blog post, Rockstar Games announced a new subscription membership for GTA Online. It is the first subscription model for the 9-year-old game.
For about 6 € a month, players on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S will receive new content and various bonuses every month. These include, for example, in March/April:
- 500,000 GTA-dollars credited to the Maze Bank account
- You can acquire the La Mesa auto shop for free via Maze Bank Foreclosures
- The membership fee at the LS Car Meet is waived. You will receive a credit of 50,000 GTA-dollars
- Yacht owners will receive a free upgrade to the Aquarius Superyacht
- Gussét-Frog-T-shirt and the Broker-Prolaps basketball jersey and shorts will be added to your wardrobe
- Triple GTA$ and RP at HSW races
- You will receive special offers on Cash Cards for GTA Online and other benefits with GTA+
However, the contents will not always remain the same. The current bonuses will be available for subscription holders from March 29 to April 27, after which they will change.
“Is this a joke?”
These reactions exist: In 2018 it was declared by gamesindustry.biz as the most profitable entertainment product of all time, surpassing, for example, the most profitable movie of all time, Avatar by James Cameron, with over 6 billion dollars.
The news about another monetization model for GTA Online was met with strong disapproval from large parts of the community. On reddit, Twitter, and YouTube, many fans and well-known content creators of GTA expressed their anger, sometimes in comments, but also in the form of biting memes.
Everyone: GTA 6 trailer or something red dead related
— DomTheBomb (@DomTheBombYT) March 25, 2022
Rockstar: pic.twitter.com/mg194EUj4m
In the responses to the official announcement on Twitter, disappointed and angry comments can be found:
- “I seriously thought this was a joke from a fake Rockstar account, but no. This is real.” – SWEGTA.
- “The sad part about this is that they will make a boatload of money with it. I really miss the 2000s era of Rockstar. It’s depressing what they have become.” – AlphaOmegaSin
- “Oh God, what a kick in the balls.” – Mutahar
- “Pay money and basically get nothing. A day of grinding gives you more than this subscription in a year. Unbelievable.” – i7-5960X on reddit (1199 Upvotes)
- “This is exactly the kind of thing Rockstar would make fun of in their games. It honestly feels like an April fools joke,” says ryantyrant on reddit..
Criticism has especially focused on the further increased monetization of GTA Online. The developers seem to be focusing only on inserting more microtransactions into the game rather than actual updates and improvements.
The contents of the subscription service itself also received a lot of criticism. The 500,000 GTA dollars are very little money that players can easily earn in a day. Other bonuses and benefits are also not enough to justify the subscription.
Several larger GTA and variety YouTubers also expressed negative opinions about the new subscription service. The YouTuber TheProfessional (1 M Followers) wrote:
If you as developers still have some decency and respect for your fans, pull this [subscription] back and apologize to the community. You have already betrayed the Red Dead community and now the GTA community as well. […]
In his reaction video to the announcement, TheProfessional also expressed his frustration that Rockstar has previously employed many “sneaky and greedy tactics” for which other companies were severely criticized.
At the same time, there were also concerns that GTA Online would now be altered to make the subscription service more attractive.
Some players expressed concerns that grinding will become tougher in the future and the top earning opportunities will be nerfed to push more people towards the subscription.
As an example, the lucrative Cayo Perico Heist was mentioned, which can give players up to 2 million GTA dollars for a single item. But other methods of effectively grinding money could also be affected, players are concerned.
GTA V Online recently received a strong wave of negative reactions regarding the release on next-gen consoles. The trailer for it received over 312,000 downvotes on YouTube with only 71,000 upvotes.
Additionally, there was a wave of review-bombing on Metacritic that brought the score of the game down:
PS5 players penalize GTA 5, dragging Metascore into the red zone: “Keep playing the PS4 version”
