GTA Online's new premium VIP perk is a bad omen for GTA 6, say fans

Rockstar’s decision to lock a sought-after GTA Online perk behind a paywall has some fans fearing for GTA 6’s fate.

Introduced in the Bottom Dollar Bounties update last week, the new Vinewood Club app is a VIP service for GTA Plus members, who pay £7 a month for a host of privileges.

You can order flash cars, purchase fee-free ammo, and (best of all) collect your business income. Everything you need to live out the American dream. Crucially for players, the in-game app frees you from visiting individual businesses to claim cash.

Naturally, some fans aren’t happy that Rockstar is charging for the added convenience.

“One of the slimiest things they’ve done in a while,” writes one incensed user on a popular Reddit post about the update.

“I bet GTA 6 will have this but probably much much worse,” states a person in the same thread.

Another irate user sums up everyone’s greatest fear: “They’re really gonna make GTA 6 Online a subscription aren’t they.”

Needless to say, no one knows what Rockstar is planning for GTA 6 or its online mode – all we’ve seen so far is a trailer for the new game. Still, we can safely say that making multiplayer subscription-based doesn’t mesh with the free-to-play craze currently sweeping the gaming world.

In its defence, Rockstar has kept GTA Online alive for 11 years by regularly pumping out free content for the game.

Still, the micro-transactions in its games aren’t to everyone’s taste. The most frequent criticism hurled at GTA Online is that its use of Shark Cards (premium bundles of in-game cash) and the GTA Plus subscription creates an uneven playing field, where those willing to pay can access the biggest and baddest toys before others.