GTA 6 Fans Cancel Pre-Orders Over the $400 Vice City Box
Rockstar's Vice City Collection went up for pre-order on 24 September at $399.99, with no copy of the game inside. Within days, fans online turned on it. We're labelling this Reported: pre-order cancellations and community sentiment aren't something Rockstar confirms or denies, but multiple outlets are independently documenting the same complaints, the same quotes, and the same refund threads.
Fans call the price a ripoff, not a collector price
Kotaku collected reactions describing the box as overpriced for what's inside, with one commenter summing up the mismatch: fans wanted the game's leads, Jason and Lucia, and got a stuffed alligator instead. GamingBible found similar responses, including a Reddit user who put it bluntly: "$400 for a box full of junk."
The complaint isn't the price alone. Rockstar's own Ultimate Edition of the game costs $99.99, a quarter of what the box costs, and includes the actual game. The Vice City Collection is merchandise only, something our report on the official reveal already flagged: pay for the box and the game separately, and the total climbs past $479.
The mirror, spoon and keychain aren't new designs
Part of the backlash is about what's actually in the box rather than what it costs. GamingBible reports that several items, specifically a magnetic mirror, a swizzle spoon, and a razor-blade keychain, read as updated versions of merchandise Rockstar sold alongside the original Vice City decades ago. Those objects double as drug-paraphernalia references in that game's satire, and fans online are pointing out that Rockstar reused the joke rather than designing something new for GTA 6's take on Leonida.
TechPowerUp's write-up of the box contents lists the same set: a Macca the Gator figure, Oakley sunglasses, a New Era cap, enamel pins, and the poster, alongside those three smaller items. None of the coverage disputes what's physically in the box. The disagreement is over whether it justifies the price.
Pre-orders are being cancelled, not just criticized
GamingBible pulled direct quotes from Reddit threads of fans reversing their orders. "After a good night, I cancelled and I feel better," one wrote. Another said they "slept on it after pre-ordering and decided it was a waste of money." A third commenter argued that buying the box anyway "contributes to the normalisation of mediocrity for future products."
That's a genuine reversal, not just online complaining. Rockstar's last limited physical item, the GTA VI: The Album vinyl, sold out within minutes. GamingBible reports the Vice City Collection has done the opposite: as of its report, the box had yet to sell out, despite being pitched as limited-quantity stock.
Rockstar has sold a no-game box before, just not at this price
A companion box without the game isn't new for Rockstar. The Red Dead Redemption 2 Collector's Box cost $99.99 and shipped without a copy of that game either, framed as an add-on rather than an edition. The Vice City Collection follows the same format at roughly four times the price, which is the detail fueling most of the comparison threads fans are posting.
Rockstar hasn't responded to the criticism
None of the coverage we reviewed cites a statement from Rockstar addressing the backlash, and the Newswire listing for the collection hasn't been edited or pulled. That's consistent with how Rockstar has handled criticism of merchandise before: it doesn't typically comment, and pricing or contents don't tend to change after a reveal. If you're waiting to see whether Rockstar drops the price or swaps an item before you decide, the pattern says don't count on it.
What doesn't change if you skip the box
Cancelling a Vice City Collection pre-order has no effect on your actual game pre-order. The Standard and Ultimate Editions are unchanged, still $79.99 and $99.99, and still include everything Rockstar has listed for each. If your interest in the box was the game-adjacent merchandise rather than a specific must-have item, refunding it and buying nothing loses you nothing on launch day. Our countdown page tracks how many days you actually have left to decide.
If you already own the box and like it, none of this changes what arrives at your door. The backlash is about value for a piece of merchandise, not about anything wrong with the physical product itself. Treat the "slop" framing as one side of a price argument, not a quality recall.