Grand Theft Auto V, back in 2013, costed seventy dollars and being over sixteen gigabytes on Xbox's Games On Demand service. Some people believe the game is worth that much, and that many stores, even a month later after initial release, were still frequently sold out on GTA V copies, whereas other players are just annoyed because it's both ten dollars more expensive than other big games that year (Bioshock Infinite, Saints Row 4, Metal Gear Rising, etc, which was in itself a Broken Base for Microsoft's financial department) and that, well, it's seventy frickin' dollars for a single game (a sentiment echoed for the raising AAA prices of games in 2021, particularly PlayStation 5 games.
In a similar vein is the PC version still costing sixty dollars at launch. Many feel that the game should have a reduced price since it was over a year old, in addition to the numerous delays.
Mid 2020 also flared up a new debate when Rockstar announced a remaster of the game for the ninth generation of consoles. Supporters say that if somebody's first console is a PS5 or Xbox Series X|S, they're going to need to purchase a copy so it's good that Rockstar made it available, while detractors say that this is just a lazy attempt milking the game for yet more money instead of making GTA VI (not helped when people noted the trailer was literally rehashed from old trailers, particularly the original reveal trailer from November 2011.)note Rockstar has stated GTA VI is in its early development stage. It's gotten so notable that even Elon Musk posted a tweet making fun of it.
The follow up trailer released in September 2021 has gotten even more backlash. Many gamers feel that there are no significant improvements over the existing versions on Xbox One and PS4, considering that they are backwards compatible with their respective successors. Gaming commentators on YouTube have also pointed out several flaws in the trailer, such as Lester sitting in two chairs during "The Paleto Score", yellow license plates on cars during "Legal Trouble" and "I Fought the Law", and unrealistic lighting and egregious Lens Flare during several scenes to demonstrate "improved" graphics.
Whether you like any of the protagonists other than Franklin will typically set off a multipage debate on whatever game forum you are on. With Michael, it's the Mood Whiplash of his portrayal which either is playing on his self-delusion or just crummy writing. With Trevor... playing as a nutcase prone to random violence has gotten (surprisingly for this series) mixed reviews. And that's excluding being introduced by killing off all the main characters of The Lost and the Damned easily and just for being pissed.
The addition of "special abilities" which allows Michael enter a Max Payne-esque Bullet Time to allow him to make precise shots, Trevor to enter a Limit Break mode where he deals double-damage while becoming virtually invincible, and Franklin to slow down time around him while driving. Some people find these features to be too "gimmicky" or "arcadey" for the series while others accept them as worthy additions that add variety to the game.
There is disagreement between fans who want GTA to have a story with biting social commentary, and fans who want GTA to be about just driving around and causing mayhem. The games attempt at satire on pretty much everything in its "lore" is divisive as well, with some, especially American critics, note that the satire is so over-the-top that it became a Shallow Parody, and some others that think the American culture satire is relatable.
Also the mission where you torture an Azerbaijani informant has people arguing over whether it's unnecessary, gratuitous and disturbing or whether it's an effect Aesop regarding the general ineffectiveness of such methods as a means of gathering information.
All three endings of the game have received varying degrees of backlash:
Of the three endings, Ending B ("The Time's Come", AKA the "Kill Michael" ending) is the only one with practically no defenders whatsoever, with even those who dislike Michael admitting that Franklin is horribly out of character the entire mission and that his given reason for choosing to kill Michael (He betrayed Trevor and Brad in the past, ergo he's inevitably gonna betray Franklin in the future) is incredibly flimsy.
Ending C ("The Third Way", AKA the "Deathwish" ending) is by far the fan favorite due to the sheer Catharsis Factor and for allowing all three protagonists to survive into the post-game, but even it has its detractors for being both anticlimactic (almost all of the game's main villains are gunned down within minutes, with none of them except for Devin Weston getting any sort of final interaction with the protagonists) and unreasonably happy, allowing all of the protagonists to walk off scot-free with no real consequences whatsoever.
The stock market, along with most story missions rarely ever giving you any money as a reward is either praised for forcing the player be smart about managing money (and maybe a subtle message about how criminals like bank robbers are nothing compared to investment sharks) or derided for being a tacked on and unnecessary Scrappy Mechanic.
The driving mechanics have received a lot of backlash from devoted fans of IV due to the physics being tweaked to make cars easier to drive, though they have received praise from those who hated the boatlike driving controls in IV saying that they strike just the right balance.
The cancellation of single-player Downloadable Content focusing more on the three main characters in favour of making more updates for GTA Online has split many fans. Some believe that it makes sense for Rockstar to do so, given GTA Online still has a large playerbase to this day, and that repurposing the DLC content for GTA Online ensures the ideas for said DLC won't go to waste on top of allowing the game to survive to this day. Others see it as a blatant attempt to pander to Online fans specifically, while also shafting potential future appearances from Franklin, Michael and Trevor as characters in spite of their popularity. The fact that the base game has become increasingly stagnant content-wise in spite of multiple rereleases over the years only fuels the latter group's resentment of this.
GTA Online:
GTA Online allows players to purchase in-game money from the store, which caused a huge division amongst the fans. Rockstar initially claimed that the online economy will be balanced for the "overwhelming majority" of players who won't purchase money and that it would be far easier to make money in Online than the single-player, but over the following years which saw exponentially more expensive content added players debate whether that claim still holds true.
The Bad Sport mechanic. Basically, if a player is deemed to be a "bad sport" by blowing up other players' cars or griefing in general, they're given a dunce cap and forced to play on a "bad sport" server. Some see this as a fitting punishment for people who like to ruin the game for others by griefing, others think it goes against what Grand Theft Auto is about in the first place, and still others (mainly the victims of griefing) feel that it's not punishment enough, postulating that putting griefers onto servers composed entirely of fellow griefers is pretty much giving them exactly what they want and that they should have their weapons and/or vehicles taken away as additional punishment.
Another complaint about the Bad Sport mechanic is the way it labels people. Some people say it's unfair how griefers who kill others, repeatedly, for no reason whatsoever and don't even give their victims a chance to fight back aren't punished, and yet when the victims retaliate by blowing up a personal vehicle, they're labeled "Bad Sports", despite retaliating the only way they can. A common retaliation against this argument is the existence of Passive Mode, and the counterarguments sometimes end up insulting those complaining about the labelling.
Thankfully, as of the Criminal Enterprises update, players are no longer charged for destroying weaponized personal vehicles.
Vehicles like the Insurgent, Armored Kuruma, Rhino, Lazer, Hydra, etc. which are easily crowd favorites yet also have legions of players demanding their removal. Pretty much any vehicle that has a unique ability is destined to become this.
Rockstar's actions on PC modding and cheating. Of course nobody wants cheaters, but many feel that Rockstar is doing a terrible job stopping them, going after mods which have nothing to do with Online and bad anti-cheat systems where people using FPS counters got flagged false positives and banned while actual cheaters go unnoticed. The situation is so bad that some legitimate players have actually gone and downloaded cheat menus of their own purely to counter griefers who repeatedly kill them or trap them in immovable objects. Others say that it's only fair because the modders deliberately ignored the terms and conditions that they signed to play GTA V in the first place.
The Oppressor, a rocket-powered flight-capable weaponized motorcycle added with the "Gunrunning" update. Depending who you talk to, it's either an incredibly unique vehicle that's a joy to play with, enables you to perform all manner of amazing stunts, and lets you cross large portions of the map very quickly, or the best griefing tool since the Hydra due to being a small fast-moving aerial target with extremely accurate homing rockets that can attack from any direction and be summoned anywhere for free by an MC president. It's not unknown for players to hold both positions simultaneously, praising the bike's features while wishing it wasn't armed.
The Oppressor MKII added with the "After Hours" update, a total improvement over the original given that it can fly nonstop rather than glide for brief durations. Not only this, but it can be equipped with countermeasures and homing missiles that have nigh-inescapable tracking. As of the "Cayo Perico Heist" update, no reliable counter exists to the Oppressor MKII other than another Oppressor MKII. Barring this, your only hope during an encounter is a direct hit with the Explosive Rounds on the Heavy Sniper MKII or evading the Oppressor MKII in a heavily armored and fast vehicle such as the Nightshark. Just like the original Oppressor, the Oppressor MKII has its fair share of fans who praise it for its usefulness in rigid grinding as well as a fun vehicle to mess around with, but a large chunk of the playerbase (if not the majority) agrees that the Oppressor MKII has made public freemode lobbies a nightmare for anyone who doesn't get on GTA Online for a nonstop deathmatch.
Also added in the "Gunrunning" update is the explosive ammo for the Heavy Sniper MKII. Is it a godsend from Rockstar that finally enables players to deal with the jet griefers that have been plaguing the servers? Is it just another tool for griefers to get easy kills with? Is it both? The jury's still out on this one.
The Explosive Rounds were subjected to a nerf not long after being added to the game and are now mostly effective against unarmored vehicles and aircraft. Although griefers looking for cheap kills would be more enticed by the Orbital Cannon or Oppressor MKII, there are still some players who see the Explosive Rounds as a crutch for poor dogfighters and snipers.
The very concept of griefing in general. If someone's cargo gets blown up, is it justified for the victim to complain? Judging by /r/gtaonline posts like this one, the answer is surprisingly divisive. Those who say yes say the game's balance is too skewed in favor of attacking players who have all manner of ways to destroy cargo representing hours of work with little to no warning, and since the payout for doing so is minuscule they're only doing it For the Lulz, with Rockstar relying on this as a form of Fake Difficulty (since it's actually in everyone's benefit to work together - or at the very least co-operate - to maximise profits) to try and convince people to buy Shark Cards and/or avoid having to make actually balanced challening missions. Those who say no say that not griefing goes against the entire concept of GTA and that cargo deliverers should take advantage of features like hiring bodyguards and not try to do things like sell four trucks' worth of cargo by themselves in a session with 29 other players.
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