Fans noticed the similarity of the Vice City keychain to a previously released item, and the collectible spoon almost replicates a gadget from Grand Theft Auto IV: The Ballad of Gay Tony, differing only in color and logo. A frame or mirror from the new set also resembles an item from the original GTA: Vice City.
One player wrote:
The craziest thing (besides the price and the absence of the game itself, of course) is that some of these items are just rehashed gadgets from older GTA games. The mirror from the original Vice City, and the spoon from The Ballad of Gay Tony lol.
Another player reported:
You are very young and don't remember this, but almost all the items in the Grand Theft Auto VI, The Goodtime State – Vice City Collection (which does not include the game itself) are essentially promotional materials from previous games. As far as I can tell, the creative team is running out of ideas.
However, the similarity could be an intentional reference to past installments. Nevertheless, the Vice City Collection set costs $400, and GTA VI itself is not included. The expensive elements of the collector's edition were branded sunglasses.
Selling collector's sets without the game is not new for Rockstar – the company used a similar approach with Red Dead Redemption 2. This time, the discussion was sparked simultaneously by the price, the absence of the game, and the similarity of some items to previous promotional materials.