Rockstar Games Explains Why ‘GTA V’ Fans Can’t Keep Their Online Holiday DLC Items

Grand Theft Auto V players were recently showered with an assortment of online gifts to help celebrate the holiday season. Now that the in-game winter events have ended, however, GTA Online users will now find that all of the Christmas-themed items have completely been removed from their inventory and the game altogether.

After having access to plenty of special seasonal items for the past several weeks, players might b e surprised to find the holiday clothing and weapons now missing from Grand Theft Auto V. Rather than having to deal with each individual inquiry about the removal of GTA Online‘s winter gear, Rockstar Games is directing all users to an official response to the matter on the their own support website.

As the developer explained, all of the holiday items were only intended to be available in GTA Online for a limited time. The confusion came from the fact that Rockstar Games had labeled the content as gifts, leading players to believe that they would be allowed to keep any item obtained during the Festive Surprise event. Many users didn’t realize that their holiday unlocks weren’t permanent until the items were taken away, leaving gamers to play GTA Online without gingerbread masks, Christmas sweaters, and Santa hats.

“The Festive Surprise clothing items were free, temporary items, which remained in players’ inventories until the end of the holiday content period on January 5, 2016. When the content was disabled, saved outfits that included Festive Surprise clothing were removed as well. You can recreate and save these outfits without the Festive Surprise items.”

By making all of the holiday content available for a limited time only, Rockstar Games likely hopes to keep the annual event feeling fresh and special. As an added bonus, it also ties the season items to the proper time of the year, ensuring that GTA Online fans don’t encounter other players dressed as Santa in the middle of the summer.

The now missing holiday clothes weren’t the only things that were available to players exclusively during the yearly Festive Surprise event. Those who logged onto GTA V‘s online servers on Christmas Day also received a unique rocket launcher that could only fire special firework ammunition to help fans celebrate the holidays. Along with the removal of the rest of the Festive Surprise items, GTA Online users can now no longer acquire additional ammo for the firework launcher.

Another popular feature that is tied exclusively to the limited holiday celebration in Grand Theft Auto V brings an extremely rare snowfall event to the title’s online mode. As The Inquisitr reported last month, GTA Online‘s city of Los Santos was temporarily covered in snow for a brief period.

Whenever snow is on the ground in GTA V, players will experience weather-specific conditions that simulate slick road driving physics. Additionally, gamers were given the opportunity to take part in multiplayer snowball fights at any time. As with the game’s other holiday features, snow is usually only available as part of GTA Online‘s seasonal events so fans will likely have to wait another year before the winter weather returns to Grand Theft Auto Online.

Fans will have to enjoy GTA Online without the help of a special in-game event. However, players should expect to see another event coming soon as Rockstar Games likes to keep players occupied in the game. The developer’s commitment to bring new content and events to GTA Online comes as a result of the title’s ongoing success that has continued to make the game profitable year’s after it originally launched on last-gen consoles in 2013.

Do you agree with Rockstar’s decision to make GTA V‘s holiday items available for a limited time or would you prefer to be allowed to enjoy the content year round.

[Image via Rockstar Games]