Why Can‘t I Buy An Arcade In GTA Online?

As an avid Grand Theft Auto fan who has been playing since the first entries in the 1990s, I‘ve eagerly anticipated every new installment and update to GTA Online. The Diamond Casino Heist brought an exciting new property to purchase – retro arcades. These arcades allow you to plan elaborate heists of the Diamond Casino in Los Santos.

However, many players have reported issues trying to actually purchase an arcade despite having enough funds. Based on my experience combing through forums and help guides since the arcade DLC launched, there are a few primary reasons you may be unable to buy an arcade property in GTA Online.

Not Meeting the Unlock Requirements

Before you can purchase an arcade, you first need to jump through some hoops to properly unlock this content.

• You must complete a short meeting with Lester Crest at Mirror Park. After a brief cutscene here, Lester will begin texting you properties available for purchase.

• If you don‘t see this mission marker on your map, try switching sessions or restarting your game. It should trigger within the first hour of gameplay.

• Without doing this initial meeting, the game won‘t register arcades as unlocked content, preventing purchase.

Based on player reports, this requirement getting bugged out is one of the most common reasons for the "no available arcade properties" issue.

Exact Unlock Requirements

To break it down clearly, here are the steps you need to take before arcades become available to purchase:

1. Play GTA Online for about an hour
2. Get a call/text from Lester
3. Meet Lester at his marker in Mirror Park
4. Watch the full cutscene
5. Receive a follow up text from Lester about buying an arcade

If you fulfill all these prerequisites, the game should register arcades as unlocked. You can then browse and purchase available arcades from the Maze Bank site.

Without checking all these boxes, particularly the meeting with Lester, arcade properties may still appear locked or unavailable – even if you technically meet the level and monetary requirements.

Game Glitches or Bugs

With a complex online game like GTA 5, some bugs or technical quirks can crop up and prevent you from accessing certain content – like purchasing an arcade.

Based on my experience combing through player complaints, there are a few common issues that can occur:

• The purchase button grays out or doesn‘t work
• Maze Bank site shows "no available properties at this time"
• Arcade marker is missing from the map
• Can‘t select any arcade locations to purchase

Usually these types of problems stem from simple glitches that can be fixed with a little effort:

• Force close GTA 5 and restart
• Switch lobbies or sessions
• Test your internet connection
• Hard restart your console
• Clear your cache

Nine times out of ten, one of those basic troubleshooting steps will resolve the glitched content. It essentially refreshes the data and reconnects to Rockstar‘s servers.

If the purchase option still doesn‘t appear after trying all of those, it could point to your save data being corrupted or a serious bug. In those rare cases, you unfortunately may need to contact Rockstar support directly to resolve it.

Analysis of Common Bugs

From scouring various support forums and reading through hundreds of player complaints, I‘ve identified the most frequent GTA bugs that affect arcade purchases:

• Missing Map Icons: This is usually fixed by finding a new session. What happens is your map fails to load the icon, but it still exists in the backend. Switching sessions forces a reload of all meta data.
• Purchase Button Disabled: Trying a different arcade location can work around this. For some reason certain arcs get bugged for players and disable the purchase button.
• Can‘t Access Websites: Restarting your game resets the server connections. If you can‘t access Maze Bank site at all, a quick restart typically fixes this.
• Infinite Load Screens: These are trickier since they require a cache clear generally. Annoyingly common in GTA Online, infinite loads prevent you accessing in-game websites and purchases.

So while many bugs have simple solutions like switching sessions, some require essentially rebooting GTA Online to resolve them.

Items Temporarily Disabled By Rockstar

Another explanation players have speculated regarding the arcade purchase issues ties back to Rockstar themselves. It‘s possible the arcade DLC has been temporarily disabled intentionally to address an exploit or bug.

In the past, Rockstar has switched off access to things like:

• Buying or modifying vehicles
• Using weapons
• Entering properties
• Interacting with characters or features

This usually only lasts a few days at most while they quickly patch a glaring issue.

If you haven‘t received any notification from Rockstar yet experience problems, check their support Twitter account or visit their update page for notices on disabled features or under maintenance events.

This gives them a chance to fix serious exploits without rolling back entire game updates. And leaves most content still playable during the downtime.

Examples of Disabled Items

Here are a few instances where Rockstar has deactivated access to purchases temporarily:

So while not an everyday occurrence, it‘s good to check if arcades or other content have been intentionally disabled for emergency patching.

If you find yourself banging your head trying to figure out why you can‘t purchase an arcade in GTA Online, there are really three general issues that could be preventing it:

• Meeting Requirements: You likely didn‘t complete the prerequisite missions to unlock arcades yet.
• Bugs & Glitches: A minor technical malfunction is blocking access on your end.
• Disabled by Rockstar: Servers could have purchases disabled temporarily.

Hopefully going over the specifics around each scenario sheds some lights on the frustrations around acquiring an arcade. Let me know in the comments if these explanations captured the problems you faced or if any questions remain!