Rockstar, developer of upcoming MMO Grand Theft Auto Online, have verified that the game will be using a micro transaction system allowing players to exchange their real money for in-game currency. This comes after various rumours circulating on the net and confirms the gossip.
Cash in the game can be obtained by levelling up and completing various activities, or, if you’re short of time or patience, by spending real money. Rockstar had this to say:
“You can either quickly accumulate cash through profitable activities like knocking over armored cars, winning street races, doing stick-ups or a host of other cash-making endeavors – or if you’re the completely instant gratification type, you can choose to buy denominations of GTA$.”
Players will be able to buy GTA cash through in-game shop, but they’ve also guaranteed that the game will be focused on those players who don’t buy in-game wealth. Rockstar go on to say:
“The game and its economy have been designed and balanced for the vast majority of players who will not buy extra cash. There is no in-game paywall and nothing that should disrupt the balance of the game. You don’t have to spend real money to attain the cars, guns, clothes, flash and style of a high-roller in Los Santos, but can if you wish to get them a little quicker.”
“The economy is balanced differently from the single player economy, and cash earned in one cannot be taken over to the other. Most players will earn cash much faster Online than in Story Mode.”
This information is all Rockstar have given us at the current time, but it’s been announced that in-game currency packs will be available in four denominations:
£1.99 real money for a $100,000 Red Shark Cash Card; £3.49 for a $200,000 Tiger Shark Cash Card; £6.99 for a $500,000 Bull Shark Cash Card; and £13.49 for a $1,250,000 Great White Shark Cash Card.
The developers have also warned given warnings about server disruptance and bugs on launch as there is expected to be a rush of millions of players. Rockstar followed through by blogging the following:
“There will be the typical growing pains for an online game, including but not limited to crashes, glitches, crazy bugs, gameplay modes and mechanics that need re-balancing and other surprises.”
“This sort of thing is inevitable in a massive open-world game and there’ll surely be lots more unexpected oddities like this in the Online world next week – rest assured we’ll be monitoring and actively doing all we can to smooth such things out as they happen, but we need your help to find them, as well as your feedback to help fine tune all of the game’s systems so everything is perfectly balanced.”
A free patch for GTA Online to connect it with GTA V will occur on October 1st.
