Grand Theft MONEY
Some sleuthing by a Redditor trawling through Grand Theft Auto V‘s warm, numerical entrails has revealed files pointing to something called “cash cards” of various denominations ($100,000 up to $1.25 million). There is also the following description:
Cash is king in this town. Solve your money problems and help get what you want across Los Santos and Blaine County with the purchase of cash packs for Grand Theft Auto Online. All purchased cash is automatically deposited into your character’s bank account. Spend wisely, cash therapy is fleeting.
Sounds like microtransactions. Given Rockstar’s intentional distancing of Grand Theft Auto Online and Grand Theft Auto V, it could be part of a greater model moving forward, GTA Online was described, “as a different entity, a separate thing, and it’ll grow on its own. It’ll be GTA Online; it’s not part of GTA V. Obviously it’s set in the GTA V engine, but it’s going to grow and evolve into its own thing.”
Looks like that $1 billion could keep ballooning well after everyone who’s interested has a copy of the game. I don’t want to automatically assume this will amount to grand theft nickel and diming, but there are sensible reservations to microtransaction models.