GTA Online will indeed let players inflate their bank accounts with microtransactions, Rockstar revealed in a Newswire post about GTA 5's multiplayer portion today.
That said, its economy has been balanced toward players who do not plan to spend a dime of real-world money, Rockstar said, and even impatient players with thick wallets cannot buy their way to the top; weapons, cars, clothes and more will require a set Reputation level to unlock, and reputation can only be earned by advancing through the game's missions and activities.
Those missions and activities will, at launch, include deathmatches, robberies, tennis, golf, BASE jumping, races (typical GTA style as well as a new two-player co-op rally mode), and your typical open-world mayhem with 16 players. Heists and a Capture the Flag mode are both planned for free updates in the weeks after its launch.
Two new weapons, four new vehicles, and more than 300 items of "down-tempo leisure wear" will be added with the Beach Bum Pack. Rockstar says all currently announced updates to the game will be free, and players will soon be able to add content of their own with custom deathmatches and races.
GTA Online will open on Oct. 1, but Rockstar is warning players that it might be a bumpy first few weeks as servers settle and bugs are squashed.
Former Xbox boss says GTA: San Andreas and its infamously NSFW Hot Coffee minigame "signified a maturing of the industry" and put games "on par with movies and music"
A GTA streamer is trying to beat every single 3D entry without dying, and in 33 hours he's made it as far as San Andreas but keeps getting caught in Vice City purgatory
