Home Gaming GTA Online microtransactions have earned Rockstar half a billion Dollars

GTA Online microtransactions have earned Rockstar half a billion Dollars

1 min read
52

GTAO

I could never get in to GTA online. Not sure if it’s just because the experience was a little bare when it first launched, and I didn’t really stay up to date with the content that’s been added since – or just that the people who seem to be playing it are a bunch of horrible jackasses. Par for the course, I guess.

There are apparently still many people playing the free-to-play add-on to GTA V, and it seems they’re spending an awful lot of money on its microtransactions.

As part pf the lawsuit against Rockstar by former studio head Leslie Benzies, it’s been revealed that GTA Online’s microtransactions have earned the company in the region of $500 000 000 US dollars. I think I got all the zeroes there. Yes, people have spent five hundred million dollars on digital fluff in GTA Online, which probably helps the franchise earn a few more earnings records.

“GTA Online has the potential to achieve the greatest profit margin of any game created in the GTA franchise,” reads a line from the lawsuit. According to the suit GTA Online’s mictrotransactions deliver “nearly 100 percent profit margin.”

It’s also very possibly why you’ve not seen any single player DLC for GTAV. Why on earth would Rockstar even want to, with largely aesthetic items and faux digital cash earning the company a fortune.

A fortune, I might add, on top of the money that the game proper has earned. To date, GTA V has shipped (not sold!) 60 million copies, with the suit alleging that its sales have earned $3 billion in revenue thus far.

Last Updated: April 14, 2016

52 Comments

  1. Umar

    April 14, 2016 at 12:02

    • Alien Emperor Trevor

      April 14, 2016 at 12:12

      Wrong cheek! Wait, what?

      Reply

      • Umar

        April 14, 2016 at 12:16

        SHE’S STILL IN SCHOOL :O

        Reply

        • Ottokie

          April 14, 2016 at 12:17

          Where is this from anyway, it looks familiar but the sub text look a bit fake 😛

          Reply

          • HairyEwok

            April 14, 2016 at 12:22

            K-On!

          • Ottokie

            April 14, 2016 at 12:31

            Thanks 😛 that jogged my memory

            Must say the artwork looks great even after 7 years.

          • Admiral Chief in New York

            April 14, 2016 at 12:36

            Llew must like it

          • Umar

            April 14, 2016 at 16:45

            K-on. It’s real. Great anime

          • Ottokie

            April 15, 2016 at 09:23

            I watched it way back when in Varsity, just kinda forgot I did 😛

        • Alien Emperor Trevor

          April 14, 2016 at 12:46

          Which year? Wait, what?

          Reply

    • HairyEwok

      April 14, 2016 at 12:28

      Honto ureshii!

      Reply

  2. Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0

    April 14, 2016 at 12:02

    • Captain JJ the Isolatid

      April 15, 2016 at 07:01

      Haha.

      I lol’d

      Reply

  3. Ottokie

    April 14, 2016 at 12:03

    But I thought this was a hacker/cheater invested game. Why would anyone spend money on MT then?

    Reply

    • Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0

      April 14, 2016 at 12:08

      Because humanity has degenerated into this…
      http://www.reactiongifs.com/r/d-uh.gif

      Reply

      • Greylingad[CNFRMD]

        April 14, 2016 at 12:34

        I honestly feel like I could build a massive wall around my house and deny entry to anything that resembles these degenerate monsters of modern pop culture…With their long teeth, slimy hands, gooey eyes and STD ridden bodies…

        Reply

      • Admiral Chief in New York

        April 14, 2016 at 12:35

        I’d hit that….with a panzerfaust

        Reply

        • Greylingad[CNFRMD]

          April 14, 2016 at 12:37

          attached to a wrecking ball?

          Reply

          • Admiral Chief in New York

            April 14, 2016 at 12:38

            Me or the panzerfaust?

          • Greylingad[CNFRMD]

            April 14, 2016 at 12:40

            Her, if that’s what that is…But attach her to said wrecking ball and have a fun day at the range, shooting sl*t pigeon…

          • Admiral Chief in New York

            April 14, 2016 at 13:04

            Ah, I see

      • Captain JJ the Isolatid

        April 15, 2016 at 07:02

        Justin Bieber is such a funny-looking person.

        Reply

        • Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0

          April 15, 2016 at 08:06

          XD

          Reply

  4. Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0

    April 14, 2016 at 12:04

    This is why we can’t have nice things, GTA4 had two exquisite SP DLCs but thanks to this we won’t see any this time it seems

    Reply

    • Alien Emperor Trevor

      April 14, 2016 at 12:10

      That reminds me, I still need to get around to playing GTA4. It’s been installed for ages.

      Reply

      • Ottokie

        April 14, 2016 at 12:25

        Talking about buying useless pretty stuff in games. Have you seen the new Hagoromo Zephyr skin?

        Reply

        • Alien Emperor Trevor

          April 14, 2016 at 12:47

          NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO *runs to look*

          Reply

        • Alien Emperor Trevor

          April 14, 2016 at 12:53

          Damn that’s pretty! A pretty for my pretty!

          The black & white with red highlights looks sweet.

          Reply

          • Ottokie

            April 14, 2016 at 13:04

            *pink highlights

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            April 14, 2016 at 13:09

            I think my bird will have to stay yellow, orange & black.

            Some of those tennogen skins & helmets look so cool. On the other hand, I don’t want to pay R50+ for a skin. 😀

          • Ottokie

            April 14, 2016 at 13:13

            When that premium Nova skin drops. Make the plat rain!

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            April 14, 2016 at 13:18

            I’ve never ventured into ye olde trade chat to earn some plat.

            And the last month now I’ve been flogging everything for ducats anyway heh. 24 T1 Sabs last Fri & Sat. With all caches found. 2k needed to be spent this last w/e.

          • Ottokie

            April 14, 2016 at 13:27

            My Ducats are finished. That last baro visit cut me deep

          • Ottokie

            April 14, 2016 at 13:28

            I also missed last Friday, and he had the high voltage mod I need 🙁

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            April 14, 2016 at 13:34

            Last w/e I blew it all on a Prisma Tetra, Machete Wraith, the primed pistol ammo capacity mod, 2 syandanas & a kubrow skin.

            Remind me to check & see if I have a spare of that mod. Not sure if I do, or if I just bought it from him last time it was for sale.

          • Ottokie

            April 14, 2016 at 13:40

            Thanks 😛

            That mod is the last piece to my Ignis build

    • Admiral Chief in New York

      April 14, 2016 at 12:34

      You wanna go bowling?

      Reply

  5. Ottokie

    April 14, 2016 at 12:08

    • Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0

      April 14, 2016 at 12:09

      I gonna go walk outside for a second and kick something, anything

      Reply

      • Ottokie

        April 14, 2016 at 12:10

        I wonder how much it would hurt to kick 500 mil in cash

        Reply

        • HairyEwok

          April 14, 2016 at 12:24

          Let’s just say you wont have any problem covering the medical bill.

          Reply

          • Greylingad[CNFRMD]

            April 14, 2016 at 12:31

            Depends on whether you use your head to kick the bloody bag it’s in…

          • Roz Hamilton

            April 15, 2016 at 00:11

            …unless ur a lucky boy like myself who hails from good ol’Blighty (Britain)…then you get keep that extra mill’ that would be spent by ur insurance company in the U.S fixing up n fine tuning ur wee foot back to health, and just spend it on that new dream home/country estate and still have a small fortune left over *big cheesy grin* DING!

        • Admiral Chief in New York

          April 14, 2016 at 12:38

  6. Alien Emperor Trevor

    April 14, 2016 at 12:11

    Well… that’s a lot of cosmetics.

    Reply

    • VampyreSquirrel

      April 14, 2016 at 12:19

      Cosmetics??? HAHAHAHAHA! That was probably just for buying in game money!

      Reply

  7. Ryanza

    April 14, 2016 at 12:21

    So people used real money to buy fake money and then used that fake money to buy non real shit in a video game.

    Sounds to me like a scam. Buying worthless shit with real money. Just like DRM.

    Don’t Support DRM.

    Reply

  8. HairyEwok

    April 14, 2016 at 12:27

    So can I start a kickstarter and ask those idio… great individuals to give me just $1 for my dream of becoming a Ewok L’Oreal model.

    Reply

  9. Admiral Chief in New York

    April 14, 2016 at 12:34

  10. HvR

    April 14, 2016 at 12:36

    Unlike the kickstarters Rockstar does things the right way, first make the billion dollar games then screw each other over and spend all the money on stripper.
    http://i.imgur.com/AjTHkN2.gifv

    Reply

  11. Greylingad[CNFRMD]

    April 14, 2016 at 12:47

    Essentially, per shipped copy, people have spent just over $8 on online fluff…

    Reply

  12. Captain JJ the Isolatid

    April 15, 2016 at 07:01

    This I can believe, since those iffy sales tactics they used on Steam by puttin it on “sale” by not lowering the price but just giving you a million in-game bucks included and calling it a special.

    Reply

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