Rockstar makes up for GTA Online launch by showering players with GTA$

Rockstar will give GTA Online players half a million in-game dollars to make up for the game's troubled launch.

GTA Online, the multiplayer portion of Grand Theft Auto 5, launched on 1st October and quickly buckled under the pressure applied to it by millions of players. It was, for many, unplayable.

Now GTA Online performance has improved, Rockstar has announced a "special stimulus package" for all who have played or will play GTA Online this month. Half a million GTA$ will be dropped into the bank accounts of players this month starting next week.

To keep the in-game economy balanced this money will be deposited in two waves of $250,000. The first of these will be made by the end of next week. The second will be by the end of the month.

"For players who experienced cloud server errors, connection issues, and lost game progress and characters in these first days of GTA Online, we hope this GTA$ helps to facilitate a fresh start or makes your continued life in Los Santos and Blaine County extra sweet," Rockstar said.

The small print:

• You must play or have played Grand Theft Auto Online at any time during the month of October 2013 in order to qualify for the GTA$500,000 deposit in your in-game bank account.
• Players will first have to install a forthcoming GTAV title update which we expect to happen next week. That title update (1.04) is expected to fix the remaining instances of issues that have caused vehicle purchase loss and will also enable the functionality through which we'll be providing this GTA$ stimulus cash to players.
• We will announce at the Rockstar Newswire when each deposit is made.
• Each of the two GTA$250,000 deposits will be made by Rockstar and should automatically appear in the in-game GTA Online bank accounts of eligible players. Beyond downloading the forthcoming title update mentioned above, there should not be any additional special action required by eligible players to redeem.