Off-Kilter
Banned
A reddit user was dabbling with his copy of the game, and pulled an intriguing file that may shed some light on GTA Online's monetization model.
Here is the XML file in question:
http://prod.cloud.rockstargames.com/titles/gta5/xbox360/store/en/commerceData.xml
Some of the comments in the file read the following:
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.
Source
We all have read some comments in the subreddit about it's quite hard making money in the game, properties are not very profitable, and the missions that affect the stock market seem to be too few and too early.
I think I might have found why. When you open the store section in the pause menu, it says there is nothing available yet, but the console requests this file.
It's a plain XML file where you will see that besides of the downlodable content from the special editions, there are 4 so-called "cash cards", ranging from $100,000 to $1,250,000.
Here is the XML file in question:
http://prod.cloud.rockstargames.com/titles/gta5/xbox360/store/en/commerceData.xml
Some of the comments in the file read the following:
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.
Source
This really isn't a rumor anymore since it's on Rockstar's servers.
Source (from OP): http://prod.cloud.rockstargames.com/titles/gta5/xbox360/store/en/commerceData.xml
Images:
http://prod.cloud.rockstargames.com/titles/gta5/xbox360/store/images/cash/GTAV_STORE_Credit_100.dds
http://prod.cloud.rockstargames.com/titles/gta5/xbox360/store/images/cash/GTAV_STORE_Credit_200.dds
http://prod.cloud.rockstargames.com/titles/gta5/xbox360/store/images/cash/GTAV_STORE_Credit_500.dds
http://prod.cloud.rockstargames.com/titles/gta5/xbox360/store/images/cash/GTAV_STORE_Credit_1250.dds
Converted and rehosted images: