Get your wallet ready, because the microtransaction train has just pulled into Red Dead Online. The game has two currencies — regular old RDO bucks, and the premium currency Gold Bars, and, until now, players haven’t been able to spend the latter. Well, the Red Dead Online Gold Bar store is now open for business.
We also know how much Gold Bars will cost in real-world cash – 25 bars will cost you $10, 55 will cost $20, 150 will cost $50, 245 will cost $75, and 350 will cost $100. There’s also a special one-time offer — 25 Gold Bars for $5.
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Rockstar is encouraging players to get shopping with a gift of cash and Gold Bars:
Gold Gift: As a thank you for your ongoing support, we are awarding everyone who has played from the Red Dead Online Beta launch through this Thursday, December 20th with a gift of 15 additional gold bars. The awards will begin rolling out today and if you haven’t experienced the Red Dead Online Beta yet, play by Thursday, December 20th for eligibility. All gold bar gifts will be delivered by Monday, December 24th.
Cash Gift: As an added thank you to players who pre-ordered Red Dead Redemption 2, and those who purchased either the Special or Ultimate Edition, we are awarding additional RDO$ gifts:
- Special Edition Owners: RDO$100
- Ultimate Edition Owners: RDO$1,000
- Everyone who pre-ordered: RDO$100 (in addition to Ultimate and Special Edition gifts)
Red Dead Online’s economy was met with backlash before the microtransaction store was even opened, with players complaining about the time required to earn Gold Bars (around eight hours to get just one). Rockstar rebalanced the RDO economy last week, although it’s still relatively grindy – it still takes around two hours, playing at peak efficiency, to earn a Gold Bar. In light of this, Rockstar’s Gold Bar gifts (they gave 15 bars away last week, too) feel like they’re designed to blunt criticism – if everybody has plenty of free cash, they won’t complain about having to grind. Of course, once Red Dead Online leaves beta, the Gold Bar gifts are going bye-bye.
Red Dead Redemption 2 is available on Xbox One and PS4. There’s no announced end date for the Red Dead Online beta – Rockstar is essentially taking an early access approach, and may continue testing the mode into 2019.
