Cash is king in Grand Theft Auto Online, but GTA 5's online game mode has suffered from a serious inflation issue over the past few years. It got so bad that some players began theorizing that Rockstar Games was purposefully decimating GTA Online's economy to introduce GTA 6. A total financial meltdown has yet to take place. In fact, Rockstar has even taken steps recently to try and rectify the game's economy. Thanks to GTA Online's Cayo Perico Heist, some semblance of economic balance has been restored, but many users believe the latest update could do more harm than good in the future.
Prices for cars, weapons, and clothes in GTA Online have surged since mid-2018, while rewards for bounties and jobs have remained largely stable. Even run-of-the-mill cars, like the Sultan Classic, which was released with GTA Online's Diamond Casino Heist, retails for $1.7 million. That same sedan costs $12,000 when GTA 5 was released in 2013. Rockstar has attempted to address this several times by giving GTA Online players free money. Now, the Cayo Perico Heist has allowed users to make a lot of cash very quickly, which has temporarily boosted players' buying power but has led some to believe another spike of inflation is on the horizon for the game's virtual economy.
Redditor SupportChinook posted a meme on April 19 joking about how Rockstar has set GTA Online's economy on a dangerous path with the addition of Cayo Perico. The image garnered more than 13,000 upvotes and sparked discussions about how the recent update has impacted the game's fictional financial market. Players' consensus seems split when it comes to enjoying the immediate benefit of the update's injection of cash, but many are suspicious that prices could skyrocket once again.
GTA Online: How Cayo Perico Affected Inflation
The baseline payout for the Cayo Perico Heist is just over $1 million. Still, if players become skilled enough to complete all of its optional objectives, they can net as much as $4.6 million after just one run. After a brief cooldown, users can repeat the heist as often as they want to amass a fortune. Cayo Perico has essentially made becoming and staying a millionaire simple, which has led certain users to suspect the company will adjust GTA Online's prices to sell more Shark Cards.
These vouchers are purchased using real-life money in exchange for in-game currency. These once-coveted items are nowhere near as tempting as they were before, since players can rake in close to $10 million after only two runs of Cayo Perico. Users have speculated that Rockstar will raise in-game prices to keep gamers interested in Shark Cards. Cayo Perico appears to have given more Grand Theft Auto Online players access to the good life for the moment, although that could eventually become a cause for another price hike down the line.
Source: Reddit/SupportChinook