The following information should come in as no surprise, this is something that should be expected by Take-Two and Rockstar, which is capitalizing on over-priced items/goods to incentivize players to buy microtransactions — that happens to be Gold Bars — in Red Dead Redemption 2’s online multiplayer, also referred to as Red Dead Online.

The duo tried to play off the scheme by blanketing the word “Beta” over Red Dead Online to see how players would react to wallet gouging tactics. When the online mode went live today (November 30th), players realized how expensive things are in Red Dead Online compared to the single-player mode and how sneaky the Gold Bars (premium MTX currency) stand in currency value.

In addition to the above, players took to various platforms to talk about this issue on Twitter, YouTube, and Reddit. The latter platform shed light on how players can earn scarce amounts of gold nuggets by completing missions or playing PvP modes. Once a player has earned 100 nuggets, they can convert it to a Gold Bar. The users on Reddit highlight Rockstar stating on their website that Gold Bars will be used to unlock cosmetic items, except in the full release there are horses that can be bought with Gold Bars.

On one thread named “A Mauser was only $35 in 1899,” we can see this outrageous price tag of $1,000 in Red Dead Online:

The reason behind this expensive act is so that players will skip the grind and will instead exchange real money for Gold Bars to buy horses and stuff. This grants paying players to do missions faster to make more money to buy better weapons that hold grind-fest prices.

User WHS72 expresses that:

“The fact that there’s THAT extensive of a price jump is insane, even compared to the other revolvers/pistols on offer. By comparison, the most expensive pistol available when GTAO released was the AP pistol. $5000. That’s a solid 2 or so contact missions and you’ve got a decent sidearm. It’d be like spending $1.2 mil in GTA Online for an AK.”

User Willin_Dylan agreed and noted:

“Exactly. Even during GTAO launch you could rob the convince stores and make over 1k quickly and easily.”

But that’s not all, to make your standard iron plated revolver of no specialty the color black (which is of no significance like silver or gold) will cost you 12 Gold Bars, which equates to 1,200 nuggets as posted on a thread named “12 Gold Bars to make your starter pistol all black. this is the problem.”

Other threads have surfaced like “Players Are Already Upset About Red Dead Online’s Economy,” and “Do your part! Save RDR2 online before it’s too late.”

Furthermore, a video by YouTuber Sonny Evans provides a conflicted view on Red Dead Online. It’s worth noting that the below video was made during the “beta,” better known as the promotional demo for context:

“The foundation of Red Dead Online is laying in front of us. Microtransactions play a role in this in the form of buying gold. Gold is a currency in Red Dead Redemption 2’s multiplayer that can be obtained through playing, but the best and fastest way is by simply buying yourself some gold. Is this the future of Red Dead Online? Only Rockstar Games will tell.”

YouTube commenter Felix The Barber expressed his feelings on Sonny Evans’ video regarding a big scam:

“Let me tell ya the biggest scam ive seen so far. I bought a beard with 1 gold bar (GB) that took me about 10 hours to get just going around in free roam. If i change that beard to another beard and want to go back to it it is ANOTHER gold bar. On top of that WHILE it is equipped on my face if i want to change the color it is ANOTHER gold bar. If the gold bar was used to UNLOCK the items and then you could switch to them freely or pay a few bucks regular currency to switch back like it is in on gta v that would be fine but the fact that every time you change it its another gold bar is a bit ridiculous and broken. No one has 10 hours to grind to change the color of the beard they want. Also there is the fact that it is a GB to change every individual metal piece color on the guns. To make your cattleman solid black it is 10 GB or some ridiculous shit. So roughly 100+ hours of grinding to change the color on your gun when in single player its like 32 dollars lol. This gold bar system is broken and a scam to force people to pay because no gamer has the time for that much of a grind.”

On the same video, commenter Fvck Stephen, a hardcore Rockstar fanboy, even had to note:

“Trust me, I’m the biggest Rockstar “fanboy” ever, and the GTA Online MTX have never, ever bothered me as it is a lot easier to make money than most people seem to think- But this, this is a whole ‘nother level than that, this is ten times worse than what they did with GTA, I’m baffled how more people haven’t talked or reported on this whatsoever, anywhere, whether it be “journalists”, or YouTubers, it’s actual insanity that you can bypass weapons/clothing/customization items locked behind levels with gold – I’m sure they will eventually but right now literally nobody anywhere is talking about it it seems.”

Summarizing Red Dead Online MTX into Perspective

You can get 0.05 Gold Bars (or nuggets) usually for a normal mission, but on average you need 20 or more Gold Bars to buy something of use/value. Moreover, fast travel in your camp can be accessed at level 65, or you can pay 112 Gold Bars up front to unlock fast travel right away. You can pay 42 Gold Bars to bypass the level 70 gate to unlock the best horse in the game (the Arabian horse), which goes against the following highlighted lines on rockstargames.com:

“You may notice some areas of the in-game menus are not yet accessible or available during this early period of the Beta, such as the Red Dead Online in-game Store which will eventually open up to provide the option of purchasing gold bars to DIRECTLY acquire COSMETIC ITEMS like Camp décor, or a SPECIAL STYLE for your weapons.”

To conclude all of this, here’s a quote from Dutch van der Linde that Take-Two and Rockstar abide by everyday “I have a plan! We just need more money!”