My understanding of the economics of microtransactions is that it's been long known that having whales is better/more profitable than having a wider playerbase.
Not really, because making it more P2W doesn't push out whales. It actually brings more whales in / encourages them to stay (you don't really need to "widen" the net, to actually get more of them). P2W elements push out casual gamers, but the whales will stay (because they're whales, and P2W is fine for them).
But GTA Online still has a massive playerbase of more casual players who spend a lot of money (smaller transactions, but the number of players adds up). So even though GTA Online may feel unbalanced (I tried once, and did not find it fun), Rockstar has obviously struck a very successful balance with GTA Online as it is now. So ultimately, I wouldn't expect them to take a different approach with GTA 6's online component.
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u/DrewDonut 1d ago
My understanding of the economics of microtransactions is that it's been long known that having whales is better/more profitable than having a wider playerbase.