A bold new direction in open-world freedom, storytelling, mission-based gameplay and online multiplayer, Grand Theft Auto V focuses on the pursuit of the almighty dollar in a re-imagined, present day Southern California.

Los Santos: a sprawling sun-soaked metropolis full of self-help gurus, starlets and fading celebrities, once the envy of the Western world, now struggling to stay afloat in an era of economic uncertainty and cheap reality TV. Amidst the turmoil, three very different criminals plot their own chances of survival and success:  Franklin, a former street gangster, now looking for real opportunities and serious money; Michael, a professional ex-con whose retirement is a lot less rosy than he hoped it would be; and Trevor, a violent maniac driven by the chance of a cheap high and the next big score. Running out of options, the crew risks everything in a series of daring and dangerous heists that could set them up for life.

The biggest, most dynamic and most diverse open world Rockstar Games has yet created, Grand Theft Auto V blends storytelling and gameplay in new ways as players repeatedly jump in and out of the lives of the game’s three lead characters, playing all sides of the game’s interwoven story.

All the classic hallmarks of the series return, including attention to detail and Grand Theft Auto’s darkly humorous take on modern culture, alongside a brand new and ambitious approach to open world multiplayer.

Given some of the recent technical issues during these first days of GTA Online, Rockstar are planning to provide a special stimulus package for all who have played or will play Grand Theft Auto Online this month. Rockstar will be dropping a cool half a million GTA$ in the GTA Online bank accounts of all players this month, starting as early as next week.

In order to keep the current worldwide in-game economy balanced, Rockstar will be providing this GTA$ to players via two deposits of $250,000. We will announce specific dates as soon as possible, but are currently hoping to be able to make the first deposit by the end of next week (after they’ve confirmed that issues causing game progress loss have been fixed) with the second installment to happen by the end of the month. For players who experienced cloud server errors, connection issues, and lost game progress and characters in these first days of GTA Online, Rockstar hopes this GTA$ helps to facilitate a fresh start or makes your continued life in Los Santos and Blaine County extra sweet.

You must play or have played Grand Theft Auto Online at any time during the month of October 2013 in order to qualify for the GTA$500,000 deposit in your in-game bank account.

Players will first have to install a forthcoming GTAV title update which we expect to happen next week. That title update (1.04) is expected to fix the remaining instances of issues that have caused vehicle purchase loss and will also enable the functionality through which we’ll be providing this GTA$ stimulus cash to players

Each of the two GTA$250,000 deposits will be made by Rockstar and should automatically appear in the in-game GTA Online bank accounts of eligible players. Beyond downloading the forthcoming title update mentioned above, there should not be any additional special action required by eligible players to redeem.