Rockstar Games has confirmed the existence of a change made in the most recent GTA Online patch, which came out on Friday. The change was not listed in the announcement for the patch but it cuts the amount of money you can receive from repeating missions in the multiplayer game.
"For those of you inquiring about mission payouts, there was a change that reduces payouts by 50 per cent after a repeat of the mission," the studio explained on its support site. "The first time you play and beat the mission, you will get the full amount. Subsequent replays will see a payout amount reduced by half. This is to keep the game balanced as well as encourage the exploration of new missions and content in the game.
The new change makes it so that people can have the freedom to do a mission they enjoy again and again without giving people the option to continuously farm an easy mission that has a high payoff in order to quickly gain easy cash.
"We understand players do like to enjoy a mission multiple times, so rather than remove the possibility of doing so, we've allowed replays of these missions at a reduced payout. Many players can get very good at a mission and beat it much faster in consecutive tries, so we've adjusted these payouts to match that case," the post said. "We apologize that there was not full clarity about this in the patch notes; however, hopefully this note will clear things up. If there are any additional questions, please do not hesitate to ask."
IGN notes that the developers have expressed interest in the possibility of giving players the option to replay NPC missions, though this won't become a reality until at least another patch is deployed.
It's unclear why Rockstar chose not to include this information in the original patch announcement but many speculate it has to do with the $500,000 in-game cash rebate people will be receiving as an apology by the company for early launch issues. That will be a substantial amount of cash in each player's hands and the company could be trying to ensure people don't get too much too soon.
