GTA Online Player Rewarded $10K For Fixing Long Load Times

A GTA Online player by the name of T0st has been awarded $10,000 for revealing a flaw in the game code that was apparently the root cause of the game’s unbearably-long loading times. T0st first discovered the flaw earlier this month. He then proceeded to test his theory on his personal rig which reportedly resulted in a reduction in Los Santos loading times by as much as 70%. He later released a “proof of concept” mod that caught the eye of Rockstar Games.

“After a thorough investigation, we can confirm that player t0st did, in fact, reveal an aspect of the game code related to load times for the PC version of GTA Online that could be improved,” Rockstar told PC Gamer. “As a result of these investigations, we have made some changes that will be implemented in a forthcoming title update.”

A hotfix based on T0st’s discovery has since been released and players are reporting huge improvements, earning him a boatload of cash and a whole lot of love from the community.

This is the first time that Rockstar Games’ has rewarded a player for a technical issue under the company’s Bug Bounty Program. The program offers cash incentives and rewards to anyone who discovers a security or privacy issue in any of Rockstar’s games.