Red Dead Online beta players being handed free cash and 15 Gold Bars

Rockstar Games is handing Red Dead Online players some free, in-game cash and lovely gold bars.

Red Dead Online players will receive RDO$250 and 15 Gold Bars starting today, as a thank you from Rockstar Games for playing in the beta.

The funds will be handed to everyone that joined in to play the Red Dead Online beta at any point through 12am PT, 3am ET today (that's 8am UK December 7). The monetary gift should start arriving today and will hit all eligible players by Friday, December 14.

Starting today, the studio is also implementing the first set of adjustments to the game. These changes are "specifically geared towards creating a more balanced, fun and rewarding overall experience," across all the modes and missions.

These changes are as follows:

• Increasing the cash and gold payments across a number of different activities including Free Roam Missions, Free Roam Events, replays of A Land of Opportunities Missions, Showdown Series modes and more.

• Reducing the prices of most weapons in the Wheeler, Rawson & Co Catalogue and Gunsmiths. For players that have already purchased weapons at the previous prices, we will automatically deposit the difference to player balances starting today - please look for an alert message the next time you log in to the Red Dead Online Beta to notify you of this change, refunds may take up until December 10th to reach all players.

• Balancing the values of select pelts, skins and fish as well as horse reviver and pamphlets.

More improvements and balancing are in the works for the Red Dead Online beta will continue and further adjustments based on feedback from the community are being reviewed.

Fixes for persistent bugs which cause players to be kicked from sessions, and should be fixed by next week.

If you're just getting started, here's some Red Dead Online tips and tricks for missions, multiplayer modes and open world survival.