Microtransactions, aka the concept of paying “real-life money” to obtain in-game stuff, like weapons, skins and random fancy things, was first introduced in casual mobile games. Players could spend real-life money to skip the long grinding processes and the devs on the other side, would get revenue and recoup their investment on their free-to-play mobile games. Initially, this thing wasn’t a problem or any great deal. It was just there, like a feature in numerous casual mobile games. Also, we know that mobile games are just temporary distractions for us when we get extraordinarily bored.
Generally, microtransactions were always present in the F2P computer & mobile games. Spending money on these things would boost your stats or give you in-game goodies. Well, good enough. The games were free after all. But when this model is brought over to PC and console games, that already cost over Rs. 3000, the whole picture gets reversed. For instance, half of the core gameplay gets locked behind a paywall. In order to play the last mission, you may have to pay real-life money. You may be required to pay, in better words “throw” more bucks to unlock main characters of that said game [just look at Battlefront II].
Dead Space 3 was one of the early Triple-A titles to adopt this model and gradually things got way worse than ever. Let us look at the recent controversy over the role of microtransactions in DICE’s new game, Star Wars Battlefront II which of course, is published by EA – the most hated video game company of our galaxy.
EA has always led the ace in a shameless integration of all types of paywalls and microtransactions. Now, again the company recently made the most-hated Reddit comment on the internet with over 670K downvotes. When I first got this news, I was awestruck. Sure, this is justified and they deserve it.
Star Wars Battlefront costs Rs. 3499 on PC and somehow EA decided to lock Darth Vader (one of the most important characters in this IP) behind a paywall. Yep, you can spend money to unlock him instantly or just grind for never-ending hours to unlock him. Obviously, players will hate this, and we have a guy who asks “Seriously? I paid $80 to have Vader locked?” and the response EA game was heavily backfired on themselves. Here’s what EA had to say –
The intent is to provide players with a sense of pride and accomplishment for unlocking different heroes.
As for cost, we selected initial values based upon data from the Open Beta and other adjustments made to milestone rewards before launch. Among other things, we’re looking at average per-player credit earn rates on a daily basis, and we’ll be making constant adjustments to ensure that players have challenges that are compelling, rewarding, and of course attainable via gameplay.
We appreciate the candid feedback, and the passion the community has put forth around the current topics here on Reddit, our forums and across numerous social media outlets.
Our team will continue to make changes and monitor community feedback and update everyone as soon and as often as we can.
This is insane! The standard edition of the game costs Rs. 3,499 and that’s already a lot of money. So, why for the fuck’s sake EA even thought of such fiddle? Gone are the days, when you could get a complete game with awesome gameplay/storyline at a satisfying value for money, and with no such bullshit for a one time, final purchase.
Yep, this age of “microtransactions” has truly gone way too far. Also, not to mention – the degradation of quality in recent games.
This recent controversy made me realise how far some publishers have sketched the boundaries, and also that we gamers got to have a voice. (Welp, there are always retards who keep supporting all these bullshit by buying their games. Hopefully, a majority of gamers don’t…)
It’s time to stop ruining otherwise great and fun games by implementing this jackshit. AAA games that have a solid price need to avoid microtransactions as they are an insult to the injury. However, there’s some good news. After all the hate that EA received, they’ve finally decided to pull off all the in-game microtransactions from the game.
That’s a good news for gamers and many EA fans are rejoicing already. It is the first step EA has took against microtransactions and we’re curious to know EA’s future intentions with this revenue model.
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