Microtransactions are testing our vigilance. 7 worst practices of publishers and developers
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When writing about the latest NFT inventions, it's impossible not to mention the good old microtransactions. We are already got used to them and they're technically not so bad, especially if they're just cosmetic elements that change the appearance of characters or objects in games. Unfortunately, their pricing can often be questionable. It might seem that after the scandal with Star Wars: Battlefront 2, we'll no longer see such brutal attempts to drain our money, but the publishers keep on bringing up stupid ideas.
Cash Darth Vader – the sad case of Star Wars: Battlefront 2
What's that Battlefront story about? The creators deliberately blocked access to well-known and liked characters, forcing players to grind for many hours to get them, or... to spend real money and unlock them faster. As a result, you could simply buy a better character for online games, which was an overt pay-to-win scheme.
It ended not only with one of the biggest outlash of rage in the gaming community, but also with many governments in various countries picking up the issue of microtransactions and trying to legislate them. Electronic Arts, after poor attempts to justify or repent, finally removed all microtransactions for a time. The gameplay balance has been completely overhauled and Battlefront II has grown into a pretty solid game over time. It's a pity that such huge outcry of both fans and the media was needed for this.
The most recent example is the release of the highly anticipated Gran Turismo 7. Suffice it to say that the price of a single car in the previous installment of the cycle was about something like 2-3 bucks. Now, such an optional purchase requires several packages of virtual credits, and individual vehicles can cost up to $40. What's more, the amount of creds you could grind by just playing the game was significantly lowered after a patch, and it took an extremely loud wave of outrage from players to make the developers withdraw from the controversial changes. Whether we like it or not, micro-transfers have become a prevailing standard, often appearing as a forced addition that doesn't provide anything interesting in terms of content – and everything indicates that it will remain a permanent element of many games.
