A European consumer advocacy group have published an open letter to the European Union Commission expressing their concerns about video games that make use of premium in-game currencies - aka, make-believe money you can buy with real money, such as Minecoins in Minecraft's Bedrock Edition.
The group in question are the Bureau Européen des Unions de Consommateurs, or BEUC, who represent 44 non-governmental consumer organisations from 31 countries, and have been around since 1962. They're accusing the publishers of Fortnite, EA Sports FC 24, Minecraft, Clash of Clans and others of misleading people - specifically children - with their in-game premium currencies, and breaching European Union consumer protection laws. On a press site that summarises the results of various longer studies, they offer the below broad complaints about the practice.
]]>Capcom have added the Mercenaries mode to Resident Evil 4's remake as a free bit of DLC, alongside some curious microtransactions to the base game. Just like the original Resi4, Mercenaries puts you up against a timer as you race to roundhouse kick foes and chase high scores.
]]>Warhammer 40,000: Darktide launched on November 30th following several weeks of pre-order beta, but some players are already rather ticked off that the full-price game includes microtransactions. In particular, Darktide players are miffed that the co-op action game offers bundles of its Aquila premium currency that fall just short of the cost of some items in the store, meaning you’d have to stump up for several bundles to afford those. Taking to Darktide’s Discord to ask why you can’t just buy a specific amount of Aquilas for the items you want, one player was told by a spokesperson for Fatshark that adding such a feature would be “immeasurably complex”.
]]>As various UK agencies and organisations continue to regard microtransactions and loot boxes with escalating curiosity and suspicion, the Advertising Standards Authority have laid out new guidelines for advertising in-game in purchases. Basically, they think games should be clear about what they're selling and how much things cost in real money, and that advertising shouldn't pressure or mislead. The ASA are relatively toothless but fairly prolific, and their interest might lead to more official interest.
]]>Here I thought Assassin's Creed Valhalla might get away from those icky experience point boosters Ubisoft so like to put in their games, alas it was not to be. In Valhalla's in-game store you can now buy XP boosts for real-life cash, which effectively double your XP gain. They're designed to save you time, so you don't need to do tons of side quests to level up. But they caused a fair bit of backlash in Assassin's Creed Odyssey, and I can't say I'm particularly happy to see them return.
]]>As is customary for a modern Ubisoft open-world icon-clearer, Watch Dogs: Legion launches today with not only a £50 price tag and a £34 season pass but optional not-so-microtransactions too. Ubisoft are selling 'WD Credits' in bundles ranging from £4 to £42, which you can spend on in-game goodies like unique characters, skins, maps of collectibles, and wads of digicash. You don't need any of these to complete Legion but welp, it's still gross to see them juicing the game so much.
]]>CD Projekt Red have been clear about their 'no microtransactions' policy for Cyberpunk 2077 the singleplayer RPG for ages, but their vagueness on Cyberpunk multiplayer has caused trouble and confusion. This week they clarified yes, the Cyberpunk online doodad due after launch will have microtransactions, but no, they're not liars because this is a separate project. I'm not surprised that some fans have been confused, because the exact nature of Cyberpunk's multiplayer side has often been hazy - whether it's a separate game or just a mode - and spoken of in business language on business calls. Time to be clear, CDPR.
]]>What is a free-to-play game, truly, without super cool overpriced skins? Valorant, Riot's CS-like tactical shooter, has just revealed its new line of Elderflame gun skins, which turn your weapons into fiery, roaring, wiggly dragons. They're fully animated, swinging around to look at you after you get a kill, and you even reload them by politely handing over ammunition for them to consume. You'll be able to grab the set from Friday - but fair warning, it'll set you back a whopping £100/$100.
]]>Microtransactions have become a ubiquitous, if contentious, part of mainstream videogames. They crop up everywhere, from mobile games to $50 big-budget titles, with varying degrees of success and backlash. At the heart of the issue lies the equilibrium between the consumer’s valuation of media, and the developer’s increasingly tight margins as developmental costs rise. Recent events have raised all manner of real, pertinent questions (and led to proposals to legislate microtransactions, something being explored in several countries).
But even as such measures are introduced, it's hard to resist the urge to speculate on what microtransactions could become. What would happen if the consumers never protested? How far would developers push the envelope with microtransactions? What would a culture of unbridled monetisation look like?
What if that game already existed?
]]>High-octane ballsport Rocket League yesterday reduced cosmetic item prices, having started selling them at high prices with new systems replacing DLC and loot boxes in last week's Blueprint Update. Our Matt said only yesterday that "Rocket League's new Blueprints are too expensive, but still better than loot boxes" then a mere six hours later, Psyonix announced the price cuts. This is response to a solid week of complaints from players but the timing does make us look dead influential so yeah, yeah, you're welcome, everyone.
]]>Let's get this out of the way: CD Projekt Red really haven't confirmed much regarding Cyberpunk 2077's multiplayer. They know it's happening (eventually) but what that looks like, or when it'll happen? Not even Keanu knows. Last week it was reported that CDPR may know one thing for certain - CP2077 multiplayer would be monetised, and include "well thought-out" microtransactions. However, it looks like the language barrier has done a real doozy, and reports of monetised multiplayer may have been greatly exaggerated.
]]>This article is not about microtransactions (that is, buying virtual products with small payments) within the game of Hearthstone. It is, in fact, an article about micro transactions; specifically, it's about how the various characters from Hearthstone would react to the initiation of transactions involving very small amounts of money, according to me and my mate Trevar. Micro transactions in the real world are situations we all face every day. As such, this article is educational, and so much more important than if it were about microtransactions. Anyway, here we go:
]]>The latest patch for Fallout 76 released today includes some shiny new additions Bethesda revealed earlier this month: cameras and item repair kits. The latter can only be purchased with meta-currency, a departure from the in-game storefront's focus on solely offering cosmetic items.
]]>Electronic Arts have thrown in the towel in their battle with Belgium over whether or not paid loot boxes in FIFA's Ultimate Team mode constitute illegal gambling. Without admitting to anything, EA today announced that they will soon stop selling Belgian players the 'FIFA Points' microtransaction currency used to buy Ultimate Team 'packs', effectively stopping selling them. Technically if someone is sitting on €657965468476 of virtuacash they'll still be able to buy loot boxes until the cows come home, but no new Points will be sold.
"After further discussions with the Belgian authorities, we have decided to stop offering FIFA Points for sale in Belgium," EA said today. I can relate. After further discussions with the Scottish authorities, I myself recently decided to stop stabbing tourists in Scotland.
]]>The Australian Senate are launching an enquiry into microtransaction loot boxes, investigating whether they constitute gambling and to what extent they "may be harmful". While the enquiry won't change any policy itself, it could inform future laws.
A number of politicians and bodies around the world have cocked an eyebrow at microtransaction virtuacrates of random digicrud in recent years, most notably after the loud backlash against Star Wars Battlefront II's loot boxes. Belgium's Gaming Commission declared that some loot boxes are gambling and Hawaii's state government were concerned, among others.
]]>The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB), the North American industry body which assigns games age ratings, will expand its labelling on physical boxed games to include warnings of "In-Game Purchases". This will cover everything that can be bought digitally for real money, from season passes and skins to microtransaction currencies and random loot boxes. They're only a decade late to noticing all this, then.
Some industry commentators are disappointed that the ESRB don't take a tougher stance against loot boxes, specifically pointing them out, but it's no surprise. The ESRB exist to protect big publishers, and recently responded to a US senator's concerns about loot boxes by calling them "a fun way to acquire virtual items."
]]>I'm having a significantly better time than I'd expected with Solid crew spin-off Metal Gear Survive, but something about it does rub me up the wrong way - and I'm not talking about whether or not it stuck a dagger in Kojima's kidney or how heavily it borrows from other survival games. Like Metal Gear Solid V before, microtransactions have crept into Survive, and though they're not at all necessary to either singleplayer or co-op in the open-world base-building survival sandbox, they do push against the limits of fairness. $10 to buy a second character slot, for instance, or $2 for a one-day temporary boost to the points required to level your guy up. And this is in a game that costs $40/£35 upfront.
]]>When Electronic Arts turned off microtransactions in Star Wars Battlefront 2 over that whole stinking loot crate progression system mess, they said they would bring 'em back after a rethink. Well, EA's chief financial officer said on Tuesday that is still very much the plan. While he isn't sure how and when microtransactions will return, he seems fairly certain they wouldn't include cosmetic items which seem goofy or out-of-place in Star Wars - no pink Darth Vader, for starters.
]]>Activision have created a matchmaking system which would attempt to put players in situations where they're more likely to spend money on microtransaction items. Perhaps it would match you against a great player with a fancy gun so you'd want to buy that gun and emulate that success. Or if you've already bought a fancy gun, it might put you in matches where that weapon is especially effective to make the purchase seem better. Welcome to hellfuture! Hurry up and bring your jukebox money. Activision, who publish games from Call of Duty to Destiny and are corporate siblings with Blizzard, swear blind they aren't using this system in any current game. They have been granted a patent for it, though.
]]>Megahit MOBA League of Legends [official site] will raise the price of its premium microtransaction currency, Riot Points (RP), for UK players by 20% later this month.
Seeing as the pound has tanked since the UK voted last year to leave the European Union, developers Riot Games say players elsewhere in the world have been paying more per point than Kingdomeers. Raising UK prices will "restore balance in RP pricing around the world," Riot say. That's bad news for us, but don't you want RP pricing to be strong and stable? Little bit of politics there, ladies and gentlemen.
]]>Last year, Overkill Games upset a pretty vocal corner of their Payday 2 [official site] community by introducing microtransactions to the co-op heist 'em up - something they'd previously promised to avoid. In an announcement made yesterday, Starbreeze - Overkill's parent company - revealed they've now acquired full rights to the Payday franchise and as such will scrap paid-for in-game items via the next update. Oh, and Payday 3's been confirmed.
]]>When Overkill Software first added TF2-like weapon crates to Payday 2 [official site], putting special gun skins with better stats in 'safes' unlocked by paying real money for 'drills', it went poorly. The vocal portion of the co-op heist FPS's playerbase were riled, to say the least. Overkill backpedalled a little, making it so folks might randomly earn free drills while playing, but it was still pretty crummy of them. Now they've returned with a new set of safes, containing guns with new unique bonuses. Oh dear.
]]>We can be fairly certain that affordable time travel won't exist within our lifetimes because Payday 2 [official site] developers Overkill Software evidently haven't travelled back to last week and erase their mistake of adding microtransactions to unlock more-powerful versions of guns. If they had, memories of CS:GO-style weapon crates and keys concealing a random selection of garish weapon skins with better stats would fade away. No, clearly we don't have time travel, because instead they're now fiddling with the heist FPS's safe system a bit, trying to placate riled-up players.
Heisters can now earn keys (or 'drills', in its terminology) to unlock crates ('safes') for free as they play, rather than having to buy or trade for them. It's a start.
]]>An update due Wednesday (19 August) will bring six (6) new flavours of pet to Path of Exile [official site]. They include the fastest tortoise I've ever seen and a well-behaved lemur. Also a pukeko which I didn't know was a real bird until now. I'm mostly posting about this because it let me assess a bunch of digital pets.
]]>Part of a miscellany of serious thoughts, animal gifs, and anecdotage from the realm of MOBAs/hero brawlers/lane-pushers/ARTS/tactical wizard-em-ups. One day Pip might even tell you the story of how she bumped into Na’Vi’s Dendi at a dessert buffet cart.
The current big news in the Dota 2 community is the kerfuffle surrounding the Foreseer's Contract. A short comic heralded the event on Friday and served as an introduction to the newest hero on the roster, Oracle (you can find him in the test client at time of writing but not in the regular game).
Why does the coming update make players - myself included - so concerned?
]]>The UK's Office of Fair Trading (OFT) is to issue new guidelines (pdf) about in-app charges for gaming loosely aimed at children. "Is to", which is news-speak for over-simplifying a story to make it sound like a proposal is a thing that's definitely happening. ("Government is to chop the heads off all left-handed people" will read the headline, while the story reveals this was actually a proposal made by a window cleaner who leaned his head in during a meeting.) However, the body has put out a package of suggested guidelines for the industry, in an effort to stop publishers from ripping off customers/getting children to spend all their parents' money. They're hoping to put it into action in April, after consultation with grumpy publishers.
]]>So it was discovered by dogged data miners, so shall it be. After dabbling in microtransaction-based cosmetic items but largely buttering its bread with sweet, sweet subscription money, World of Warcraft is finally rolling out an in-game cash shop. Do you have excess moneydollars lining your pockets/sofa/cat? Are these "tough economic times" secretly treating you better than everyone else? Do you (for now) play exclusively on WoW's Asian test servers? Then you're in luck. Well, if you like XP boosts, pets, and mounts, anyway.
]]>(I know we call 'em microtransactions not in-app purchases on PC, but John will almost definitely shout at me if I let the headline run onto two lines).
This doesn't come as much suprise in light of what EA did to Dead Space 3, but there's still a certain amount of gastric churn to be felt in response to an EA bossman's public declaration that microtransactions will be a fixed feature of "all our games" from now on.
]]>Here's what's great about reality: people are great at breaking stupid stuff. So as Dead Space 3 launched yesterday in the Americas, people smarter than I had already figured out a glitch in the game to acquire all the items EA had hoped you'd pay for. Game Front have posted a video explaining how, which I've diligently included below.
]]>Hm. Here's something that's leaped out of nowhere, descended upon us in a flash of bloodlust, and knocked us flat in much the same fashion as an enraged koala or, more pertinently, an assassin. Assassin's Creed III is not by any means a F2P game, but it'll still have a (seemingly entirely optional) pay structure just like one. Granted, that in itself isn't really a problem. It's this bit, however, that has me worried: "disregarding your current level." To which I reply: but, but, but, but, but competitive multiplayer.
]]>Sometime in the last five or so years, the notion that a game is something you keep on paying for after you've bought it took hold. We'd understood expansions and subscriptions for years, but this was something different. It wasn't about a drip feed of more stuff, or a wholesale extension to the original game, it was about paying for optional bits and pieces that came later. I no longer hear about an online game and wonder whether microtransactions are going to be introduced, but I do want to know how they'll be implemented. That's the bit that hasn't really become standardised, and each game that arrives seems to have its own take. Guild Wars already had a bit of a shonky payment model, but it was bolted on after the fact. Guild Wars 2, however, will have additional paid-for elements from the moment you start playing the game.
That's not to say that it's easy to understand, either. Guild Wars 2 will have three currencies: gold, gems and karma. Let's take a look at what that means.
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