Microtransactions are an inescapable part of games now. Just this week it was revealed that Rockstar have earned a massive half a billion dollars off the things on GTA Online alone, standing as one of many compelling cases for developers to lock content behind cash-gated walls regardless of the asking price. Gears of War 4 is just the latest to join this trend, with Coalition studio director Rod Fergusson confirming as such yesterday.
Gears of War 4 might be taking it back to basics with their multiplayer, but player customisation will be anything but old-school. Instead of offering up a handful of options for players to choose from, Gears 4 will now instead allow players to purchase card crates – which escalate in price and rarity. Random cards will unlock cosmetic items, with Fergusson stressing that no microtransaction will impact gameplay.
“I feel like that paradigm of cards is really clear to understand for collectibles, like the ability to collect things. We had weapon skins and character skins, so that idea of collecting cards is just easily understood. It felt like it added some engagement in terms of its not the, ‘Oh, I like Tiger Stripe. I bought Tiger Stripe. I’m done. I don’t need to engage with that system anymore. There’s no need for me to hang around.'”
Fergusson likened the system to Magic: The Gathering, saying that he feels players will engage more with a random system than one that has clear paths to upgrade options. In that way the system never gets stale, and keeps players wanting to purchase another pack.
“I like the idea of why you buy Magic: The Gathering booster pack. If I could just buy the one card I want then I’m out, then you lose it, right?”
And that’s true, but it’s also another way of locking cosmetic content behind a wall that even chops and changes what you get for throwing down more money. I have no doubt that it will be completely feasible to not buy a single crate and still get the best out of Gears 4. But it still feels wrong.
Gears of War 4 has its beta kicking off next week, and is due for launch later this year.
Last Updated: April 15, 2016
Tiaan Venter
April 15, 2016 at 09:07
They pretty much started microtransactions with the GOW3 skin packs BS
iusedtobe(a)regular
April 15, 2016 at 09:08
We will complain, moan and bitch about but at the end of the day we will fall in line like the sheep we are.
Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0
April 15, 2016 at 09:09
Nope
iusedtobe(a)regular
April 15, 2016 at 09:11
Ok, well most will. But you are right, I too refuse to buy into the whole microtransactions thing.
Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0
April 15, 2016 at 09:14
Most people will and I hate most people. Hey, that works nicely XD
Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0
April 15, 2016 at 09:09
If Coalition owned an airline company…
http://img-9gag-fun.9cache.com/photo/aVP10d8_460sa.gif
Strawman Jim
April 15, 2016 at 10:55
LOL!!
Alien Emperor Trevor
April 15, 2016 at 09:15
BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA OMGOMGOMGOMG BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA That has to be the BESTEST most BULLSHITTEST reasoning for a MT system I’ve ever heard. My god, Randy Pitchford and CliffyB must be jealous.
“If you can just buy the thing you want you won’t spend more money, but if we make it random you’ll spend even more money trying to buy the thing you want.”
$5 PER CHANCE of buying the skin you want. BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0
April 15, 2016 at 09:36
It all bullshit but people will throw money at it anyway. Now where’s that salt?
Alien Emperor Trevor
April 15, 2016 at 09:45
Ag I honestly don’t care if there are cosmetic MTs in a game. That ship sailed years ago. Now it’s about calling out the rip-offs & the bullshit, like this.
If you’re enjoying a game & you want to buy a skin because you think it looks cool, go ahead, it’s your money & you’re having fun with your game. I’ll buy one if I like the game, the skin AND I think it’s worth the cost. MP-only of course, for SP I think it’s kinda silly no matter what.
Greylingad[CNFRMD]
April 15, 2016 at 09:52
Even with that said, I’ll still not buy cosmetics for a game, it goes against every fibre of my being to charge people for something that was, from the start, budgeted for before hand… For instance, this game has not released yet and people will coin these MTs as DLC content, because at some stage they’ll post a blog about how wonderfully fantastic their team has been in creating content solely built to fish money out of their customers. It’s sick, it’s the worst kind of disease and I will not support GOW out of this principle.
Alien Emperor Trevor
April 15, 2016 at 09:58
Yeah it depends I guess. I’ve bought a couple for Warframe, like my pretty shiny cape, but that’s a MP-only F2P game with content added over time, and I’m perfectly okay with it.
GOW is a full priced AAA game, and I wouldn’t buy theirs. I don’t remember reading about DLC, but I’m guessing there will be pre-order DLC, season passes & other DLC as well in addition to these MTs. I get pissed off when AAAs try to implement F2P mechanics.
Greylingad[CNFRMD]
April 15, 2016 at 10:32
That’s exactly it, if a game sells at a starting price of $60, promising a full product, but then demands you support their “adapted F2P” model, I want to lose my mind, rather sell the game at an increased price and add the fluff than charge more through some stupid pay wall principle…Or make the game a F2P game, the two models shouldn’t mix, because instead of focusing on creating a great game that brings in money, people would rather just reskin the same models for more money…
Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0
April 15, 2016 at 09:55
My biggest issue is there’s no regulation. Publishers gives as vanilla ice cream and there’s no regulation on how much they can charge for the cone or the sprinkles. It starts at $60 but in the end you can spend up to three maybe four times that on content they cut out or added later. Maybe I’m just too used to paying for a movie and getting the whole experience or buying a music and getting the entire song. It’s become an acceptable practice for big publishers to nickel and dime people. But it’s the people that allowed them to do this.
Alien Emperor Trevor
April 15, 2016 at 10:03
Yeah, true. Cut content is BS no matter what. I always check what I’m getting for my money when it comes to DLC. Think it’s nonsense you pay $60 for a game that will keep you busy for days, then $40 for a season pass with 3 hours worth of content and a few skins. GITFS.
W3 did it right. You bought the game, you got fluff for free, you paid for meaty DLC.
Greylingad[CNFRMD]
April 15, 2016 at 09:43
Exactly… If you give people what they want from the start they’ll be unhappy, so F*CK them and their consumerist view and make them pay more, fishing for their product, because, if you’re going to piss away money, why the F*CK not all of it!?
If ever extortion was evident…
WitWolfy
April 15, 2016 at 11:47
The thing is, even if you do like Tiger stripe skins.. You shouldn’t PAY for it again if you already paid for the game first time around… This is devs’ answer to pre-played games.
Strawman Jim
April 15, 2016 at 13:07
Listen to this young man, he speaks wise words!