Microtransactions: potential threat to console games and gamers?

Microtransactions are here to stay. By providing after-retail options to customers, game companies could add additional features and content to games. This has not come without issues, however. It appears some folk, like Adam, have a few bones to pick with console microtransactions.

First off, he says they will retract from the fun of the gameplay. To illustrate, he puts his girlfriend in the limelight. She was playing Need for Speed Carbon on the 360 and was barely winning races. In touch with that, she couldn’t earn enough bucks to keep her car upgraded.

So how was she able to get all of her trophy cars upgraded? She bought one super-duper model at Xbox Live Marketplace. It allowed her to breeze through any race she had to participate in. Now where’s the fun in that? That’s like opting for a cheat mode, except you had to charge it to Visa.

Next up: GRAW. Yep, while GRAW 2 may never make it to the PS3 Europe launch, much hope spurs from the fact that it won’t be hounded by a microtransaction issue like with GRAW. Most of you covert tactical FPS fans might know this already. After you purchase the expansion pack to GRAW and try to invite your “unexpanded” friends for a little fraggin’ action, you find that you can’t.

It’s like all those who have installed the expansion just gets a whole new exclusive room to themselves, leaving their retail buddies in the dust. As Adam said, “This is outrageous! The publisher and developer are basically forcing gamers to purchase the add-on if they ever plan on playing with friends who have already upgraded.”

Ubisoft claims that the incompatibility stems from the new features and content available in the expansion. But Adam thinks otherwise. Still some companies have been successful in their microtransaction schemes, provided they gave away the original game for free.

It’s hilarious to note that it seems like their turning the game console into an arcade machine – with credit. Sad to think that there are gamers out there who bought consoles so that they wouldn’t have to lose all their quarters at the local arcades. Got some gripes or praise for the growing microtransaction trend? Discuss here.

Via GamersReports

Microtransactions are here to stay. By providing after-retail options to customers, game companies could add additional features and content to games. This has not come without issues, however. It appears some folk, like Adam, have a few bones to pick with console microtransactions.

First off, he says they will retract from the fun of the gameplay. To illustrate, he puts his girlfriend in the limelight. She was playing Need for Speed Carbon on the 360 and was barely winning races. In touch with that, she couldn’t earn enough bucks to keep her car upgraded.

So how was she able to get all of her trophy cars upgraded? She bought one super-duper model at Xbox Live Marketplace. It allowed her to breeze through any race she had to participate in. Now where’s the fun in that? That’s like opting for a cheat mode, except you had to charge it to Visa.

Next up: GRAW. Yep, while GRAW 2 may never make it to the PS3 Europe launch, much hope spurs from the fact that it won’t be hounded by a microtransaction issue like with GRAW. Most of you covert tactical FPS fans might know this already. After you purchase the expansion pack to GRAW and try to invite your “unexpanded” friends for a little fraggin’ action, you find that you can’t.

It’s like all those who have installed the expansion just gets a whole new exclusive room to themselves, leaving their retail buddies in the dust. As Adam said, “This is outrageous! The publisher and developer are basically forcing gamers to purchase the add-on if they ever plan on playing with friends who have already upgraded.”

Ubisoft claims that the incompatibility stems from the new features and content available in the expansion. But Adam thinks otherwise. Still some companies have been successful in their microtransaction schemes, provided they gave away the original game for free.

It’s hilarious to note that it seems like their turning the game console into an arcade machine – with credit. Sad to think that there are gamers out there who bought consoles so that they wouldn’t have to lose all their quarters at the local arcades. Got some gripes or praise for the growing microtransaction trend? Discuss here.

Via GamersReports