The Best and Worst Video Game Microtransactions
We’ve all been a victim of that disheartening pop-up – the wallet-prodding paywall preventing us from progressing in a game or getting a new outfit to make our favourite characters snazzier. If you’re patient, some games will let you slowly collect in-game currency for these treats, but often we are so involved in the game that we grow impatient and throw a couple of quid at it. And a few more when it happens further down the line.
Microtransactions in games are usually seen as fine, so long as they can be ignored and don’t hinder game progression in any way. This blog post lists some of the games that have achieved this, and others where microtransactions have had a potentially game-ruining impact.
Let’s first look at how it should be done:
The best:
- League of Legends
This popular game with over 8 million daily players does in-game purchasing right. League of Legends is a rare free to play game that doesn’t hinder progress or offer any advantage to players through in-game purchases. They are purely cosmetic enhancements, and the quality designs make them worthwhile for fans of the game.
The player never feels pressured to buy skins for champions or summoner icons. In fact, Riot Games provide ways of getting these items without using real money through special seasonal events and lucky drops after matches, further solidifying their great relationship with their players.
Other MOBAs also adopt similar systems, such as Dota 2 and Heroes of the Storm, but none compare to League’s 10-year success and billions in revenue.
- Fortnite
It had to be on the list! Fortnite was and continues to be a massive success, particularly among tweens. With similar cosmetic-only microtransactions to League of Legends, more than two thirds of players have spent money on V-Bucks in this free-to-play game, so much so that the top 10 most downloaded DLCs in the UK and US are all Fortnite cosmetic packs.
- Farmville
Despite its drop in popularity in recent years, Farmville paved the way for the future of Facebook gaming. Coined as ‘Freemium’ games, they provide a free-to-play experience with the option of spending additional money.
These freemium social media games technically stop you from progressing, but only for a set amount of ‘upgrading’ time. The wait is rewarding and allows the player to continue building their farms or hatching their dragons, however for those who are impatient or addicted, they can simply pay for their required resources and speed up the process.
Evidently, many players fell into this bracket. In 2013, at the height of the freemium empire, Zynga claimed that Farmville’s 40 million monthly users had contributed a massive $1 billion through in-game purchases.
- The Witcher III
It’s almost blasphemous to include in this list, as developer CD Projekt Red are strongly against the use of microtransactions, however the Witcher III is a prime example of paid-for additional content done well.
The Witcher III was a highly popular game based on the popular fantasy novels by Andrzej Sapkowski, so naturally there’s a lot of story to tell. It came as no surprise when they released two story-heavy DLCs, but these are so good and so worth their retail price that they consistently sit at the top of Steam’s best DLC list of all time.
- Kingdoms Rise
With six memorable games to the series so far, progressive slot game Kingdoms Rise can be played from as little as 10p per spin. In some rare cases this groundbreaking series can even be played for free, as a handful of generous online casinos offer players the opportunity to accept wager-free spins as part of their welcome offer when signing up.
The unique rewards system boosts player engagement with a cost-effective reward structure. Players earn tokens when they begin playing and can gradually win additional tokens throughout at no extra cost other than the original stake.
When bonus features are purchased, they can be played across all Kingdoms Rise games, cleverly cross-selling the story-driven slots game.
Of course, not every game has had success with microtransactions…
The worst:
- Star Wars Battlefront II
The release of this long-awaited game hit the news for all the wrong reasons. Fans who loved the first game were eager for new complex multiplayer gameplay and the typical great storylines of the Star Wars franchise. Instead, they were greeted by a galactic fleet of microtransactions – some of which stopped them from progressing.
Now known as ‘the loot box controversy’, Battlefront’s Star Card system was vital for online progression and character upgrades, but their encouragement of purchasing loot boxes to gain Star Cards made the game ‘pay-to-win’.
The torrent of anger from fans prior to the game’s release was so bad that EA’s stock value decreased $3 billion and made them reorganise executive positions. Eventually, EA removed the microtransactions before the game’s release, but their mistakes were far from forgotten, and many now associate the publisher with money-grabbing, which of course birthed many memes:
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/V2hhOd0VEwk/maxresdefault.jpg
There is one impressive thing EA have accomplished with Battlefront’s microtransactions, though – Reddit’s most downvoted comment of all time:
Battlefront II joins the likes of Shadow of Mordor and Destiny 2 for big games angering players with poor microtransaction choices.
- FIFA
Another of EA’s finest, FIFA has somehow been far more successful with its microtransactions than Battlefront II, but that doesn’t mean it’s a good system for players.
Again, loot boxes are the issue. FIFA Ultimate Team (FUT) packs contain randomised items with the promise of potential rare players such as Messi or Ronaldo. For football fans, the temptation may be too much. Dangling these legendary footballers in front of FIFA players makes them feel attainable, if they just keep on spending…
Having a strong team is vital for the game, so buying packs does give players an advantage. In fact, to be a professional FIFA player, the average amount spent on building up a decent team is a ridiculous $27,000. And even then, players who invested thousands in FIFA 19 found that they couldn’t take their transactions across to FIFA 20.
Despite this, FIFA is still successful, raking in a cool 11% of all EA sales at approximately $500 million. So why would they stop?
- Train Simulator 2015
Not one you’d expect on the list, but there’s good reason for its inclusion. For £25, Train Simulator 2015 was great for train enthusiasts who wanted to experience driving their own engines, but only if they liked having a few models and limited access to stations. The 193 additional trains and stations are anywhere between $20-40 each, or a total of over £4400 for everything. At that rate, you may as well train to become a real train driver!
- World of Tanks
Yet another game which lost a good portion of its player base to microtransactions, World of Tanks required progression through tank levels – the higher the level, the more your tank can withstand in combat. Naturally, the higher the level, the longer it takes to grind to the next level.
However, you can simply buy your way to better machines, making it nigh-on impossible for those on your level with less powerful machines to beat you. This, of course, became frustrating to play, to the point where many players simply gave up.
- Fallout 76
It’s bad enough walking through a toxic dystopia filled with all manner of things trying to kill you, but imagine not being able to repair your gear without throwing real money at it. As if the plethora of bugs and boring gameplay weren’t enough to annoy fans, these microtransactions were just another nail in the radioactive coffin.
Fallout 76 was considered a mess from its release, and although many of the initial bugs have been fixed, Fallout 76 is already thought of by many as a dead game.
Many games have been crafted with microtransaction systems to help the game developers and publishers continue to make money after the initial sales. Those that succeed tend to have unobtrusive and unhindering purchasing systems primarily for optional cosmetics. If player progression is blocked by a paywall, not only will they enjoy the game less, but it will feel like the company doesn’t care about them, and they will hold less trust in the publisher with future releases.