Microtransactions have gotten out of hand

Justin Popa at in2gpu says:

I was reading my daily gaming news this morning when my eyes lay upon the following article from PC Gamer “Assassin’s Creed Unity will let players “fast track” unlocks with microtransactions”. Excellent! Yet another game being completely annihilated by greed. Anybody here remember when Ubisoft used to be cool?

[DarkOcelet]

What the eff ? Unity has a microtransaction to unlock fast travel early ? Really !!! I know it had microtranactions but didnt know it was that bad. I am not supporting this trash . They are becoming worse than EA .. they can go pluck themselves with these practices .

[TheWackyMan]

and yet we made it this way. By buying dlc and micro-transactions for mobile games for years, and in their mind, we're stupid enough to buy micro-transactions in 60 dollar games. We can really only blame ourselves for letting it get this out of hand, and if we want to stop it, DO NOT BUY THIS TRASH.

I love playing video games but it really saddens me to see this stuff get worse and worse. The same thing is going to happen with remakes, if people keep buying it, they're just going to milk the cash cow.

[Sideras]

Yes gamers were stupid enough to let that crap get out of hand, but if the developers had some dignity and ambition they would neither need nor want this shit.

[Sayai jin]

Yeah, this is absurd. The crazy thing is that there wil be people who buy it up. Let's hope its's a small amount of people so the dev/publisher will think twice the next time...speak with our wallets.

[Mikelarry]

exactly. some gamers don't care how their bad practices affect the industry as a whole when it goes to the dogs only then they realise. I stopped playing AC after brotherhood and as that when they started all this trash with yearly release.shame as this franchise used to be my favourite series of mine.

[700p]

Well it makes sense. Casual gamers tend to suck at games other than call of duty. So buying something that unlocks fast travel makes sense. It doesnt bother me because i wont buy the microstransactions.

[46889337]

The micro transactions aren't for "fast travel". They're for "fast tracking"(unlocking) certain gear and costumes in the game early without having to earn it yourself. I'm not defending it either way. Just clarifying what the micro transactions are actually for.

I'very personally seen far worse examples of this practice being used. TLOU multiplayer for example requires that you purchase certain powerful weapons that make the game easier, whereas atleast in Unity you have the option to earn most of these items yourself without having to pay.

[Whirlwind_Fanfare_08]

'Microtransactions have gotten out of hand'

So true! it's like so many game devs are doing it now.
I don't like this at all!

[SpiralTear]

They were out of hand at Dungeon Keeper mobile. They were out of hand at Final Fantasy All the Bravest. They were out of hand at Dead Space 3, Soul Calibur: Lost Swords, and every single Facebook game.

I don't think AC: Unity is the straw that broke the camel's back at all, folks.

[BattleAxe]

Don't forget about Battlefield 4 and all the shortcut bundles and backpack micro transactions. It's one of the reasons I refuse to buy BF4, unless I can get it for $20.00 with all the map packs included like I did with BF3 on PC.

[SkullBlade169]

You don't say?

[TheBreezyBB]

It's because some idiots with too much money, and no patience. They are ruining games.

[HardcoreDroid]

Boycott.

[ShowGun901]

*pitchfork grabbed*
*handing out torches*

BOYCOTT!
BOYCOTT!
BOYCOTT!

seriously, im going to tell everybody i know not to get this, perhaps lifetime sales of less than a million will teach them a lesson!

[HardcoreDroid]

You can sign a petition to boycott here:

http://hardcoregames.net/si...

[Flipgeneral]

One reason to hold off on Destiny..

[KwietStorm_BLM]

??

[DarkOcelet]

Did you mean Unity or it might have microtransactions ? Pls elaborate .

[BiggerBoss]

Bungie stated that Destiny doesn't have micro transactions, wtf are you talking about?

[Buzz7S]

A business won't survive if it doesn't make money and turn over a profit. So we're going to condemn any and every publisher for giving you the OPTION to spend money, so they can make money to survive?

[DarkOcelet]

Dude they already make millions out of Assasins creed . What are you talking about ?

[Spotie]

No. We're going to condemn the ones who design games around getting you to pay little bits here and there top do anything meaningful in games.

[mydyingparadiselost]

It's not about the option itself but what the option is used for. Offering paid benefits that break game mechanics or change the gameplay and offer advantages to paying players is ridiculous. People aren't complaining about costumes, they're upset over paid advantages or grind heavy games with the ability to purchase the content instead of unlocking it.
The problem is that a lot of these micro transactions have an adverse effect on the game design itself. If EA or whatever company wants you to pay them they can make items in a game less plentiful than they should be, locked away behind hours of grinding, only available via purchase and so on. By screwing with the balances that go into making a game and pushing people into paying, especially on an already purchased game, gameplay is changed to favor the players with deeper pockets and that's against good design. It's like going to a theater and scenes being removed for the viewers that only paid the regular ticket price instead of buying a higher priced ticket, it ruins or changes the experience for anyone not paying more.

[DualWielding]

The thing is they are making the game, they can intentionally make it difficult so you can't advance without paying money... that's why the excuse... we just want to give the option to gamers without time is stupid because they are the ones who are putting the objectives far from your quest giver so you have to travel a lot....

[ShowGun901]

THIS IS EXACTLY THE PROBLEM!!!

http://www.giantbomb.com/pr...

these games will rake you over the coals any way they can, and say its "optional" the whole time! they artificially ramp up the difficulty, then offer you "cheats" (pretty much) to get through! this practice is sickening to me.

[HardcoreDroid]

No one is saying condemn every publisher that gives you the option to spend extra money. A lot of people, however, are saying condemn every publisher who designs their games around perpetually extracting cash from players, or sells off fundamental elements like loot, levels and skills via IAPs.

[colonel179]

I remember when the DLC crap was getting out of hand, that I said to a friend SARCASTICALLY, in a few years, they will be offering DLC in advance like they do with TV shows seasons in iTunes. I guess the joke was on me completely.

But it's just like the author said. The only way to stop it is not to pay for it. Sadly, it won't happen. People will buy the stupid stuff because they want to have everything for their games/house/car/etc.

The only way it's going to stop is until it implodes. The same way Guitar Hero, Rockband, etc imploded because people did get tired of them. With games, the industry will destroy itself before this money-grabbing techniques will stop, but how long will it take? Just look tt the sales of the consoles, they are selling more consoles than in the PS2 and PS3 era combined in the same amount of time. It will take a long while.

Also, the one who gets the blame is Facebook, then Apple and their app store. Those guys are going to destroy gaming as we know it. I guarantee it!

[BG11579]

We need another video-game crash to reset the clock on these business practices and to go back to how it was before.

[Master-H]

Good buy free cheats, enter greedy Microtransactions, this is the state of gaming now.

[drkronic]

PES 2015 is also getting microtransactions

[DualWielding]

Only solution is not the buy the game

[breakpad]

any transaction is bad by default ...in previous ganeretions all these bonus , skins , extra scenarios were called unlocks and were included in the game for free and you should play extensively the game to obtain them ..now all these have a price.... it is completely ridiculous

[breakpad]

Ubisoft was always like that ..you just didnt realise it ..When Crapisoft release a game or even before they release it ..has DLC or preorder bonus by default that is the ultimate steal for a gamers (i understand to release a DLC long after the main release as an expansion but this Crapisoft, EA , Activision thing is ridiculous ) ..They make content and split it many pieces so they can sell more ...i never bought and i will never buy a game from Crapisoft (except the fact that the majority of their game are biased , propagandistic and generally mediocrities

[Amorist89]

That's me put off Ubisoft for life....

[TripOdd]

Something that many (but by no means all) commentators seem to be ignoring is that the purchase of micro-transactions is, in fact, a choice. Do I personally feel the need to finish a campaign early? No, I want to enjoy the game at my pace. Micro-transactions to help you finish a single-player campaign (I'm not in a position to comment on MMO's, or other grind-heavy games, as I don't play them) don't appeal to me, because the challenge of a game is (to me) what makes it enjoyable. However, to suggest that by giving people the option of making choices I wouldn't make is somehow ruining my experience of the (for emphasis, I'm still referring to single player campaigns) game seems childish. I'm well aware that I'm going to be seriously 'red-thumbed' for my opinion, but where is the value in discussing opinions if you're automatically going to dismiss an opinion that differs from yours simply because that opinion might challenge you to actually consider yours?