As some people really don’t get the point of playing video games – which to be clear, is to play video games – publishers are increasingly adding a way to skip portions of a title in return for cold hard cash. Devil May Cry 5 is the latest game which will allow you to skip some grind for real money.
Gamespot took a look at the game and noted there was an option to buy red orbs, the currency used to upgrade the characters, for real money and asked game director Hideaki Itsuno why they felt the game needed such an option.
“With giving people the ability to purchase Red Orbs, it’s something we want to give people as an option. If they want to save time and just want to get all the stuff at once, those people can do that. But on the other hand I don’t feel you have to get all the moves, ” said Itsuno. “You should be able to play it the way you want to play it.”
He went to explain that the easier moves will cost less cash than the harder to master upgrades. “The first thing is the stuff that we feel people should want to get first is made cheaper. So people will think, ‘Oh this is cheap so I’m just going to buy this.’” he said, “But then for the stuff that’s going to be harder to use and master, we make that more expensive. ”
I really don’t like the idea that they are making things so cheap that people will think “I’m just going to buy this,” they already paid for the game shoving a cheap, enticing micro-transaction in front of them seems to be aimed more at making money than helping the player. What do you think?
Also the argument of “You should be able to play it the way you want to play it,” is a terrible one. If that’s the case why can’t I buy infinite health in games, or a level skip to pass by a challenging boss? Either you open up the entire game and let people do what they please, or you make them stick to some rules.
Source: Gamespot
Crazy_Del
Fuck off!
Foxhound_Solid
Choice.
So long as you can unlock the particulars as normal then fair enough. I have to say though – micro transactions are ridiculous!
MrYd
The choice usually being “pay” or “put up with the extra grinding we’ve managed to squeeze in to try and persuade you to pay”.
I guess the 3rd option is to tell them to fuck off. Yeah, I think I’ll stick to the 3rd option.
Crazy_Del
My man!
DeadlyChipmunk
So the game designers set huge requirements for these orbs to upgrade and then charge to skip them.
Why not just set the thresholds lower and make a game fun for once without hours of repetitive gameplay to get these upgrades? Oh wait, so they can charge money for it. Feckers!
Nate
As long as the game/grind is not made purposely harder without microtransactions, and as long as there is no multiplayer pay to win aspect, then I have no problems with microtransactions.
Starman
The sad thing is there’s a shocking amount of people defending this crap.