I recently reviewed Forza Motorsport 6 and in that review I praised it for removing the microtransactions that held back its predecessor and having an economy that didn’t require you to grind in order to obtain the best cars. Since then, Turn 10 Studios has silently snuck microtransactions back into Forza 6, causing quite the uproar. However, having played the game before and after their implementation, they didn’t feel detrimental to the experience at all. This has left me pondering what kind of microtransactions are acceptable and how developers should handle monetizing their games going forward.
There are many games that do in-app purchases well. A fine example of this is the recently released Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate. For the past few installments of the Ubisoft franchise, players have been able to bypass a lot of the progression via what are essentially paid cheats, purchasable in-game currency or the like. But not only are these hidden away within menus in the latest entry, such that I never discovered them until a good number of hours into the game, but most importantly, progression within these games has never felt like a grind to me such as to encourage these time-saving indulgences. Forza 6’s in game economy also doesn’t pressure you into engaging with microtransactions and they can even be turned off entirely so that they never show up in the game at all.
Unfortunately not all microtransactions in retail games are handled this well. GTA Online left a particularly sour taste in my mouth. Don’t get me wrong, I think GTA Online is an enjoyable experience on the surface, but it quickly becomes a grindfest. The relatively low payouts from missions when compared to some of the high ticket items sold in-game really feel deliberately designed to force you into reaching for your wallet. On the flipside the money generated from these microtransactions allows Rockstar to justify continually developing new content updates for the game free of charge. To me this justifies the use of microtransactions, because as long as you can resist using them you are getting a whole heap of free, new content.
However, microtransactions in multiplayer games can be disastrous, through pay to win mechanics
allowing people with bottomless wallets to jump well ahead of the competition. This is apparent in FIFA Ultimate Team, which shamelessly allows paying customers an objective advantage over others. Some multiplayer games also get microtransactions right, however, with the items on offer being purely cosmetic and not affecting performance whatsoever.
Microtransactions really are a mixed bag and although they are not inherently evil you should be cautious when buying games you know to include them. The situation does seem to be improving though. When you compare games that were criticised for their microtransactions with their sequels you notice that games companies are seemingly learning how they can implement microtransactions without ruining the entire experience. This is apparent through looking at the progression from both AC: Unity to AC: Syndicate and from Forza 5 to Forza 6 where microtransactions went from almost necessities to timesavers for the chronically impatient.
