When Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End will launch the game’s multiplayer mode in 2016, it will feature microtransactions from the beginning. Eric Monacelli who was working at Naughty Dog up until October being its community strategist has supported the action game’s use of micropayments.
Speaking to MCV, Monacelli–who presently works for Call of Duty developer Infinity Ward–stated that controversy around microtransactions in gaming is nothing unusual. He mentioned that “people bridled” when Bethesda sold horse armor for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion back in 2006.
“But if it is good enough content and you desire to pay for it, why not buy it?” he mentioned. “That is exactly what it comes down to.”
Monacelli also questioned the concept that developers cut content from a game to sell it piece by piece in the future. “No, oftentimes it is not,” he mentioned, using The Last of Us as a model.
“It is work, and you ought to pay for great work” — Monacelli
“A well-defined example of that is the burst rifle in The Last of Us. A lot of people said. ‘For what reason are they charging for guns?’ We did an investigation and remarked that a lot of players were having difficulty jumping into the game for the very first time, so we desired to provide people a weapon that was quickly accessible and would give them a bit of assistance,” he mentioned. “There were other weapons if they were a more skilled player that they could buy–it’s their choice. If you are already kicking ass, you apparently do not require these, but if you want them, have them. It is just a matter of personal choice.”
Monacelli continued to say that there were “hot disputes” within the Naughty Dog considering the paid DLC.
“For me, the more attention that’s drawn into DLC, the more you are able to charge for it, because it is one of those things where you are building another game unto itself,” he mentioned. “The Last of Us: Left Behind was another game. It is actually the second Last of Us game, right?
“It is work, and we should pay for good work.”
Besides microtransactions, Naughty Dog will release a single-player expansion for Uncharted 4 that likely will be paid-for. As indicated by Naughty Dog‘s Arne Meyer, the studio has “no clue” what form this DLC will take right now.
Uncharted 4 is not different in offering microtransactions and other sorts of paid add-on content. Many main games have such plans in place, counting Assassin’s Creed Syndicate, Halo 5: Guardians, and Rise of the Tomb Raider, not to mention many others. As a matter of fact, it is rare for a big-name game now to not have any sort of paid DLC, as is the case for the latest Need for Speed.
The Uncharted 4 release date is fixed for March 18, 2016, for PlayStation 4 exclusively. The game’s multiplayer beta is programmed to start in early December for those who bought The Nathan Drake Collection.
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