microtransactions
The ESRB Will Label Games With Loot Boxes And In-Game Transactions
You may have noticed that we’ve been a little quiet on the topic of in-game purchases and loot boxes, but we’ve been listening. In fact, we’ve absorbed every tweet, email, Facebook post and singing telegram sent our way, and we’ve been working to develop a sensible approach to let gamers and parents know when a game offers the option to purchase additional content. Starting soon ESRB will begin assigning a brand-new label to physical games: In-Game Purchases. This label, or as we call it interactive element, will appear on boxes (and where those games can be downloaded) for all games that offer the ability to purchase digital goods of premiums with real world currency. This includes features like bonus levels, skins, surprise items (such as item packs, loot boxes, mystery awards), music, v...
The Video Game Industry Needs To Self-Regulate, Avoid Government Involvement
All it takes is enough headlines for lawmakers to notice. They’ve noticed. Today I read that Belgium declares it wants loot boxes declared as gambling, and wants them banned in Europe. Before you scoff at a single example from Europe, we now have the U.S. State of Hawaii initiating an investigation into predatory practices at EA, precipitated by the headlines Battlefront II has been making. Once enough dollars are at stake and enough people are aggravated, the hackles are up. Microtransactions, as many have pointed out, have been extremely successful. Success is a double-edged coin. With a massive flood of new revenue coming in based on, essentially, a different way of packaging and selling the same content amount going out, this should have been expected. Scrutiny. Loot boxes, as a ...
Lootboxes To Get Banned In Europe – “Mixing Gambling And Gaming Is Dangerous”
The recent controversy over lootboxes in Star Wars: Battlefront 2 had caught the eye of many outside the gaming media, so much so that government officials were paying attention to the claims of lootboxes being similar to gambling. This led to the news that the Belgium Gaming Commission had started an inquiry into the whole matter in order to determine whether lootboxes and microtransactions did really lead to gambling and addiction. Well, turns out that they have come to the conclusion that lootboxes with microtransactions attached to them do constitute a form of gambling, and since children are also playing these video games, lootboxes need to be banned. Belgium’s Minister of Justice, Koen Geens, had this to say: “The mixing of money and addiction is gambling. Mixing gambling...
CD Projekt RED Throws Shade At Recent Gaming Industry Trends, Says “We Leave Greed To Others”
With the recent news of online elements being added to Cyberpunk 2077 in order to maintain sustainability and make it more “commercially significant”, gamers were worried if this was a sign of their favorite developer going down the path of lootboxes and microtransactions. Luckily those worries have been alleviated as CD Projekt recently said this on Twitter: .@PrettyBadTweets Worry not. When thinking CP2077, think nothing less than TW3 — huge single player, open world, story-driven RPG. No hidden catch, you get what you pay for — no bullshit, just honest gaming like with Wild Hunt. We leave greed to others. — CD PROJEKT RED (@CDPROJEKTRED) November 19, 2017 That final bit about leaving greed to others is a clear jab at the recent lootbox controversy going on, especially with t...
Ubisoft Making More Money With Microtransactions Than Digital Video Game Sales
Remember how much gamers hate microtransactions? Well, guess what? They sure seem to love spending money on it. So much so, that in a recent earnings report Ubisoft said that they made more money with microtransactions than by actual digital game sales. DLCs, season passes, in-game items, and so on came together to make up for over 50% of Ubisoft’s revenue in 2017 so far. Overall sales have also risen significantly. This is definitely bound to encourage other companies to figure out more ways to shoe in microtransactions into their games as well. Say what you will about microtransactions, but no company comes to your home and pulls money out of your wallet to pay for microtransactions. Gamers are actively spending on them, while at the same time whining about them. At the end of the,...
Now Assassin’s Creed Origins Has Lootboxes & Microtransactions
As is the trend with all big video games these days, Assassin’s Creed: Origins now has been confirmed to have loot boxes. Being called, Heka Chest, it can be purchased with in-game currency (for now). Heka means magic in Egypt. You open them to receive items, and they are random. Ubisoft has yet to confirm if they will be purchasable with real currency after release, though they have had microtransactions in Assassin’s Creed games before. Register with us for the best in gaming, and join us for video game discussions on our forums.
Is Rockstar Getting Greedy With GTA Online?
There is certainly no doubt that Rockstar is great video game developer (My personal favourite) and their games are all very well received. The addition of GTA Online along GTA V was not an exception. GTA online has been receiving regular updates (at least on the next generation consoles and PCs) and DLCs free of cost. But are these DLCs really free? I believe not. Everything going on with Grand Theft Auto Online as of late could make one wonder if priorities have shifted in the worst possible way. Have Rockstar’s priorities shifted from making great games to make most out of their loyal fans? Pondering over the addition of the so-called ‘Shark Cards’, it does seem very likely. It appears as if money is becoming their main priority, instead of delivering a full gaming exp...