There was once a time when microtransactions did not exist, when the price you paid for a video game was final.
But video game companies have sold their souls for profits, which comes as no surprise to anyone.
Big Boss once said, "The moment zero becomes one is the moment the world springs to life. One becomes two, two becomes ten, ten becomes 100."
One microtransaction might cost 99 cents. Perhaps you receive some custom skin or avatar. For $5, maybe you can gamble with loot boxes. And there's no limit to how many microtransactions a person can purchase. Microtransactions directly target people with addictive personalities, people who are vulnerable variable ratio schedules. As they succumb to temptation, their credit card charges could eventually amount to the thousands.
The public outcry against microtransactions has been loud and clear. However, the fact of the matter remains: microtransactions and lootboxes are lucrative. And video game companies will follow the money.
Last quarter, Activision Blizzard made $1.2 billion from microtransactions. $1.2 billion, in a single quarter. EA made $1 billion.
For its FY2020 earnings, Ubisoft made $636.92 million from microtransactions.
And this year Pokemon Go broke $1 billion in player spending (I know, people still play Pokemon Go??).
That's a lot of money. Remember when Blizzard made good games like Diablo and World of Warcraft? Remember a time when they didn't ask the audience at BlizzCon whether they had cell phones? A time when Ubisoft wasn't trying to constantly sell helix credits in Assassin's Creed games, when Nintendo and all these companies weren't so hell bent on draining every dollar and cent from players...
If you follow gaming news and trends, you'll notice that whenever a video game company obstinately and intrusively pushes microtransactions onto the consumer, the result is always public backlash, dislikes, and down-votes. Remember Shadow of War. Remember Star Wars: Battle Front II.
As an EA representative proudly states in the most downvoted Reddit post of all time, "The intent is to provide players with a sense of pride and accomplishment for unlocking different heroes."
Pride and accomplishment. $80 to unlock Darth Vader.
But the underlying question still remains: Why do so many people continue to spend increasing amounts of money on these microtransactions?
The easiest way to end microtransactions is to simply stop purchasing them. If they don't make any money, then video game companies will no longer include them.
Recently, while playing Assassin's Creed Origins, I noticed that there was an far-eastern/Chinese armor set that costs $9.99. That's the same price as the base game if you can purchase it when it's on sale. Part of this armor set is the "Sword of Goujian," named after a real sword found in China that dates back to the Spring and Autumn Period. Besides being a diehard video game nerd, and I'm enthralled with swords and martial arts weaponry. It was as if Ubisoft knew how to target me specifically. I was tempted to buy the Sword of Goujian in Origins. I thought about it a lot.
Then I realized something. If I gave in to the urge to purchase this virtual cosmetic item, I would be further contributing to the plague of microtransactions and its continued prevalence in the video game industry. And I hardly notice how my weapons look during gameplay most of the time anyways.
Ubisoft also includes "Time Savers" in Assassin's Creed Origins and Odyssey that allow players to gain more experience quicker or buy resources and in-game currency. Essentially, they can pay more money to play the game less. What a world we live in.
Of course, microtransactions have been around for a while now. From FarmVille and Clash of Clans to Call of Duty and Madden NFL, both "free-to-play" and "AAA" games are inundated with microtransactions. The "games as a service" model will continue.
Many people lack self control. Children can max out their parents' credit cards buying V-bucks or Robux or whatever bucks that certainly aren't real bucks. Parents can be stupidly idiotic enough to allow their children to do so.
Gamers, mostly of the adult variety, can also exhibit idiotic stupidity by playing FIFA or similar titles and throwing all their money away by purchasing lootboxes. And what is left afterwards?
Emptiness. Empty souls, and empty wallets.
But microtransactions aren't going away anytime soon. If anything, they will increase, so long as they continue to make these video game companies millions and billions of dollars. Video game companies are driven by profit more than anything else.
But not all video game companies are like this.
Sucker Punch didn't include microtransactions in Ghost of Tsushima, even foregoing them in its free online mode that they added last month. Some companies still care about making great games without trying to monetize the hell out of them. And at least Monolith eventually removed microtransactions from Shadow of War.
Unfortunately, the immense profits from microtransactions and lootboxes will continue to incentivize gaming companies to implement them, even at the expense of people's financial well-being and mental health.
Even if there is a push to designate lootboxes in video games as gambling, and even if EA is fined €10 million in Holland over lootboxes, there is currently nothing to stop these parasitic companies from including microtransactions in all their games.
All people have to do is stop buying them, then microtransactions would fade away into nothingness. But I guess the number of fools who continue to purchase them remains high. The people thunderously criticizing microtransactions and the ones silently purchasing them; these are different people, after all.
I've also learned that children even experience bullying if they don't have nice skins for Fortnite.
Even if these microtransactions aren't necessary to play most of these games, and players can choose to ignore them, their very existence continue to plague the video game industry and envelope it in the darkness of corporate greed. The best thing people can do is nothing: stop buying microtransactions.
Just. Stop.
"Nothing will come of nothing." - King Lear
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