The Hidden Cost of Gaming

Josh

During the past few years, games companies have been using shady tactics to get players to spend as much money as they can on their games. These tactics are called microtransactions. Microtransactions are items or content in video games that are locked unless the player spends real money or spends days or possible weeks to earn them. Most casual players don’t realise what games companies are doing so I’m spreading awareness on the topic. The most used type of microtransaction that companies use are loot boxes.

Loot boxes are virtual boxes in video games that players can open to get a completely random item that could be a small customizable option or a game changing power up. The problem with these loot boxes is that most players would rather not waste days to get them and therefore end up spending their real money to get loot boxes. Because the item you receive is completely random, it can be classed as a form of gambling; spending real money for a small chance of getting a rare, valuable item.

In 2017, players finally took a stand against microtransactions. Electronic Arts (EA) are likely the most hated game company because of their recent decisions to fill their games with microtransactions. Star Wars Battlefront II , which was released 17 November 2017 and developed by EA, had loot boxes embedded into the progression system which was met with bad reviews and outraged players.

When EA tried to justify loot boxes in a Reddit post, it became the most downvoted post ever on Reddit at -87,000. This is a quote from the post; “The intent is to provide players with a sense of pride and accomplishment for unlocking different heroes”.

Governments across the world, such as the Netherlands, are trying to ban loot boxes to people under 18 in video games because they see it as a way for children to gamble. A Hawaiian state representative said this about Battlefront II: “This game is a Star Wars-themed online casino designed to lure kids into spending money – it’s a trap”

Recently, the ESRB have changed their rules so that they will try to educate parents about microtransactions and if a game contains microtransactions it will say so on the box and in online descriptions, but this won’t change much because it won’t say what type of microtransactions the game contains, and almost every game will have this label. However, The head of the ESRB recently released a statement defending loot boxes by saying they are “a fun way to acquire items. Where there is an element of surprise and you always get something”

Many games companies are nervous to release games with loot boxes now, because no one wants to experience the backlash that EA received. Some companies have stopped putting loot boxes in their games, such as Far Cry 5, God of War, State of Decay 2, to avoid any angry gamers.

A free-to-play game called Fortnite recently blew up. Before September last year, no one had heard of Fortnite Battle Royale, now over 40 million players have installed the game, with a record 3.4 million concurrent users at one point. The reason I’ve mentioned this game is because although it’s free-to-play, most people spend more money on Fortnite than any other game and that’s because of the microtransactions the game has. Fortnite does microtransactions just right; players can spend money on cosmetic skins and items if they want, but players don’t feel like they are forced to spend money and can enjoy the full game for free. Also, Fortnite Battle Royale doesn’t include loot boxes. Because of the success of Fortnite and it’s microtransaction model, there’s a chance other games will follow in Fortnite’s steps.

Games companies don’t want to push loot boxes over the line like EA did because there are already talks about loot boxes being banned, and if they do end up being banned some companies will lose quite a lot of income. This could be the end of loot boxes, but only time will tell.