Microtransactions in video games have become accepted these days. For free-to-play titles there’s not a lot of argument over them beyond price points for some items. Same goes for live service games.
With the exception of the game companies however, no-one actively likes them. They’re accepted as a necessary evil and, so long as they remain purely for cosmetic items as opposed to being required for game progression, there’s usually little fuss.
Their presence in full-price single-player games, however, is about as welcome as flatulence in an elevator, especially when clunkily forced into franchises that didn’t have them or require them (looking at you “Dead Space 3” and “Star Wars: Battlefront II”).
Game companies, and their shareholders, are fans of them though because it’s a free revenue stream for them and there’s always going to be enough people out there willing to spend the cash to make it worthwhile for the company.
Now, Game Reactor reports that in its latest quarterly report to investors, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot has stated that microtransactions go beyond just generating revenue – they’re actually a gameplay enhancer, saying monetization “within premium games makes the player experience more fun”.
The stress that microtransactions are “always optional” but players do tend to pay to “personalize their avatars or progress more quickly”. It’s working for them, even on the ‘Master Race’ with around 58% of PC gaming revenue last year reportedly coming from microtransactions.
Understandably the wording of his statement has drawn criticism across social media, with many bringing up a now-infamous Reddit comment from EA eight years ago which said microtransactions “provide players with a sense of pride and accomplishment for unlocking different heroes”. That comment became one of the most downvoted comments in Reddit history with 668,000 downvotes.