New Tomb Raider to have literally (using word correctly) hundreds of microtransactions
According to this report on PC Gamer, the new Tomb Raider that's coming out soon (Xbox first) is to have hundreds of DLC.
Essentially 300+ of these are "cards". The cards essentially confer either graphical/cosmetic changes, or gameplay changing stats (Bullet resistance, etc). There will be two types of cards - "foil" and "common". Foil cards are permanent (or at least reusable) and generally offer stronger effects while the common ones disappear.
These 300 are the ones that are going to be offered on launch day - with "even more" being released in the weeks that follow.
The justification for such things? It's the increasingly familiar excuse. "Oh, you can buy these things with in-game credits. Using real money is just an option."
What they always glaze over is that buying these things with purely in-game credits (in ANY game that does this kind of tactic) is designed to be tedious and time consuming. And why is it DESIGNED to be that way? To encourage people to open their wallet. In other words, the fact that you can get a couple things bought in-game without a credit card is simply there to placate people. As an argument to hold up when people try to get vocal over this nickel and diming tactic.
It's the same kinda thing as what's happening with Metal Gear Solid V, and there were many games to do this before that. (Just about all of the Disgaea games started doing this once the game(s) were on a system that supported DLC)
This is the natural extension to buying bonus stats or bonus gold DLC which are very much done the for the same reasons with the same detrimental effects on game design. In the stats/gold issue, certainly you never needed to buy them. You got stats when you leveled up, and you could in some games level up into the thousands (Disgaea) so stats would eventually become abundant, and you get gold all the time right? But levelling, particularly at the start is tedious as hell and time consuming like you wouldn't believe as you redo level after level after level since you're too weak to do anything else. And for some reason the gold you get each fight just seems a bit on the low side compared to the effort put into it, requiring you to redo even MORE battles just to get enough money to upgrade your equipment.
Once you clear the game a time or two, your levels end up being pretty high and equipment fairly decked out and you fight things strong enough to gain multiple levels with one kill. But at that point you're already way past end-game. Most people buy the stats and gold at the beginning when they actually NEED it. And why do they need it? Because the game was designed to MAKE you need it. So you'd open your wallet.
I don't doubt that these 300 card microtransactions are going to be on-disc lockouts. The additional cards are probably going to be patched with a software update when you try to start the game, or as a "compatibility" pack for you to download (for free - I would presume) from the store. (No other approach would really make sense since these are suppose to be obtainable purely in-game as well.)
Oh yeah, there's also going to be a season pass with "3 major updates" selling for 30 bucks. Price of the game is 60. So to get the full game experience you're putting down 90 bucks minimum. (assuming you're buying new mind you.) And that 90 bucks won't be buying you access to the 300+ perks. You'll have to forfeit a healthy lifestyle or open your wallet to get those.
As it states at PC Gamer, these details are only confirmed for the Xbox launch - the PC launch doesn't even have a date yet. However with no information to the contrary, there's no reason not to expect it to infect the PC version as well. The publisher's "no comment" stance on the PC version might be that they're waiting to see how it boils over with the Xbox crowd, or maybe they're still not sure how to force PC gamers to pay for things they normally just mod in themselves. (Like "big head" mode. Yep, that joke mod is also a card.)
Essentially 300+ of these are "cards". The cards essentially confer either graphical/cosmetic changes, or gameplay changing stats (Bullet resistance, etc). There will be two types of cards - "foil" and "common". Foil cards are permanent (or at least reusable) and generally offer stronger effects while the common ones disappear.
These 300 are the ones that are going to be offered on launch day - with "even more" being released in the weeks that follow.
The justification for such things? It's the increasingly familiar excuse. "Oh, you can buy these things with in-game credits. Using real money is just an option."
What they always glaze over is that buying these things with purely in-game credits (in ANY game that does this kind of tactic) is designed to be tedious and time consuming. And why is it DESIGNED to be that way? To encourage people to open their wallet. In other words, the fact that you can get a couple things bought in-game without a credit card is simply there to placate people. As an argument to hold up when people try to get vocal over this nickel and diming tactic.
It's the same kinda thing as what's happening with Metal Gear Solid V, and there were many games to do this before that. (Just about all of the Disgaea games started doing this once the game(s) were on a system that supported DLC)
This is the natural extension to buying bonus stats or bonus gold DLC which are very much done the for the same reasons with the same detrimental effects on game design. In the stats/gold issue, certainly you never needed to buy them. You got stats when you leveled up, and you could in some games level up into the thousands (Disgaea) so stats would eventually become abundant, and you get gold all the time right? But levelling, particularly at the start is tedious as hell and time consuming like you wouldn't believe as you redo level after level after level since you're too weak to do anything else. And for some reason the gold you get each fight just seems a bit on the low side compared to the effort put into it, requiring you to redo even MORE battles just to get enough money to upgrade your equipment.
Once you clear the game a time or two, your levels end up being pretty high and equipment fairly decked out and you fight things strong enough to gain multiple levels with one kill. But at that point you're already way past end-game. Most people buy the stats and gold at the beginning when they actually NEED it. And why do they need it? Because the game was designed to MAKE you need it. So you'd open your wallet.
I don't doubt that these 300 card microtransactions are going to be on-disc lockouts. The additional cards are probably going to be patched with a software update when you try to start the game, or as a "compatibility" pack for you to download (for free - I would presume) from the store. (No other approach would really make sense since these are suppose to be obtainable purely in-game as well.)
Oh yeah, there's also going to be a season pass with "3 major updates" selling for 30 bucks. Price of the game is 60. So to get the full game experience you're putting down 90 bucks minimum. (assuming you're buying new mind you.) And that 90 bucks won't be buying you access to the 300+ perks. You'll have to forfeit a healthy lifestyle or open your wallet to get those.
As it states at PC Gamer, these details are only confirmed for the Xbox launch - the PC launch doesn't even have a date yet. However with no information to the contrary, there's no reason not to expect it to infect the PC version as well. The publisher's "no comment" stance on the PC version might be that they're waiting to see how it boils over with the Xbox crowd, or maybe they're still not sure how to force PC gamers to pay for things they normally just mod in themselves. (Like "big head" mode. Yep, that joke mod is also a card.)