Video games have moved into the micro-transaction era, but it’s not just games. Rock-Paper-Shotgun, a site similar to this one, has moved their setup to a micro-transaction model. Needless to say, die-hard fans are not amused and are canceling subscriptions left and right. The same can be said for in-game rioting in Eve over its rather pricey extra content, and the leaked documents that hinted at more pay-to-win content. Even the usually beloved Valve has moved over to this model. A slideshow by an EA manager gives some more insight into this: slideshow.
But for all the anger, this business model has proven sound. From Battlefield to LoL, people have shown that they are rich enough, dumb enough or even both to buy all of this. The outcry often proves ineffective as companies such as Nexon have used it to build their company. All this anger only hurts the company temporarily before profits head back up. For every extremely angry fan, there are often 10 more who don’t care and have money to burn. F2P is the future unless hardcore fans can change the view of the majority. It will be interesting to see how this develops, we could possibly even see a gaming counter-culture to this trend.
