Real Money Currency In Games

Shu

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So I've been playing some of the newer games out and I was super surprised that some single player games even have real money currency. To define it for those who have not seen it in the single player games, it's when a game developer implements a form of real money currency to enhance game play. Deus Ex Human Divided for example has just added the feature to buy Praxis and other items with real money, that allow the player to have an edge and feel invincible. I sort of see it as like buying steroids for a game really. If you feel you just are in it to watch the story line, well I'm not going to judge you to use it, but if you are in it for the game and difficulty, I'd say you would stay away from the real money items.

Do you think this is way of the future? If so, do you think this will affect the quality of the games?
 
I think it's all about how it's used, and how people speak with their wallets. The publishers will try and test the waters no matter what, so we need to make sure and make it clear what we do and don't want. For example, I think it's fine that Deus Ex allows people to buy things like Praxis Kits. The problem is that they're one-use, meaning they can't be used every time you start a new file. It's great that Super Street Fighter V allows you to earn nearly all of its DLC for free. But the fact that you eventually hit that 'freemium game' style brick wall where it takes hundreds of matches to earn the most basic thing (like a new costume color) is manipulative.

I personally think the optimal way to structure it, is to offer a fair amount of content in the game your customers are paying for. Then either add minor things like costumes or boosts as paid DLC, with expansions and major content being free, or do the reverse. The most important thing is that the majority of players don't feel like they're expected to pay in order to get the full or balanced experience that they would've gotten before DLC and such became a thing. When you pay for a game, it should be a complete game, with anything added to it truly feeling like additions.
 
Do you think this is way of the future? If so, do you think this will affect the quality of the games?
I would not deem this as a way of the future so much. This format has existed with F2P games and some mobile games for years now. It's more of a situation that the practice method is crossing over into console games more and more. In a single player setting, such things may enhance the experience depending how they are implemented. Multi-player games, on the other-hand, typically turn out to be negative since many of the things that could be bought actually provide an advantage over any person that does not purchase that item or something similar in power to it. Since the price of new games have not gone up since the PS3 gen, and the disc spaces are already being capped out for some titles, it would not be a surprise to me seeing more DLC and in game currency purchasing things later on.
 
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