Predatory microtransactions: Difference between revisions

==Why it is a problem==

In many games, the progressive development is encouraged by executives and leadership to focus on content that introduces the most financial return. Unfortunately, this means that when updates are handled for games, and especially [[Games as a service|live service games]], content developed for the game focuses around keeping the storefront functional over more vital systems that need to be repaired,{{Citation needed}}<!-- Mint Blitz and a few other Halo youtubers covered how despite matchmaking, among other excessive bugs, being broken for Halo infinite, the one thing Halo Studios (formerly 343i) were able to keep maintained was the storefront.

This bias also has a tendency to influence features that used to be industry standard as progression-locked to be instead sold either in piecemeal or bundles on the storefront.{{Citation needed}} For example, compared to previous installments in the franchise, Halo Infinite was the first title in the franchise to solely lock cosmetics behind paywalls, and furthermore lock the ability to recolor armor behind paywalls and battle pass progression.{{Citation needed}}

In cases where [[Games as a service|live service games]] provide free content, it often manipulates the consumer into paying into the system in some way to receive a better return on investment when playing.{{Citation needed}} Features such as experience boosts often will hamper the default progression in order to encourage the purchase of these boosts. Battle passes often offer only poor-quality/unwanted content within the free tier, to encourage users to be constantly paying into the system.{{Citation needed}} Often, these battle passes will also encourage [[FOMO]], as content featured within these passes will often only be offered inside that limited time event, further encouraging the purchase of experience boosts if consumers wish to not miss out on content within the final days of the pass.{{Citation needed}}

In some scenarios, games will further encourage users to get an advantage over players, often leaving META-influencing content to be paywalled<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Lee |first=Flavio |date=Aug 2, 2023 |title=Price to pay: the damage caused by Pay to Win games. |url=https://flavio-lee.medium.com/price-to-pay-the-damage-caused-by-pay-to-win-games-74cc533bf9d8 |access-date=May 19, 2025 |work=Medium}}</ref> as a method to force consumers to either invest more into the product, or risk lacking an important edge within matches.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Why do people seem so hellbent against people using "pay to win" methods in games? |url=https://www.quora.com/Why-do-people-seem-so-hellbent-against-people-using-pay-to-win-methods-in-games |access-date=May 19, 2025 |website=Quora}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Lelonek-Kuleta PhD |first=Bernadeta |last2=Piotr Bartczuk PhD |first2=Rafał |last3=Wiechetek PhD |first3=Michał |date=Oct 13, 2020 |title=Pay for play – Behavioural patterns of pay-to-win gaming |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0747563220303393 |access-date=May 19, 2025 |work=Science Direct}}</ref> P2W also has ties in manipulating resource progression in games,<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite news |last=(Owner of Illumination Gaming) |first=Aiden |date=Jul 22, 2022 |title=How Pay-To-Win Games Ruin Player Experience |url=https://medium.com/illumination/how-pay-to-win-games-ruin-player-experience-a52b7edf5744 |access-date=May 19, 2025 |work=Medium}}</ref> so players may be at a competitive disadvantage in a game because a newer user purchased their way through progression, or alternatively, punishing players into grinding far more excessively as a method to encourage paying to skip progression.

This has especially been documented within casual mobile games, where players are often left to wait excessively on tasks to finish, or pay to have the task be completed immediately.<ref name=":0" /> Frequently, these games have also exhibited methods that give players a "free sample" of what it feels like to skip this wait time.<ref name=":0" /><!-- Will need more example images below! --><gallery>

File:Dungeon Keeper dark pattern.webp|An example of a game (Dungeon Keeper) enticing a consumer into spending premium currency to skip waiting on a menial task.

</gallery>

A method some companies have aimed at introducing, was having content be locked behind randomness, so a consumer may get lucky and receive the cosmetic they want or worse, progression/META item that they are in need of,<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Purchese |first=Robert |date=10 Oct 2017 |title=Star Wars Battlefront 2 has a loot crate problem |url=https://www.eurogamer.net/star-wars-battlefront-2-has-a-loot-crate-problem |url-status=live |access-date=31 Mar 2025 |website=Robert Purchese}}</ref> but often would end up with bad luck. Often these are defined as lootboxes, however it is effectively a format of gambling,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Dingman |first=Hayden |date=10 Oct 2017 |title=How loot boxes are turning full-priced PC games into pay-to-win games of chance |url=https://www.pcworld.com/article/407482/loot-boxes-ruining-gaming.html |url-status=live |access-date=31 Mar 2025 |website=PCWorld}}</ref> one of which has been seen as detrimental as reports of underrage gambling addiction continue to skyrocket within these games.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Fahey |first=Rob |date=13 Oct 2017 |title=Thinking outside the loot box |url=https://www.gamesindustry.biz/thinking-outside-the-loot-box |url-status=live |access-date=31 Mar 2025 |website=Games Industry}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=W. Osborne |first=Jason |date=May 25, 2023 |title=How Loot Boxes In Children’s Video Games Encourage Gambling |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonwosborne/2023/05/25/how-loot-boxes-in-childrens-video-games-encourage-gambling/ |access-date=May 19, 2025 |work=Forbes}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite news |last=Zendle |first=David |last2=Meyer |first2=Rachel |last3=Over |first3=Harriet |date=Jun 19, 2019 |title=Adolescents and loot boxes: links with problem gambling and motivations for purchase |url=https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6599795/ |access-date=May 19, 2025 |work=National Library of Medicine}}</ref>

Some examples of microtransactions include:<!-- Examples will need to be given more description, despite how obvious many of these are -->

==References==