Readers’ Opinion is a place to share your thoughts in the comments section below. We’ll feature our favorite replies in the next installment.
Gran Turismo 7‘s microtransactions have enveloped the series’ latest in controversy, with the game having limited payouts of in-game currency seemingly in a move to encourage more microtransactions. This was also not helped by a lengthy downtime period for the always-online racing game, with the combination of these factors resulting in its Metacritic page being review-bombed by angry players.
Gran Turismo 7 is a full-priced release with microtransactions, with the grind to get new cars being very steep and in-game purchases with real cash being an unfortunate route to getting your hands on the best vehicles. As such, GT7 has been widely criticized, and the topic of microtransactions in full-price games has been raised once again.
But is there a “good” way to put microtransactions in games, even if buyers have already paid for them? Or should microtransactions in full-priced games not exist at all?
Our opinion
Paul writes… Microtransactions in full-priced games is a way for publishers to have their cake and eat it too, as they refuse to make the gamble on free-to-play but then also refuse to seal themselves off from the extra cash microtransactions provide.
We’ve heard it all before — development costs are rising, it’s difficult to make profitable games, blahblahblah. But the reality for players is that games are more expensive than ever before, and when a game like Gran Turismo 7 gets its critical acclaim from reviews, then after launch, starts making changes to penny-pinch from those who bought it, it’s an incredibly dirty tactic.
Gran Turismo 7 is an exceptional game with a reputation that’s been tainted by these cheap moves to wring it of every cent available. That it’s a first-party PS5 game is troubling given that Sony is looking to make more moves into multiplayer in the near future. Hopefully this isnt a sign of things to come.
You said…
Last time we asked if all games should have an easy mode.
Thequadness said…
Writing is a gamer with disabilities. I think if possible there should always have an easy mode. I generally start off my games on normal but for many games due to the fact to play using my mouth. Unless the game has decent accessibility options. I end up changing the difficulty to easy.
Just like most gamers. I enjoy a bit of difficulty and the satisfaction of kicking something’s ass. But I also enjoy the stories and environments that games have. So making it too hard to complete the game especially if it has a good story. Make it’s very disappointing.
Jason Guarniere replied:
I’m very much in favor of the idea that games should be as accessible as possible, but I respect that sometimes difficulty is part of a game’s vision.
That said, if difficulty is part of a game’s vision, I also think it’s acceptable to be criticized for it. If a game’s challenge hinders your enjoyment of it, than it’s an issue, and you shouldn’t have to be chewed out for saying so.
