Gaining Perspective on Video Game Microtransactions

Microtransactions, commonly referred to as MTX, are everywhere in the gaming industry. These financial practices come in so many different forms and shapes; keeping this in mind, how are they affecting gamers’ sentiments towards companies and games which utilize MTX? This post will go into brief detail on this hot topic.

Types of Microtransactions

To keep it brief, MTX are additional bits of content that someone could purchase to add to their pre-purchased base game. There’s quite a few forms it can come in too:

You can see how some form of MTX can find themselves into a game in any genre. With that in mind, think about the last time you saw an ad on a mobile game. They’re everywhere in those, whether it be for a premium currency, buying more lives, or removing ads. All forms of microtransactions. You may be thinking:

“But what do gamers think about having all of these options available to them?”

– You

I’m glad you asked.

Taking the Community Pulse on Microtransactions

Overall, I will say, there are places for MTX in games (boo on me, right?) I’ll explain why soon, but bear with me. There can be good reasons for have MTX present in a game:

1. You have access to additional or seasonally themed content, which adds value to the game and makes it a bit more fun with having General Shao dressed up as the Krampus while beating down a Reptile in elf attire
2. Gamers can support the continued life support of their favorite games through some of the these purchases. I tend to see this more with smaller indie titles vs games from large name publishers.

But, there’s a fine line to walk with these types of purchases. Some games, like Diablo 4, egregiously add in cosmetics which cost nearly 25% of the base game itself.

It’s purchases like this that make it hard to justify which kinds of MTX should cost what. An armor set like the one featured above is the same cost of a multiple-hour story expansion in Final Fantasy XVI.

Recently (and admittedly, I jumped the gun on it too), Capcom released Dragon’s Dogma 2, a very highly anticipated game for 2024. As it was released, owners of the game found a new in-store DLC page on Steam which indicated purchases of items beyond regular DLC such as fast travel points, get-out-of-prison keys, and more. Come to find out, many of these items are obtainable through regular gameplay as iterated in a statement from Capcom.

While this is comforting (it’s still a top anticipated game of the year), it does show a fatigue on players’ sentiment on DLC being featured in games. What I found disappointing was that the page nor communications were clear prior to release about any potential MTX. It should emphasize communications from publishers towards their audience to ensure there aren’t any mixed feelings about the game – as Dragon’s Dogma 2 is now currently sitting at ‘Mixed’ with 44% of users reviewing the game positively.

So why would developers include MTX into their games?

The Economical Impact on the Industry

You guessed it – money. And for good reason too. Based on 2022’s figures, microtransactions had an estimated market size of $67.94 billion, which was estimated to grow 12.8% to $76.66 billion in 2023 (we did the monster math).

Now take a look at the gaming industry as a whole. According to a recent article from Yahoo Finance, in 2023, the gaming industry was posed to have a $200 billion market – meaning 30% is accounted for my microtransactions.

Thirty. Percent.

Of course every publisher wants a piece of that sweet pie! They would be crazy not to formulate some form of MTX in nearly every game they produce. Combine that with keeping the game alive, getting players to continue to pay for something versus a one-time purchase for the base game – profit. And proof they can make games well, which can result in sequels or more content for the game.

I think people tend to forget that game publishers are businesses too; they have a board of directors or investors who expect a share of the profits from each game released. So the mindset has shifted from “making passionate games” to “how to generate more revenue/long-term revenue.” True, games are getting more expensive to make and businesses want to be profitable. Also true, recent inflation (at least in the United States) makes the consumer have less purchasing power. These two quite opposite mindsets are naturally going to make for a very interesting argument for/against MTX.

The fact is – every gamer is different and have different feelings on different types of MTX…and that’s okay. In fact, one study shows that that’s exactly what is happening – that the use of microtransactions can make gamers feel conflicted in either the use, purchase or even the presence of them. Everyone has an opinion, and that’s fine. It’s really the future we need to be concerned about in terms of MTX practices.

Looking Forward with Microtransaction Practices

The advent of free-to-play games have changed the landscape of MTX with battle passes. The very concept of DLC even started with a simple cosmetic change with Oblivion’s infamous Horse Armor. The practice has been there since the mid-2000s and it’s grown to have a significant share of the market now. They aren’t going anywhere. You may have the occasional game such as Baldur’s Gate 3, which released with no MTX model at all, but it’s a rarity nowadays.

The solution isn’t as simple as boycotting all MTX practices; it’s simply not feasible due to whales (players who spent upwards of $10k+ on MTX), player sentiment towards a game or franchise, or want to support a certain developer. It’s impossible.

However, yes, we can publicly call out shady practices in the industry. Should Capcom have communicated there would be an MTX store before release? Yes. Have we called them out on it? Yes. Will they change their behavior in the future? Probably not, but by calling them out each time, it does show a degrading in trust between company and consumer, and when it eventually hits the bottomline (I.e. the investors’ wallets), change can be made.

The practice we as consumers are doing right now is allowing data to be collected to see if there could be more emphasis on DLC’ing more common items. For example, trends show that people bought loads of the Dragon’s Dogma 2 DLC items (which, again, are earnable in-game), this may show data analytics at Capcom that people are willing to buy common items. Do you not think they could adjust the rates that items drop in-game to influence gamers to purchase them in-store? It’s poking around to see what they can do to gauge future decisions in their other games too.

What Can You, the Gamer, Do?

Don’t be impulsive. Do your research. Don’t give into the initial wave of anger and wait for more information (meaning don’t be me). If you don’t like the practice of this, sure, hold off on pre-orders or day one purchases. But don’t lambast others for purchases – unless they pay $20 for a cosmetic. Please don’t do that (it might make our worst gaming trends list this year).

Log into Critical Hit Central and let us know your thoughts in the comments below and follow us on X for more updates! Happy gaming!