Shadow of War has microtransactions. (Gaming)

by Kahzgul, Tuesday, August 08, 2017, 01:45 (2674 days ago) @ Korny

From IGN:

According to the studio's official announcement, "players can purchase Loot Chests, War Chests, XP Boosts and Bundles" through the market to strengthen their army.

Within Loot Chests, players will find weapons and armor, as well as XP Boosts, which make Talion level up quicker. War Chests contain new Orc followers that will help you strengthen your army, as well as Training Orders, which let you level up and customize your Orcs. Bundles include a combination of Loot Chests, War Chests and XP Boosts together at a package deal.

Interesting. Even single player games are getting loot boxes? WB is definitely finding success with them, so it makes sense that they want to see how much they can push it. That said, since I have zero interest in them, it won't affect me in any way (plus, buying followers, through purchased or earned currency, just seems cheap and less fun. I mean, I hesitate to hire mercenaries in Skyrim, so...).

I doubt even Sammy will want to buy a loot box, and she's not as patient as I am.

I am curious to see how well it works, though.

These things bank on dopamine addiction and the treatment is basically rehab, just like gambling addiction. Video games are being used more and more as stealth gambling machines. This sort of in-game gambling should probably be illegal in most states, and I think that eventually a company will go too far and there will be a court case about it which settles the matter, but the fact that regulatory commissions aren't even looking at this, especially given that these gambling machines are being marketed to children, is very distressing to me. Many kids haven't learned the critical thinking to know these are slot machines, lack the fiscal responsibility to not spend the money on them, and lack the patience to earn their rewards on their own. In short, it's a fertile hunting ground for corporations.