It's a tale as old as time. Developers try their best to get as much money as they can out of consumers with a pay-to-win-style model, which makes things very unbalanced for those who want to just enjoy the game they've bought.
It happened oh so recently with Gran Turismo 7. The return to the racing franchise launched to good reviews, but shortly after developers Polyphony decided it would be a great idea to monopolise on that good will by including exaggerated microtransactions and nerfing rewards. Players fought back almost immediately. First they review bombed, then they protested, and eventually the team apologised and promised to revert the changes.
Those who want to see the difference between the new PS5 release of Grand Theft Auto V and the original version on PS3 can take a look at our comparison below.
Rockstar clearly saw this and thought that it would be a very good idea to do its own spin on the terrible idea. The studio recently released GTAV and Online for the latest generation of consoles, namely the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series, as two separate games, which was causing problems all by itself. Now, just over a week after launch, the team has announced that it is launching a subscription service, called GTA+, for the online component.
For a recurring charge of $5.99 a month, subscribers will get GTA$500,000, triple rewards on certain missions, waived fees to car meets, and the ability to upgrade items free of charge. Essentially the majority of what the subscription offers is in-game currency, and discounts on other things which help you to save and keep that same in-game currency.
The issue, of course, is inflation. If Rockstar suddenly decides that it wants to offload all this extra currency into the game, then those who aren't paying the real-world big bucks are automatically at a disadvantage. In a world where subscription services feel like they're everywhere, I don't know that one more was what players were really asking for.
Featured Image Credit: Rockstar GamesTopics: Rockstar Games, Grand Theft Auto 5, GTA Online