10 Fan Controversies That Dominated Video Games
8. Gran Turismo 7's Post-Review Microtransaction Meddling
Well... we didn't see this one coming. Not from a series as squeaky clean as Gran Turismo. Sony's groundbreaking racing series has always been well received and had strong community support. Admittedly, it's released a few cash-grab demos and needed a few fixes along the way, but it's mostly been unblemished.
Until latest offering, Gran Turismo 7.
Around its launch, it was heralded as the best looking one yet, with critics and fans alike showering praise on Polyphony's PS5 prizefighter.
And then in March, it went down for twenty four hours of "maintenance". When it came back, it didn't just have patch fixes, it had microtransactions.
That's right: after review, when a game is expected to capitalise on a strong sales period, Sony added in-game purchases. Not only that, the cost of the more expensive cars were hiked up to incentivise these purchases.
Defenders will say, "Yeah but you can earn them in-game" but as previously mentioned, unreasonable amounts of grind alluding to time-saving in-game purchases are disgusting.
But the real scandal here is Sony pulling this after review. Fans weren't happy, with Gran Turismo 7 now holding the lowest Metacritic user score ever. Seriously, this practice needs to disappear.