10 Most Insulting Video Game Industry Habits (That Have To End)

Money. It’s seemingly all that matters in a capitalistic society.

The moment that games companies realised they could repeatedly eke small and seemingly trivial amounts of extra money from customers after their initial purchase, they immediately sought to exploit the fact.

Almost every game has a marketplace full of extras that can be bought with in-game currencies – cars in racing games and items in RPGs to name a few. Usually these are purely cosmetic, with games like Fortnite and League Of Legends offering hundreds of ‘skins’ that confer no gameplay benefit on the buyer. Proponents of such microtransactions argue that they are harmless ways of making an avatar unique, whilst opponents argue that they are exploitative, with susceptible players pushed into constantly making new purchases.

Completely undefendable by contrast are pay-to-win mechanics, which offer an advantage to the buyer over other players. These have ruined a number of online games (Star Wars Battlefront 2 and its 'loot boxes' being a notable example), unbalancing them and making the best players those with the biggest holes in their wallets rather than the most skilful. Some governments are finally taking a stand against the practice, arguably years too late given that it is exploitation of the highest order, akin to gambling through the implication that players will eventually hit the ‘jackpot’