10 Promising Video Games Totally Ruined By Microtransactions

Activision revolutionized the genre of rhythm gaming with their 2005 mega-hit Guitar Hero. Coming equipped with a five-button plastic guitar, wannabe rockers could jam out to some of their favorite tracks without fumbling around with a real guitar.

While a major triumph which spawned myriad successors and, along with the Call of Duty franchise, upheld Activision’s status as an industry leader, the series and genre as a whole had all but flatlined by 2011 or so. Not content to move on to something else, the publisher rebooted the franchise in 2015 with Guitar Hero Live, and it went over about as well as Gene Simmons’ solo career.

While the title brought back familiar mechanics, it faltered when it came to DLC and extraneous monetization. In an attempt to ape services like Spotify and Pandora, the game allowed players to tap into continuous music streams, the songs in which could only be repeated for a price.

Worst of all, rather than just offer specific songs for download like in previous games, Guitar Hero Live forced players to rent a song library for a 24 hour period. Costing $6 with each rental, gamers quickly grew tired of this consumer-unfriendly platform.