10 Promising Video Games Totally Ruined By Microtransactions

2K Games’ sports-related output has long been mired in controversy thanks to the company’s appalling abandon when it comes to restraint concerning their monetization schemes, though they have long flown under the radar when compared to the outright insanity of EA’s Fifa series.

That changed when NBA 2K18 launched in September of 2017; a watershed moment for the gaming industry, 2K seemed eager to test just how far they could push in-game monetization with this title.

Quite literally everything was locked behind the game’s virtual currency, which was lazily labeled VC on the in-game storefront. While players could earn a steady trickle of this currency through regular pay, they would be forced to reach into their wallets if they wanted to circumvent the game’s massive grind.

Though it wasn’t the first NBA 2K game to include virtual currency, it was definitely the first to take things to such an extreme. Most heinous was the decision to charge for in-game cosmetics, something that should be taken as a bog standard feature in every sports game ever released. With that in mind, 2K18 felt more like a mortgage payment simulator than an actual video game.