10 Promising Video Games Totally Ruined By Microtransactions

While Rockstar Games’ 2013 release Grand Theft Auto V was quite literally the most profitable piece of entertainment media ever made, its online component was marred by a ridiculous paywall which cast a major diaspora between the in-game haves and have-nots. While most consumers were hopeful that the studio could have learned from its mistakes, it seems that similar monetization schemes will drag down the experience of Red Dead Redemption 2’s online component.

Red Dead Redemption 2 may go down as one of the greatest games of this generation, but that doesn’t quite excuse Red Dead Online from over-inflating the price of in-game transactions to the point of parody. Most items can be bought for gold bars—the game’s premium currency—which are very hard to come by and can be bought for real-world cash.

Though players can earn these gold bars organically, it can take hours of play to drum up just one of the things. Plus, with game-enhancing items like weapons and horses locked behind a major paywall, players unwilling to spend more than the initial $60 will be in for quite a grind.