10 Times Video Games Ripped You Off

Gaming has a massive scamming problem, and here are the biggest offenders so far.

Cod Points - Micro Transatcions
Activision

Remember when games were just about having fun? When you could just pop in the disc and that would be it? Oh sure PC RPG's LOVED introducing expansion packs, but those were basically full games in their own right that just needed this other game you already owned to work. It seems today that such a concept is as dead in the video game industry as game manuals that had actual effort put into them.

Nowadays, it's sadly common to feel nothing short of ripped off by games you were looking forward to. Oh sure there will come an exception now and then, but that just makes the rule hurt even more. While we likely can't do anything about it for now, we can at least complain until we're blue in the mouth.

Narrowing down this list meant leaving off a lot of controversies that we wanted to rail against, but in the end, these ten pissed us off the most. These ten video games ripped off players to line their publishers already expensive pockets.

10. The Megaphone - NBA 2K19

Cod Points - Micro Transatcions
2K Sports

Expect microtransactions to be a common element on this list. If you have to pay extra money, no matter how minuscule, for ANY content in a game you paid full price for, then it had better be worth it at the very least.

Charging $50 for a stupid megaphone in a $60 game is not worth it.

Sports games have the rest of the industry beat when it comes to squeezing as much money as they possibly can from their players. And while games like the latest Fifa arguably do worse damage with their ultimate team packs, the fact that you pay so much for a stupid megaphone just offends me more.

It's not even the prize itself, it's the fact that you have to play for up to dozens of hours without leveling up your team's stats if you want to get it without paying full retail price. It's one of the most expensive items in the game's store...and it's a god damn MEGAPHONE. That's all it is.

The fact that such an act of utter chicanery is at the bottom of this list should scare you.

Contributor
Contributor

John Tibbetts is a novelist in theory, a Whatculture contributor in practice, and a nerd all around who loves talking about movies, TV, anime, and video games more than he loves breathing. Which might be a problem in the long term, but eh, who can think that far ahead?