8 Video Games You Didn't Realise Broke The Industry

2. Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - First Major Console Release To Have Microtransactions

Elder Scrolls Oblivion
Bethesda

Microtransactions are okay in small doses, but we've seen publishers utilise them in increasingly sinister ways over the last decade. Pay-to-win models pervaded the last console generation, while games like FIFA and Fortnite have drawn intense criticism for including what some consumers have called 'predatory' monetisation models geared primarily towards children.

As most will know, it was mobile, free-to-play games that really pioneered microtransactions in the industry. Freemium games are the biggest offenders, being free-to-play but with a huge asterisk, thanks to almost every aspect of those titles including microtransactions in some form or another.

Certain titles popularised those elements on PC and consoles over the last few years, but potentially the first to actually implement microtransactions in a significant way was Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Earlier PC games had allowed players to exchange real cash for fake currency ala GTA Online, but Oblivion was where it all kicked off.

Following Microsoft's attempts at including microtransactions in franchises like Perfect Dark Zero and Project Gotham Racing, Bethesda followed suit and put them in Elder Scrolls, allowing players to add armour to their horse for the low-low price of $2.50. This kind of offer has since become the norm for most games, with cosmetics and sometimes weapons with unique advantages being made available for purchase.

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Content Producer/Presenter

WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.