Microstransctions and loot boxes / crates seem to be this unstoppable force that's eating up everything in its path converting purchased games into endless money streams. Horizon was a fairly recent major AAA title I played had none of that but it seems like more and more that's the way things are going to be headed. And even Horizon had the ground work laid with treasure boxes.
Shadow of War's single player crates is just breaking new ground but it was always an inevitability. Just like whatever Red Dead Redemption 2 online turns out to be. And everyone here, myself included, loves Naughty Dog but even they have literal multiplayer weapons and boosters paywalled in TLoU; not cosmetic but actual game affecting content.
So is there anything that can stop this? Supporting devs who don't do this is an idea but then what's to stop them from doing what Psyonix did and just doing it a year later? Is a future of everything being monetized after purchase simply an inevitability?
I can't even be mad at the publishers really because it's their job to make money...it's kiind of a Kobayashi Maru with no way to win. Either the products are tainted and more profitable or they aren't and make less money in an increasingly more expensive medium to create games in.
It just feels like this is just going to keep getting exponentially worse with new, terrible precedents being set all the time.
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