343 Industries Explains Halo 5: Guardians Microtransactions

[Lizzy Finnegan]

343 Industries Explains Halo 5: Guardians Microtransactions

Josh Holmes of 343 Industries addressed concerns over microtransactions in Halo 5: Guardians in a recent blog post.

"I'm seeing a lot of questions on Twitter and in forums about the new Requisition System (REQ System) in Halo 5: Guardians," development chief Josh Holmes wrote in a recent blog post [https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/community/blog-posts/more-info-req-packs-in-halo-5-guardians]." REQ points are earned after multiplayer Arena or Warzone matches, and can be used to purchase REQ Packs."

"Each pack contains a variety of requisitions (REQs) in the form of unlockable weapons and armors, skins, assassination animations, and more." Holmes says REQ Packs will be received as rewards for leveling up.

While REQ Packs can be earned, they can also be purchased with real money "as a matter of convenience," with a portion of the proceeds going toward prize pools for the Halo Championship Series.

Holmes stresses that only cosmetic items can be used in Arena mode, "to ensure that all players start with the same weapons and abilities." In the newly revealed Warzone mode [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/video-games/conferences/e3-2015/14124-Halo-5-Warzone-Hands-On-Preview], however, weapons and vehicles obtained from REQ packs can be used. "These requisitions are governed and balanced by Warzone's in-match REQ Level and Energy systems, which are driven by player and team performance within the mode."

When asked about limits and restrictions for Warzone, Holmes reiterated "Warzone has built in REQ Level and Energy system to maintain balance and prevent pay to win."

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[Dark Knifer]

So it's the same as mass effect 3 then? Well that's sure to go down well.

 

[MCerberus]

Hey look, the reward system pioneered by cash-grab mobile games in Japan to take money from people without giving them any control of what they get.

It's like you can hear the hype escaping.

 

[Setch Dreskar]

So these are lucky boxes then? Well that sucks I always hate the gambling of lucky boxes within MMOs so I especially find it disheartening to see them creeping into non-MMOs more and more. I do like they can be bought with ingame currency but I somehow doubt that it will be a reasonable exchange rate, especially if 'as a matter of convenience' means what it normally does with microtransactions, tons of farming for enough to buy a single of the lowest quality box and almost out of the question for the higher stuff.

 

[MonsterCrit]

So basically.. the Mann CO Crates from TF2...

 

[RJ 17]

Hey look, the reward system pioneered by cash-grab mobile games in Japan to take money from people without giving them any control of what they get.

It's like you can hear the hype escaping.

But don't you see? It needs to be randomized! Otherwise you won't get that "gambler's rush" each time you open a pack!

...and the dev won't get nearly as much of your money.

 

[Arnoxthe1]

Before anyone starts complaining about microtransactions, they're going to be paying for all future DLC map packs.

 

[Mike Richards]

Considering that there doesn't seem to be much of a disadvantage to people who, like me, will almost certainly not be buying them, I can't say I really see the harm in offering them to those who will. You still unlock stuff by playing, it looks like balance controls will still be in places for modes where power items are in play, and for the rest it's only cosmetics I don't care about. It's probably a bit unnecessary but as long as the balance comes out I'm not really seeing a downside, and that's the risk you take with with every online shooter. COD has been unbalanced as shit long before microtransactions were on the table.

That's the thing with character progression and varied loadouts. If I'm playing online and someone comes charging at me with a rocket launcher, is it really going to matter to me very much where they got it? Does the possibility that they paid for it instead of a random loot drop or a level up really change anything about the fact that I have to take them down or how I'm going to do it?

People have all kinds of different weapons then you, that's pretty much been the shape of the multiplayer FPS since the beginning. And it's not really gonna make much of a difference to me where the people I'm fighting got theirs as long as I still have a balanced way to get mine. And as long as the weapons are decently balanced to begin with.

Besides, I'm just gonna play SWAT and Griffball most of the time anyways.

 

[FalloutJack]

I don't even play Halo, but I know what we say to the god of microtransaction: "Not today!".

 

[Bindal]

So basically.. the Mann CO Crates from TF2...

Better, as you don't need to buy a key to open them - you just get the content.
So, more like the general drops in TF2 with the crates being the paid version of it. Sound totally fine to me. (After all, the crates in TF2 also appeared while the game itself was paid. And they STILL appear in CS:GO, which is also paid)

Meaning anyone who complains about this but is fine with the TF2 crates is a hypocrite or Valve-Fanboy

 

[Dalek Caan]

So like the packs from Mass Effect but can only be used in one game mode? It's not great but it's not as bad as other games. I think in the end I will depend on how much the REQ Packs will cost and how much Credit we earn per game.

 

[Bindal]

So like the packs from Mass Effect but can only be used in one game mode? It's not great but it's not as bad as other games. I think in the end I will depend on how much the REQ Packs will cost and how much Credit we earn per game.

the guns can only be used in one mode - the cosmetics can be used everywhere.

 

[Buckets]

Pretty much all multiplayer nowadays does this kind of stuff, why would anyone expect anything else from a big game company.

 

[Dalek Caan]

the guns can only be used in one mode - the cosmetics can be used everywhere.

Again, not so bad. It's not like the cosmetics are going to give them any real advantage when my Energy Sword is bearing down on them.

 

[RicoADF]

I'm sick of this "you paid us $90 for a full game so now we're going to keep pestering you for more money because fuck your enjoyment, your an ATM not a person or customer". Yeah get lost any game that has this crap.

 

[Bindal]

I'm sick of this "you paid us $90 for a full game so now we're going to keep pestering you for more money because fuck your enjoyment, your an ATM not a person or customer". Yeah get lost any game that has this crap.

Well, maybe you should'Ve said that about four years ago when VALVE started it with the Mann Co. Store and still does with CS:GO.

 

[RicoADF]

Well, maybe you should'Ve said that about four years ago when VALVE started it with the Mann Co. Store and still does with CS:GO.

I did, by not playing TF2 or buying CS:GO. I've also stated my view whenever applicable. All I can do is control my own spending habbits and hope enough others agree, sadly it does not look that way. Oh well [insert old man statement] "Back in my day, when you bought a game you received a completed 100% working game, none of this spend more to unlock stuff you already paid for crap" [/old man statement] *shakes old cane at PC*

 

[Grouchy Imp_v1legacy]

Meh, if 343 want to give people the chance to pay them real-world money for purely cosmetic items, let them. It's not a decision that'll affect anyone with a gram of sense so no harm, no foul.

 

[w23eer]

We'd have to wait until the game comes out before we know how much damage it does. The REQ points are either given liberally and renders the microtransactions pointless, or they're not and it makes the microtransactions controversial.

I'm wondering about having to unlock weapons in this. I presume that means that there are loadouts in this game? Did they introduce that in Halo 4? I can't help but feel they deliberately introduced this system just to hide weapons behind the REQ thing. I guess it doesn't make much difference as there's not really that many weapons in Halo anyway (unless they introduced a whole bunch since Halo Reach)... but it still leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

At the end of the day though companies keep doing this because people keep buying them. I know EA make a killing off the Ultimate Team mode in the FIFA franchise (which heavily implements microtransactions). The market as a whole supports this, so I guess we can't blame companies for going with the trend.

I just hope they don't pull an MKX and make the REQ points much easier to obtain in review copies than in the retail versions. That's just outright dishonest.

 

[Pseudonym]

If microsoft and 343 could stop descrating the mangled corps of halo that would be neat. I know it won't happen but instead of making worse and worse looking halo titles for your xbone you could make halo CE, 2, 3, ODST and Reach available on steam. And the people working at 343 industries might enjoy working on something that wasn't invented and perfected damn near 15 years ago. Then again 343 seems under a delusion (that some halo fans also bought into) that what made halo good was the story and the charactar of master chief so I'm not sure whether they'd be capable of making something of value on their own.

We know microsoft will try everything in its power to make as much money off halo as it possibly can. Halo 2 tried to have PC gamers pay a multiplayer subscription fee and required GFWL. (I know consoles and some MMO's get away with that and I neither understand nor approve of that) Halo games after that were no longer available on PC because microsoft needed to milk halo exclusivity for all its worth because they don't have many other worthwhile IP's exclusive to their xbox brand. Halo 3 also had map packs. Great, charge money for multiplayer maps that you made in your already existing engine. Admittedly some of these maps have been available for free at some later date. Halo ODST was 60 bucks on release. It had a campaign mode half as long as previous halo titles, the multiplayer maps and map packs that already existed for halo 3 and hoard mode. All damn good content but not enough of it to justify 60 dollars. Then after halo 3, halo ODST and halo: reach somebody decided they just needed to make halo 4. Never mind that from an artistic point of view more halo gams have very little reason to exist whatsoever. Also never mind that bungie went to do something else and those who are left to make halo games clearly don't know how to make them any better than halo:ce was. So yeah, this mildly annoys me but I'm not even really surprised anymore. I've just stopped caring about new halo games when halo 4 was what it was.

In the meantime the people behind FTL and don't starve hand out major DLC for free when they have never asked for more than the cheap asking price for the game itself.