Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare Gets Microtransactions

[MarlaDesat]

Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare Gets Microtransactions

Starting next week, players will be able to spend money on in-game coins to access content more quickly.

EA promised that Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare wouldn't have EA has announced [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/132426-PvZ-Garden-Warfare-Wont-Have-Micro-Transactions-At-Launch] that players will be able to purchase in-game coins starting next week. In a post on EA's website, Brian Lindley, PvZ:GW producer, says, "Players will be given the option to purchase coins from the Sticker Shop, which allows players the ability to access new packs and character content more quickly - all the same content that can be earned through regular gameplay. Now you have the choice to play your way; you can play to get new packs and content via earned coins in the game, or you can purchase coins to get more of the packs and content you want right away." Players continue to earn coins by playing the game. The purchasable packs contain random content.

Not all PvZ:GW content is getting the microtransaction treatment. PopCap's console marketing lead Gary Clay confirmed in March [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/132653-Plants-Vs-Zombies-Garden-Warfares-DLC-Will-All-be-Free-Update] that all of the DLC for PvZ:GW will be released for free. Last week, EA released the Zomboss Down DLC for PvZ:GW. Zomboss Down adds a new multiplayer map, Cactus Canyon, and new character variants for each class.

The Escapist's Jim Sterling reviewed PvZ:GW [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/video-games/editorials/reviews/11050-Plants-vs-Zombies-Garden-Warfare-Review-Petal-of-Honor] in February, saying, "While there's fun to be had, there's not much meat on the bones, and the repetitive combat ensures this will be nothing but a stopgap title until better shooters enter the market." Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare is available on Xbox 360 and Xbox One, and a PC release is planned for spring 2014.

Source: EA [http://www.ea.com/news/play-plants-vs-zombies-garden-warfare-zomboss]


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[FalloutJack]

I think the zombies are gonna win now. Nobody charges money for bullets during World War Z without an incredible disaster occurring as a result.

Captcha: Open season

Be vewwy quiet... I'm hunting zombies. Hah-hah-hah-hah!

 

[Andy Shandy]

Well that's shitty - although not entirely surprising given the way the game was set up from the start.

I enjoyed the game for what it was, but knowing people can just pay to get ahead rubs me the wrong way.

 

[INVALIDUSERNAME]

And absolutely nobody was surprised. They're pretty innocent MT's at the moment so I doubt anyone will really care too much but we'll see how quickly that changes.

 

[Callate]

Yay... A game widely regarded as mediocre gets the freemium features it needs to hasten its progress into obscurity!

...I'm so glad EA bought Popcap. I was getting tired of all those charming little pay-once-yours-forever games that I could play for hours at a time without a single advertisement or offer to enhance my artificially hindered progress!

Now if you'll excuse me, this support beam isn't going to headbutt itself!

 

[Something Amyss]

Just make it F2P already. We all know its coming....

Isn't Microsoft still anti-F2P?

Though I guess this could apply in the future, when it hits PC.

 

[OldNewNewOld]

EA breaks their promis and adds microtransaction to a game? *Gasp* I did not see this coming.

 

[CriticalMiss]

EA breaks their promis and adds microtransaction to a game? *Gasp* I did not see this coming.

Actually they were careful not to promise that there wouldn't be microtransactions and said there wouldn't be any at launch. I bet the PR drone who wrote that one up probably got a raise and a golden banana sticker for being so clever whilst the rest of the world realised it meant that microtransactions would be added post-launch.

 

[OldNewNewOld]

EA breaks their promis and adds microtransaction to a game? *Gasp* I did not see this coming.

Actually they were careful not to promise that there wouldn't be microtransactions and said there wouldn't be any at launch. I bet the PR drone who wrote that one up probably got a raise and a golden banana sticker for being so clever whilst the rest of the world realised it meant that microtransactions would be added post-launch.

You know, that makes it even funnier.
Just imagine some guys in suits laughing and praising each other for being so clever and fooling everyone while pretty much everyone who knows anything about EA saw this coming the moment the game was announced.
Like little kids who think their obvious lie was a success and their mother didn't see through it.

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

Nobody, anywhere, is surprised by that, but it's still a little saddening. I hate freemium features in retail games with a passion, and a dozen times moreso when they're not in the game at launch. What they're describing - microtransactions to hasten progress but content available to those who work for it - could be a good F2P model. That is what I expect of an F2P game that I would look twice at. For a game with an initial cost, no, you don't get to double dip and I sincerely hope your playerbase dwindles.

 

[Lyvric]

I think a lot of people were nervous about this coming and it most certainly looked set up for it. Still, it makes me sad to see it happen. PvZ just bombed after EA took over and the hole it digs itself is just getting deeper and deeper. This franchise had so much potential as an everybody friendly, comical series and it just flopped. Pathetic.

 

[Mr.Mattress]

Should have seen that coming. This is how they're going to do business now: They're going to say "We're not going to have Microtransactions in our game", they launch the game without them, and then eventually they add them.

Still, I'm glad it's an optional Microtransaction, and not a necessary one like PvZ 2.

 

[gamegod25]

It was only a matter of time, this is EA we are talking about. This is the way they do business and it will be the death of them one day.

 

[Neverhoodian]

Hey, remember cheat codes? You know, those convoluted button combinations you pressed in certain circumstances that unlocked all sorts of cool content? Remember how fun it was to just go nuts with all the stuff normally buried in the game? Remember gleefully shooting tank shells out of your face in Goldeneye or laughing at MST 3000-inspired subtitles [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNEUU2Yeo2M] for the cutscenes in Star Wars: Rebel Assault II? Remember how all of that could be unlocked immediately FOR NO EXTRA COST?!

Articles like this are a painful reminder that those days are pretty much gone forever (there's still modding PC titles I suppose, but even that might lock you out of the game if it has DRM or some sort of "always online" element).

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

Well, the phrase "No micro-transactions at launch", isn't the most cleverly disguised one...Then you hear it's from EA...and it all makes sense.
By now, surely Electronic Arseholes must be aware of what they do to make so many gamers annoyed at them...surely?

 

[Brian Tams]

So Rockstar not only has microtransactions in GTAO from the get go, but also gloats about how much money they're getting from it, and everybody just shrugs.

EA adds it later, and suddenly its "Fuck EA" this, and "EA is a heartless corporate bastard" that.

Let's get some fucking consistency already.

 

[idarkphoenixi]

The fact that this is happening 2 months later pretty much proves they always planned to have microtransactions. Leaving them out just for the sake of good reviews and tricking consumers.

Good show EA, even you realise people hate microtransactions.

 

[NuclearKangaroo]

EA please go bankrupt already, im very tired of your shit