Uncharted 4 Will Have Microtransactions at Launch

[Dominic Crossman]

Another expensive AAA game that gets micro-transactions before it even hits its release date? I might well become even more paranoid and assume every AAA title from here on out will have MTs. At least the blight that curses MTs for Uncharted 4 are in the multiplayer (for now), which is just a bonus to most Uncharted fans. Maybe they'll even stay cosmetic?

I've been assuming a game will have microtransitions unless otherwise stated for about a year now. Unfortunately the general public seem to make them more money through mts then they lose from more in the know consumers refusing to buy the game. It's getting to point where if you never buy games with mts then you'll never buy (AAA) games full stop.

 

[Something Amyss]

Nope. Let the metabombing commence. We must stem the flow while we can, mate.

You're a couple years late. And unfortunately, Doc already took the flying Delorean back to the past, where it was destroyed.

I joke, but MTs are really a standard thing at this point and I don't think they're going anywhere. Review bombing seems to not be doing much.

 

[Lightknight]

Nope. Let the metabombing commence. We must stem the flow while we can, mate.

You're a couple years late. And unfortunately, Doc already took the flying Delorean back to the past, where it was destroyed.

I joke, but MTs are really a standard thing at this point and I don't think they're going anywhere. Review bombing seems to not be doing much.

Also, and I can't stress this enough, how about we actually see how they implement it before raining down fire from the heavens upon their scores? If it just ends up being silly gun and avatar skins in the multiplayer then who cares? Borderlands had micro transactions that were the epitome of optional and the game was great. I didn't even touch the multiplayer in the previous Uncharted so I'm certainly not that concerned.

Whatever happened to Naughty Dog's promise that they would start a new series with each new console? Oh right, that was jus a lame excuse for why they abandoned Jak and Daxter whlie they tried to become "mature" storytellers by making The Last of Us and Nathan Fillion's video game counterpart.

Um, they haven't broken their promise. The console isn't even part-way into its generation.

Likewise, Naughty Dog likes to work on two major games at a time. We don't know what the second one is, only that it was also in development during the development of this game: http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/06/02/naughty-dog-reveals-it-has-a-new-game-in-development

While that could be The Last of Us 2, don't forget that that IP was the second new IP of the ps3 generation. They never promised 2 new franchizes per console and yet that's what we got and both of them were absolutely great.

 

[grigjd3]

People play the multiplayer in Uncharted? Who knew?

 

[Lightspeaker]

Here's a novel idea: You pay for the game. You get the game's content. Stuff like costumes can be unlocked by completing things in the game rather than with a credit card.

Genius!

>_>

In any case I recall playing the original once and I was just singularly unimpressed. I've not bothered with any of the series to any significant extent really. Its okay I suppose but I'm not entirely sure where the hype to keep it going to four games so far has come from.

Then again I felt the same with Tomb Raider.

 

[Aerosteam]

At least they never claimed they wouldn't have them.

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

But why, Naughty Dog?...Why? I'm mostly apathetic to this now, but it isn't like the series is unpopular, or any of your other games for thay matter. Is it Sony? They are allegedly treading financial water, it would make sense for them to fleece their most popular sheep. Good thing it is a single player experience for the most part.

...a chuckle was extracted upon reading Robert's last name as Cogbum instead of burn, infantile self. Cogburn is still interesting though.

There's no "alleged" about it; it's a fact that Sony is heavily in debt and all their divisions have been stumbling for years with only the gaming division recently being profitable. Not a good place to be.

As for this, just a show of how everyone is desperately trying to recoup the unreasonable amounts of money they throw at the dick-measuring contests known as games. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if ND weren't so smugly proud of themselves all the time and claiming they were some amazing storytellers when in fact they're functional at best.

 

[SlumlordThanatos]

No. Microtransactions in a full price game are not, and will never be, ok. Regardless of what form they take, and regardless of how "optional" they are, they are an inexcusable scourge upon the AAA games industry.

I'm a lot more tolerant of this sort of thing if the game in question is an MMO, especially if the game doesn't require a subscription.

Maintaining an MMO takes more effort and costs more money to maintain than a shooter's multiplayer, so I don't usually mind if a game introduces some cool stuff I have to pay for...provided it is cosmetic only and isn't too expensive.

Uncharted is chiefly a single-player game. It doesn't need microtransations.

 

[CaitSeith]

That's the way to do it. Keep it out of the main game but have it in multiplayer to bolster the maintenance. As long as it doesn't create any power disparity then it ultimately won't matter.

Ugh! If the way to do it is to charge extra for things that used to be free, I think I'll pass.

PS Captcha: LOWEST PRICE Shut up, Catpcha!

 

[COMaestro]

I really don't get the outrage over microtransactions that do not affect gameplay balance. No one is forcing you to buy anything! Who the fuck cares if they throw in a skin or something for those willing to pay a little extra money?

I've played a number of games that have MTs and not once have I ever paid for anything nor has it impacted my game play experience. I just don't see the big deal people keep making about them.

I'm betting the ones in Uncharted 4 will primarily be skins and taunts that you can pay for to have immediately or unlock though gameplay over time. They won't affect the balance at all, everyone will be able to get them for free if they work for it, and all this hubbub will be for nothing.

 

[thewatergamer]

But guyz, they promised it would have no effect on gameplay! *ugh* it's times like these I'm glad that I don't own a PS4 and support Naughty Dog...

 

[Tohuvabohu]

I really don't get the outrage over microtransactions that do not affect gameplay balance. No one is forcing you to buy anything! Who the fuck cares if they throw in a skin or something for those willing to pay a little extra money?

I've played a number of games that have MTs and not once have I ever paid for anything nor has it impacted my game play experience. I just don't see the big deal people keep making about them.

I'm betting the ones in Uncharted 4 will primarily be skins and taunts that you can pay for to have immediately or unlock though gameplay over time. They won't affect the balance at all, everyone will be able to get them for free if they work for it, and all this hubbub will be for nothing.

Everyone is ready to spill their shit all over the internet the moment Microtransactions are announced, but say fucking NOTHING when the MT's prove to be completely unobtrusive and inoffensive.

Where's all the whinging about how MT's destroyed Mortal Kombat X? Oh, it didn't? "But it's microtransactions! Are you saying it's possible for Microtransactions to be in a game and not ruin it? Bullshit!"

Oh please. I've played more than a few games which had Microtransactions in them that didn't impact the game in the long run at all. But no one ever talks about those. Any shred of practice in self-control makes all these MT "issues" completely insignificant. It's pretty tiring seeing you all flip your piss all over the place at the drop of a Microtransaction announcement, then fall completely silent when nothing happens.

 

[OldNewNewOld]

how about we actually see how they implement it before raining down fire from the heavens upon their scores? If it just ends up being silly gun and avatar skins in the multiplayer then who cares? Borderlands had micro transactions that were the epitome of optional and the game was great. I didn't even touch the multiplayer in the previous Uncharted so I'm certainly not that concerned.

Back in the days we had those silly guns and avatar skins without paying. They were unlockables. You pay for the game, you play it and you unlock them without your credit card number.
That's why even that is bad.

The fact that they are even talking about balancing the grinding with initiative to buy stuff means they already fucked up the balance in favor of paying.

And how do you explain this if they never broke their promises?
ND might be a good developer in terms of making a game that works, but they aren't some good guys that don't lie or aren't greedy.

Spoiler

The MT will affect the gameplay. That's a given. Basic pattern recognition.
Industry gets expansions, some start cutting content to sell it additionally later on.
Industry gets online, abuse it to fuck over customers b preventing them from playing the game unless they connect to big brother because everyone is a thief, bloody pirates.
Industry gets DLC, most start cutting content and sell it additionally later on.
Industry gets MT, they fuck up the balance in order to motivate you to buy shit in order to get the intended experience.

Honestly I don't understand how you can have even the tiniest amount of faith in the industry. I assume everything is shit by default so I get only nice surprises.

 

[Lightknight]

how about we actually see how they implement it before raining down fire from the heavens upon their scores? If it just ends up being silly gun and avatar skins in the multiplayer then who cares? Borderlands had micro transactions that were the epitome of optional and the game was great. I didn't even touch the multiplayer in the previous Uncharted so I'm certainly not that concerned.

Back in the days we had those silly guns and avatar skins without paying. They were unlockables. You pay for the game, you play it and you unlock them without your credit card number.
That's why even that is bad.

Take COD for example, in a good model there will be plenty of unlockables too. I've never shelled out a dime for skins in COD but the amount of downloadable

Honestly I don't understand how you can have even the tiniest amount of faith in the industry. I assume everything is shit by default so I get only nice surprises.

Only because ND hasn't done this yet. It has almost always been EA or Ubisoft fucking things up. A LOT of other companies have microtransactions that don't really matter. Why must I automatically assume that ND will be EA on their first time out when companies like gearbox got it right?

The MT will affect the gameplay. That's a given. Basic pattern recognition.

So you say, but I have numerous examples (again, such as COD) where the MT just involves skins and not gear that throws balance off.

That's the way to do it. Keep it out of the main game but have it in multiplayer to bolster the maintenance. As long as it doesn't create any power disparity then it ultimately won't matter.

Ugh! If the way to do it is to charge extra for things that used to be free, I think I'll pass.

Then pass. No one is making you buy the game. If the option to make your gun gold and flamey in a multiplayer mode of a game prevents you from buying the game to play the superb storyline that doesn't have it then that's your prerogative.

I'm just saying there's a lot of ways this can be done, it doesn't have to be distasteful or bad. Like destiny adding emoticons into their game. They gave us enough currency to pick up one ourselves and haven't made them impact the game in any other way.

In anything that is an ongoing online project, I think this sort of thing is a legitimate bolster to continued support long after the release date.

 

[Lightknight]

If it's like BF4, I can live with that. If it's like MGSV, fuck that.

"Hurr hurr hurr, that forward base looks awfully nice with all that stuff in it. Be a shame if something happened to it... Hey, I know, if you pay me a small fee I'll make sure other players go rough up someone else's forward base..."

I mean, holy crap was that a negative example. If I really think about it, it's possible that this was the single worst example I've ever seen of microtransactions. That shit is iOS garbage, not full AAA quality gaming.

I'm surprised that wasn't EA or Ubisoft. But knowing what I now do about Konami I guess I shouldn't be that surprised. But that's a real shame.

 

[Shocksplicer]

No. Microtransactions in a full price game are not, and will never be, ok. Regardless of what form they take, and regardless of how "optional" they are, they are an inexcusable scourge upon the AAA games industry.

I'm a lot more tolerant of this sort of thing if the game in question is an MMO, especially if the game doesn't require a subscription.

Maintaining an MMO takes more effort and costs more money to maintain than a shooter's multiplayer, so I don't usually mind if a game introduces some cool stuff I have to pay for...provided it is cosmetic only and isn't too expensive.

Uncharted is chiefly a single-player game. It doesn't need microtransations.

Provided that said MMO does not have a subscription fee, I be understanding of that situation

 

[Randomvirus]

Microtransactions and 30fps.

Nice, way to go, Naughty Dog. It's bad enough one of your employees thinks its misogyny and hate speech to question certain "feminists"...

I remember they were very insistent this would be 60fps. I am so disappointed in this generation of consoles.

I think I'll be getting this used.

 

[mysecondlife]

I don't like it but I'm in no position to be angry... I never play Uncharted for multiplayer experience and I canceled PS+ subscription few months ago.

 

[JohnnyDelRay]

I really don't get the outrage over microtransactions that do not affect gameplay balance. No one is forcing you to buy anything! Who the fuck cares if they throw in a skin or something for those willing to pay a little extra money?

I've played a number of games that have MTs and not once have I ever paid for anything nor has it impacted my game play experience. I just don't see the big deal people keep making about them.

I'm betting the ones in Uncharted 4 will primarily be skins and taunts that you can pay for to have immediately or unlock though gameplay over time. They won't affect the balance at all, everyone will be able to get them for free if they work for it, and all this hubbub will be for nothing.

Everyone is ready to spill their shit all over the internet the moment Microtransactions are announced, but say fucking NOTHING when the MT's prove to be completely unobtrusive and inoffensive.

Where's all the whinging about how MT's destroyed Mortal Kombat X? Oh, it didn't? "But it's microtransactions! Are you saying it's possible for Microtransactions to be in a game and not ruin it? Bullshit!"

Oh please. I've played more than a few games which had Microtransactions in them that didn't impact the game in the long run at all. But no one ever talks about those. Any shred of practice in self-control makes all these MT "issues" completely insignificant. It's pretty tiring seeing you all flip your piss all over the place at the drop of a Microtransaction announcement, then fall completely silent when nothing happens.

Well, of course they say nothing when it happens, because the damage is already done. What damage? Well, you might think of it as unobtrusive, and it is, but it's the fact that they're setting a new precedent. Before microtransactions, things like weapons/skins and "unobtrusive items" were unlocked by playing the game, achieving challenges, or entering a cheat code. This all in full-price games, of course.

By saying MT's are ok means they can try charge for something else next time. And you can try whining then, but it will be too late. NOW it's alright, because you consider those items unobtrusive, but by doing it sublimely and incrementally, you won't even realize what you're supposed to get for a full-priced game with content hacked out of it and charged for.

 

[FirstNameLastName]

I don't even know how to feel about this any more. I've never played an Uncharted game before, and judging by such business actions, I probably never will. Even so, I honestly just feel numb to micro-transactions at this point. It's more like some kind of ambient rage at the overall state of the game's industry by now.

...

"Microtransactions will be available at launch, but we'll have no gameplay items that will be gated through microtransactions," he told GameSpot [http://www.gamespot.com/articles/uncharted-4-multiplayer-to-include-microtransactio/1100-6431779/?utm_source=gamefaqs&utm_medium=partner&utm_content=news_module&utm_campaign=hub_platform]. He added that striking the right balance, between grinding for items and incentivising real-money acquisitions, will be determined after Naughty Dog looks at the data from the Uncharted 4 multiplayer beta.

...

Oh god, it fucking burns! I can't help but cringe at the blatancy of it all. They aren't even trying to hide how micro-transaction based economies work, and yet, people will still ignorantly defend them.

For all you people shrugging your shoulders and saying: "eh, it's optional. You don't need to pay for them."
Congratulations, you've fallen into their trap. People seem to build this bizarre myth around micro-transactions, as if they simply drop from the sky; as if they're an after thought and the in game economy isn't designed around them from the beginning. Well, you're completely and utterly wrong to think that.

When you play a game with micro-transactions you are playing a game that's designed to give a sub-par experience to those who don't pay up. The tedium of it all is designed to get players to weight up their time against their wallet, and ultimately decide to start paying; to incentivize players to pay up. To put it in the crudest way possible, it's pretty much the equivalent of them taking a shit all over their own game, then offering you the option to pay them to clean it. But hey, it's optional, right? Well, I don't want your shit-covered game, and I'm not going to go through the grind of cleaning it myself just because these arseholes wanted more money.

I'm just waiting for the day that they announce Fallout 4 has micro-transactions, then I can just give up on AAA gaming altogether.