I’m a big fan of the Dead Space series from EA. I loved the first two installments, so when I heard there was a third coming out, I was super pumped. As the game got closer to release, disturbing news about the game hit the internet: EA, Dead Space 3‘s publisher, had included microtransactions, allowing players to buy weapons, skins, and resources for the in-game crafting system. Developer Visceral Games assured players that they could still find everything they needed in game, and with some careful resource management would have more than enough resources to play and beat the game.
Having not played and beaten the game, Visceral wasn’t far off the mark; there were times where I was strapped for resources, but eventually was able to get most of what I wanted.
However, the inclusion of micro-transactions in a full-priced game is still disturbing, as it shows how a publisher like EA views it’s gamer customers: walking piggybanks. Continue reading