There are many “plights” in the video game industry that are affecting the various businesses that inhabit it. Just this week alone, two major publishers announced that they were laying off a combined 1500 people, and more are likely to come in March. Another issue is the cost of games and the amount of cash just being thrown at them in an attempt to be good and sell well. That’s one of the reasons for the layoffs, in fact. The other side effect of such actions, as being proven right now by Tekken 8, is that microtransactions are popping up everywhere. Much to the dismay of gamers as a whole.
Bandai Namco previously revealed to players that a special “Tekken Shop” would be arriving in Tekken 8 via a new patch and that it would get players the opportunity to obtain new cosmetics and outfits for the roster characters. That in and of itself isn’t a bad thing and is a popular element throughout fighting game titles. The problem is that they FAILED to acknowledge that to get the special “Tekken Coins” to get such outfits…you needed to pay for them with real money. Just as important, and much like many other video games with these kinds of microtransactions, you’re going to have to pay for a bundle to get MORE than you actually need for the costumes.
In this case, costume packs are 400 Tekken Coins, but the only available bundle close to that number is 500 Tekken Coins, which costs $5. Furthermore, to get all the currently available costumes would be about $30.
Players are already fuming in places like Reddit and Twitter, noting that this shop is coming in AFTER the game’s successful launch, of which it has already sold two million units so that players wouldn’t riot at the game’s arrival, nor would it affect the game’s review scores.
As noted by VGC, Harada himself replied to complaints about this on Twitter with the following:
“Development costs are now 10 times more expensive than in the 90’s and more than double or nearly triple the cost of Tekken 7,” he said. “Even the Fight Lounge servers are costly to maintain.”
So, in Bandai Namco’s minds, it’s VITAL to do things like this so that they can keep things rolling and keep the game alive, all the more reason for things to change within the industry so that such things don’t continue to be required.
