Microtransactions are unfortunately becoming a norm these days in most big budget video games. With the fast approaching release of Halo 5 developer 343 Industries has spoken out about the games use of the much maligned micro transaction.
The way in which Halo 5 will use micro transactions is with their REQ packs starting at the price of $2. In defence of these items Kevin Franklin, game designer on Halo 5: Guardians, told Gamespot that they will be obtainable by players “whether you spend money or not”.
“There’s no crazy special items that are only going to be reserved for people who spend a lot more money,” Franklin went on t add “Also, you get a lot of rewards whether you’re playing Arena or Warzone, so you’re always going to have a ton of stuff that you’ll be able to use. The biggest thing for us the moment we started even talking about this system was that the game has to be balanced. At the end of the day, it’s a multiplayer game. It’s not a spend-more-to-win game.”
The developer 343 has previously stated that players will be expecting to earn approximately 2000 RP for each Warzone match that they play. This in-game currency will then allow players to purchase REQ packs without having to reach into their pockets. The REQ packs are priced as 1250 RP for bronze, 5000R RP for silver and 7500 RP for gold packs. Halo 5 players will be pleased to know that upon starting the game they will receive 7500 RP to spend on instantly improving their military arsenal.
The money made from those willing to spend money on REQ packs however will not all be going to developer 343 as some of the profit will be going towards the Halo World Championship competitive gaming series as well. Anyone having fears that Halo 5’s multi-player will be unbalanced will be revealed to hear that the game is focused on preventing this from happening. In his interview with Gamespot Kevin Franklin discussed the way in which Halo 5 will include a fair and balanced online system.
“We have a mid-session progression loop, which any MOBA player will be familiar with,” he explained. “You have to level your character up in-game, every game, by killing enemies, going after A.I., and contributing to your team. Then you’ll unlock the ability to use these cards. So if you have 10 Scorpions, you can’t just call in 10 Scorpions. You actually have an energy system, and that levelling system that will gate you and keep the end-game balanced. And that was really huge–we’re multiplayer designers, we can’t just make a really unbalanced game. It just wouldn’t feel Halo.”
Halo 5: Guardians releases 27th October exclusively for Xbox One.