Template:Microtransactions

Microtransactions or in-app purchases are features in games that require real-world money to progress through games and obtain items or progress at a faster rate. While these games can be well-received, games that feature micro-transactions have still been criticized by gamers and critics as a way for game developers and publishers to milk out more money. There are three main purposes for microtransactions:
 * 1) Getting cosmetic items and fun items that don't really assist in the game.
 * 2) Getting items at a faster rate which allows game developers to obtain more money by slowing down natural progress.
 * 3) Getting items that are available only through microtransactions and are better than regular items.

It could be argued that the microtransaction, in spirit, dates back to the early days of video games, with the concept of the credit in coin-op arcade machines: the player could, at any time, insert more coins for the promise of a new set of lives and another chance at finishing the game. Often these games were just as cynically designed as their descendants, with later bosses basically just designed to empty a player's wallet so that the person next in line didn't get bored waiting for their turn.

Though very common in mobile games, as of 2014, several AAA games (high quality and highly budgeted games) have begun using microtransactions such as Dragon Age: Inquisition and Assassins Creed: Unity, and sparked more popular to publishers/developers in 2017. This led to a controversy over the future of video games, since this made many games "Pay-to-win games": many games intentionally lock content behind microtransactions and make it too difficult for the player to make progress otherwise in order to force them to keep paying.

Usually the common difference between microtransactions and regular DLC is that microtransactions are re-buyable while regular DLC on the other hand is a one-time buy.

The 2010s abuse of microtransactions even made tvtropes.org create a page about this named Bribing Your Way To Victory, albeit the page also includes old arcade games which accepted more coins in exchange for extra continues.

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