Microtransactions, paid DLC, free-to-play-but-pay-to-win: these are all thorny subjects for gamers, because they involve paying hard-earned money for uncertain gains. And unfortunately, in the age of mobile and everything free (in appearance) it is the remuneration model that is starting to impose itself... massively on mobile games, but also on more conventional games on computers or consoles.
While in some cases, these microtransactions only provide aesthetic elements (character skins, for example), in others, they are essential elements for progressing... Personally, I curse the day Apple allowed in-app purchases on the App Store, thus freeing up the economic model of development studios. I am ready to pay for a game, possibly subscribe if necessary, but especially not pay for content that allows you to progress!
The worst part is that it's not always obvious how necessary in-game purchases are to progress in a game.
Luckily, there's now a community site where you can check your games ahead of time to see if they contain microtransactions and, if so, how they work.
Website Microtransaction.zone has a relatively diverse, if currently limited, library of games – but the site's creator "igrat" has indicated on Reddit that all content will be manually reviewed. This is good news for ensuring the quality of the content… but less so for reaching large volumes quickly.
Each game on Microtransaction Zone is accompanied by a series of icons, which help you understand the game's business model... basically what you're going to have to pay for. It's a clever way to show, at a glance, what you're getting into a game. Each entry also contains a brief explanation of how the microtransaction works.
For example, for the currently trendy game, Fortnite, you will find a lot of information (see round icons):
- the game is Free-To-Play, that is to say free to start playing
- it has paid extensions (traditional DLC)
- some minor paid DLC, but no random allocation
- Loot boxes with random contents, purchasable with real money.
- No limits on in-game purchases
- Content with game effects, purchasable with real money.
As you can see, Fortnite has everything it takes to be a cash cow. You can play it without paying anything, but you will be up against players ready to spend hundreds of euros to gain advantages over you...
Beyond that, the site has a search engine that will allow you to either search for a specific game, or search for a game based on criteria: genre, platform, types of microtransactions, etc.
So, if you can't stand games that keep asking for micropayments, you can search for "spotless" games, that is, games for which you only pay once and for all!
In short, in this day and age where most games have only one goal: to make you cough up all your money, this type of site is a real blessing. The only downside is that the site is in English, but I'm sure you'll make the most of it... and at worst, don't forget DeepL which offers very efficient translations.
Microtransaction.zone
