The Division Devs Considered a Level Skip Microtransaction
By Jasmine Henry 26 January 2016
The Division‘s creative director reveals that the developer initially considered adding a skip level microtransaction that would allow players to take a shortcut.
Over the past 18 months, Ubisoft has been keeping fans on edge by gradually releasing more info about The Division. Fans have learned about the game’s ‘Dark Zones’ (special PvP areas where teams can take on NPCs and other players for loot) as well as its character creation. But what fans won’t come across during The Division‘s beta – or the full version of the game – are level skip microtransactions. Lead developer Ubisoft Massive reveals that they chose to nix those during development.
In an interview with GameSpot, The Division‘s creative director Magnus Jansen revealed that the team considering letting players pay to level up their character, though this “never made it into the game” and “there won’t be any microtransactions like that”. In a previous interview with the publication, Ubisoft Massive’s David Polfeldt said that the game’s microtransactions would be “fair” and that they want to have a “fair trade”.
This will certainly be good news for those worrying about the game’s playerbase being massively overpowered, but others may call this a missed opportunity. The Division‘s beta gives players a chance to get to grips with the game but it also gives them an advantage over those who wait until after launch to play it. Those who come into the game later may argue that a level skip microtransaction would allow them to catch up to other players and not feel so left out.
Jansen also discussed the negative connotations surrounding microtransactions. The director notes that “people will happily pay for the game, but I think the issue people have is when they feel like some content has been held back” and that “some people find that certain microtransactions allow people to pay to compete. Pay-to-win, essentially.” The game will have DLC though, “because there’s nothing bad about creating more content after we release this huge game”.
With so many other games being accused of going pay to win, or fracturing their playerbases with paid-for content (such as Evolve and Destiny), fans will be able to take some comfort in Jansen’s words. However, it’s still relatively unclear what The Division‘s microtransactions will entail and so while they avoid some pratfalls, they may cause imbalances elsewhere. There’s not long until the game is released, so fingers crossed Ubisoft Massive reveals more soon.
Source: GameSpot (1), (2)
Tom Clancy’s The Division will launch on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC starting March 8.
