WWE 2K18 to not have microtransactions

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WWE 2K18 to not have microtransactions

Postby ThePointForward on Tue Oct 03, 2017 11:40 pm

While not directly affecting NBA 2K18, it can be considered a good sign that 2K took the (obvious) hint and maybe saw they pushed it a bit too far.
Of course I'm willing to guess that WWE has smaller sales than NBA, but at the same time WWE has literally no competition as far as I know, while NBA at least has Live, which in all fairness has been improving year after year.

Source: https://twitter.com/WWEgames/status/914956241297743872
There are no paid microtransactions in #WWE2K18. Info on unlocking loot cases via in-game currency is here: https://t.co/ZmJQQJ7Bin


The link points to a page with info on WWE 2K18, which says (among other stuff)
Unlocks can be earned through loot cases and progression in both MyCAREER and ROAD TO GLORY. Most Superstar parts and moves are locked from the start. Once an item is unlocked, it is then purchasable with VC.


And in some interview, the Executive Producer for the game said
“We don’t have purchased VC in our game”



It is set up like microtransactions, but they seem to at worse have pulled out last minute. So again, maybe a good sign that NBA 2K19 will scale back a bit with them.
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Re: WWE 2K18 to not have microtransactions

Postby JWL3 on Wed Oct 04, 2017 2:52 am

That's awesome. I used to like wrestling a lot. And I should be all over a PC version of it on Steam. But I just haven't had time to play it with this 2K series. I only play 2K and one other genre of game from time to time. Either Fallout 4, Far Cry 5, Call of Duty, GTA V, etc. 2K is 50% of all I have left of my gaming career.
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Re: WWE 2K18 to not have microtransactions

Postby benji on Wed Oct 04, 2017 3:06 am

WWE does really well last I knew, especially since Yuke's handles so much of the development, though I imagine this year will see a tiny drop as they dumped the 360/PS3 versions. I've never seen any sales figures but I've heard through the grapevine that WWE SuperCard does some pretty epic money. (Hell, the NHL game does enough that it got a separate updated version. WWE they just updated the main game.)

Handling multiple currencies is a hard thing to manage and it's shocking that VC is handled so poorly considering how much business they do with it now.

I'll be interested to see how NBA 2K18 on the Switch works as I don't know if that platform is setup well for microtransactions. A lot of the ports to date/announced have dropped theirs for the Switch version either by making a bunch of it free or just cutting it out.

I can't imagine that being the reason WWE dropped it though. I assume it's consumer backlash leading them to look at another model and not being able to attach the payment model yet. You'll be able to pay for those cases in real money in 2K19 probably.

Also I've little knowledge of the WWE games and their MyCAREER equivalent linked in that first tweet looks interesting as something I might enjoy (when the game has a Steam sale or is in a bundle) despite only having a third-hand knowledge of the "sport", I really like that PROMO is one of the ratings. I'd like to see ACTING and SALESMANSHIP too, though that's probably included in the PROMO, I'd prefer it to the "real" ratings though. And it starts with your character bumbling over and forgetting his lines and not executing the selling of moves properly by having crappy animations but as you level up he slowly transfoms into The Miz. And ultimately Vince McMahon in his ability to take on any persona and sell anything no matter how bad the script.
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Re: WWE 2K18 to not have microtransactions

Postby Andrew on Wed Oct 04, 2017 10:05 am

WWE 2K17 didn't have microtransactions either, though it does have other DLC and a Season Pass, much like previous games in the series (and WWE 2K18 again this year).
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Re: WWE 2K18 to not have microtransactions

Postby ThePointForward on Wed Oct 04, 2017 6:12 pm

Did it have loot boxes too (genuine question)? Because that's what looks like prime setup for microtransactions that were pulled last minute.
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Re: WWE 2K18 to not have microtransactions

Postby Andrew on Wed Oct 04, 2017 7:19 pm

It didn't, though the ability to change the attributes of non-created wrestlers is actually paid DLC (and is again this year, which is weak). It's fair to wonder whether microtransactions were pulled because of the NBA 2K18 backlash, but the WWE 2K series has generally handled the situation with VC better since it was introduced there, so maybe not.

Aside from foregoing microtransactions, you also earned very generous amounts of VC in WWE 2K17. Playing a few exhibition matches and having a good performance (i.e. doing a variety of moves, having some back and forth with your opponent, and ultimately getting a high star rating) would often earn enough VC to unlock a couple of the lower tier unlockable wrestlers and items. The game also handed you 200,000 VC out of the box, in order to unlock a couple of the more expensive items right away if you wanted.

The WWE 2K series has its own legacy problems and whatnot, but their handling of VC has actually been quite fair; I have to give them that.
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Re: WWE 2K18 to not have microtransactions

Postby ThePointForward on Wed Oct 04, 2017 7:54 pm

Now if only we could get this kind of handling VC back to NBA. Because 2K11 handed you 10000 points IIRC to improve your player to your liking before the draft combine even started.

Speaking of DLCs, I like how Total War: Warhammer series handles it. The first game had bunch of DLCs that made several races playable (CPU only before that) and added new factions to those races as well.
Now the TW:W 2 came out and we got 4 races, each with 2 factions (8 total). New campaign, all that stuff...
But in a few weeks they'll release merged map of the first game and the new game and you'll be able to use any faction unlocked in the first game if you own it.
Of course there is a discussion as to why the game was released in form of $60 release instead of another expansion for the original, but that's another topic. People who bought the original game for full price might feel screwed and I'd not blame them. As someone who got it in Humble Monthly a while back I do not feel it's unfair value together.

Back to NBA. I think it would be fair to have discount for owners of previous games, at least within the same generation - I mean the jump between 13 and 14 on consoles (14 to 15 on PC) was huge. But after that those are incremental changes, generally looking like "well, we scrapped this part and made it up to par with today's expectations".
VC tied to account and not to each game would be nice, but that would require them to stop screwing around with the economy each game.
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Re: WWE 2K18 to not have microtransactions

Postby Andrew on Wed Oct 04, 2017 8:33 pm

Returning gamer bonuses and the ability to transfer unused VC from the previous game - even if it was 50-75 cents on the dollar, so to speak - would be a tremendous gesture of goodwill.
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Re: WWE 2K18 to not have microtransactions

Postby Andrew on Sat Oct 14, 2017 7:36 pm

Updating with further comparisons now that WWE 2K18 is out. VC earnings have been reduced this year, but so have the prices of the unlockables, so it's all relative. As already noted, there are no microtransactions, but there is a season pass, and editing wrestler attributes does involve getting the Accelerator DLC. They also once again hand you a bunch of VC to unlock a few things right out of the box, as they did last year.

Still fairer than NBA 2K18.
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Re: WWE 2K18 to not have microtransactions

Postby sticky-fingers on Sun Oct 15, 2017 11:46 pm

2K use all the (bad) tricks to sell eye powder to their customers.
I cant accept VC, because all the content is already in the game. you just pay to avoid grinding.
I (can accept to) buy a DLC if it represents a real work (for example Dishonored 1 or The Witcher 3 extensions).
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