2K have finally gone and done it, a $60 game you can't play without spending more money

[Master Disaster]

So 2K have finally blurred that line between free to play & premium game entirely with this year's installment of NBA.

 

Kotaku were going to review the game, as they do many games, but instead put out an article on just how riddled with MTs NBA 2K18 really is.

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The latest game in the NBA 2K series is frustrating to play if you don’t want to spend any additional money on top of the $60 you have to shell out to get the game.

 

Technically, you don’t ever need to buy anything in NBA 2K18. It’s just much, much easier if you do. Virtual Currency is the only currency in the game, and was introduced in the 2012 installment (NBA 2K13). It’s something you’ll use across game modes in 2K18, but it’s especially prevalent in the single-player myCareer mode, where you use it both for upgrading characters and customizing them.

So to start off the give you 6,000VC (VC being virtual currency) which sounds generous enough however spending the entire 6,000 on skill points raises your players overall rating from 60 to 62

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In 2K18, like other installments, you’re able to earn Virtual Currency after every game, and you’ll start off with 6,000 VC. That seems generous until you actually start having to use your VC, where you’ll find that things are pretty expensive.

 

When I spent the entirety of my 6,000 VC on my character, Xavier World Peace, he went from an overall rating of 60 to 62. Y

You can earn VC by playing but obviously the amount you earn is governed by how well you play and as a level 62 you're never going to be a Jordan. As you get higher ranked the cost of skill points increases meaning you must play more to earn the required amount (around 4,000VC per level at this point)

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You can still earn VC by playing games and it will scale with how well you play during the game, as it has in previous games in the series. But still, playing a game with my modest skill only netted me around 500 VC. Once I’d accrued another 1,000 VC, I tried to upgrade World Peace again. Fooling around with different stats, I realized that I’d be able to raise his overall rating one point if I spend about 4,000 VC

Of course you're going to want to change your characters apperence? Clothes? Hairstyle? Buy him new moves?

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If you’d like to customize your character in any way, Virtual Currency becomes even more precious. In particular, if you want to change your character’s hair, you have to purchase a haircut before you see it on the character itself.

Not only do they not allow you to preview the item they don't even tell you the price until you're at the checkout (1,500VC for a haircut btw)

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You also won’t be able to see the price until you put it in the cart—this particular haircut costs 1,500 VC.

Some items have to be unlocked by reaching a certain level before you're allowed the privilege of buying them

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What if you want a tattoo? Well, all tattoos other than the 2K logo are locked until you reach an overall rating of 70, and then actually adding the tattoo to your character costs an additional 1,000 VC.

Literally everything you need to buy to improve your character costs VC in this game and the game is not shy about reminding you that you can buy VC with real money at every possible moment it csn

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This is the same for clothes, shoes and player animations—you have to raise your overall rating to unlock the good stuff, and then you still have to pay VC to actually purchase it. Want Michael Jordan’s signature dunk? Well, first you have to to unlock it, and then you can still have to pay for the animation.

 

That means you have to play hours of games to earn VC… or buy 75,000 of VC for $20. In general, playing myCareer mode is a constant reminder of how much VC you don’t have, as the game will frequently present you with the option to purchase more.

Fan estimates claim you'd need to play 240 games to get your character from the starting rank of 60 to an average 86 and that's getting A+ every game and buying nothing but ranking points. Oh and to add insult to injury they're selling a $150 version of the game on Steam.

 

https://kotaku.com/nba-2k18-is-riddled-with-microtransactions-1818554307

 

So that's it now, 2K have finally reached the point the games industry has been reaching for for a long time. A $60 full priced game that employs the same mechanics as free to play games use. You can spend hours playing but that's nothing but a grind, if you want to progress at a decent rate you MUST buy more coins from them.

 

Now one has shown it's possible they all will follow suit. Mark this game down as the game which finally broke the AAA gaming industry forever.

 

EDIT - Thanks to @WMGroomAK for pointing this one out

 

2K will also sell you a Nike Basketball Jersey that comes with exclusive NBA in-game items including BEAST MODE for $200!!! You couldn't make this shit up at this point

 

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/09/nba-nike-team-up-for-smart-fan-jerseys-that-know-you-and-where-you-go/

[The Benjamins]

This isn't like "free to play" this is pay to win. True free to play games require no need to pay to win or do better in the game.

[Master Disaster]

3 minutes ago, The Benjamins said:

This isn't like "free to play" this is pay to win. True free to play games require no need to pay to win or do better in the game.

No because pay to win is a multiplayer thing and this is a single player game, you can't win over yourself.

 

2K have taken the free to play mechanic of grind or pay us and crammed it into a full priced release.

 

It's a free to play game that you have to pay for, so it's a pay twice to play game.

[The Benjamins]

1 minute ago, Master Disaster said:

No because pay to win is a multiplayer thing and this is a single player game, you can't win over yourself.

 

2K have taken the free to play mechanic of grind or pay us and crammed it into a full priced release.

You can pay to win in single player, it is like paying for all the unlocks early or in game boosts.

[vanished]

2 minutes ago, Master Disaster said:

No because pay to win is a multiplayer thing and this is a single player game, you can't win over yourself.

Not over yourself but over the pre-made story/campaign the game sets out for you

[Glennieboyyy007]

1 minute ago, VegetableStu said:

mmm, is pay-to-progress a thing now? My first encounter with it was the latter half of Spiral Knight's existence...

pay to progress, or just pay to have cools tuff. seems like gta online to me, but stille a bit different

[VG Docs]

2 minutes ago, Master Disaster said:

No because pay to win is a multiplayer thing and this is a single player game, you can't win over yourself.

 

2K have taken the free to play mechanic of grind or pay us and crammed it into a full priced release.

You can win over AI and game rules though.

It's basically pay to win: SP Edition

[Master Disaster]

1 minute ago, VegetableStu said:

mmm, is pay-to-progress a thing now? My first encounter with it was the latter half of Spiral Knight's existence...

If it wasn't before then yeah, it is now. Also I like that description, pay to progress.

[Trik'Stari]

This is incredibly shitty,

 

But I have to say I don't care much about sports games. Meh.

[TVwazhere]

I'd be more butthurt if it wasnt one of the sport franchises. No offense to anyone who plays the sports games, but man.... It's like the COD games but worse in ways

[Guest]

I was thinking of getting nba for the switch since theres like no games... nvm

[Big Head Tech]

To this day, league of legends seems to be the best example of implementing free to play with micro transactions.

[Master Disaster]

1 minute ago, Trik'Stari said:

This is incredibly shitty,

 

But I have to say I don't care much about sports games. Meh.

Now 2K have shown it's possible, and assuming it sells well enough you can bet it won't be long until it becomes the standard model for the large majority of games.

[Trik'Stari]

Just now, Master Disaster said:

Now 2K have shown it's possible, and assuming it sells well enough you can bet it won't be long until it becomes the standard model for the large majority of games.

Oh I know. It's going to suck.

[Master Disaster]

Just now, Trik'Stari said:

Oh I know. It's going to suck.

Let's just hope this goes one step too far and gamers don't buy it but I somehow don't have faith in humanity to believe that would ever happen.

[mynameisjuan]

So basically its WOW model but worse

[WMGroomAK]

21 minutes ago, Master Disaster said:

So that's it now, 2K have finally reached the point the games industry has been reaching for for a long time. A $60 full priced game that employs the same mechanics as free to play games use

Don't forget that you can also spend about $200 to get a Nike Jersey that you can scan for in-game boosts if spending money on virtual currency isn't enough for you.  Cause you know that spending money is the most fun you can have now, right?  

[Master Disaster]

Just now, WMGroomAK said:

Don't forget that you can also spend about $200 to get a Nike Jersey that you can scan for in-game boosts if spending money on virtual currency isn't enough for you.  Cause you know that spending money is the most fun you can have now, right?  

Seriously? I'd say I'm surprised but well, I'm actually not lol.

[goodtofufriday]

i dont understand? You cant beat the game through skill alone?

[BachChain]

I'm actually surprised this didn't happen sooner. People were fine paying $60 for the same game every year for the past 18 years, so why wouldn't 2k try to see how far they can push that.

[Nowak]

Forgetting about something?

 

 

The game that 2K bragged about having "the most support for DLC and microtransactions ever" and showcased DLC before even showing off any gameplay?

[Master Disaster]

Just now, goodtofufriday said:

i dont understand? You cant beat the game through skill alone?

Good luck beating the game with a level 62 character? Want to reach level 86? 240 games achieving an A+ rating on every game and buying nothing but skill points. Just like a free to play, sure it's technically possible as long as you have no job or life outside of the game.

[WMGroomAK]

2 minutes ago, Master Disaster said:

Seriously? I'd say I'm surprised but well, I'm actually not lol.

Yeah, I had posted this Ars Tech article earlier that covered the Nike Jersey issue...  Hadn't heard that the MicroTransaction issue was going to be quite this bad yet though, but not really overly surprised.

 

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/09/nba-nike-team-up-for-smart-fan-jerseys-that-know-you-and-where-you-go/

 

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Video gamers are also enticed to buy these new jerseys. Fans get a so-called "boost" code to use on the NBA2K18 video game by Take-Two Interactive. The code gives an in-game boost to the player whose jersey was purchased, putting him into beast mode.

 

[goodtofufriday]

Just now, Master Disaster said:

Good luck beating the game with a level 62 character? Want to reach level 86? 240 games achieving an A+ rating on every game and buying nothing but skill points. Just like a free to play, sure it's technically possible as long as you have no job or life outside of the game.

Your level determines how well you can play basketball? Forgive me if I dont understand basketball video games (I genuinely dont play them), but isnt it supposed to get harder as you play? 

[Trik'Stari]

8 minutes ago, Master Disaster said:

Let's just hope this goes one step too far and gamers don't buy it but I somehow don't have faith in humanity to believe that would ever happen.

It's because we can't shame morons for being morons.