Analyst Predicts Less Aggressive Microtransactions in New Games

According to Doug Creutz, an analyst at the investment banking company Cowen, 2018 will not be rich in games saturated with microtransactions.

According to Doug Creutz, an analyst at the investment banking company Cowen, 2018 will not be rich in games saturated with microtransactions. Thanks to the negative reaction from the Star Wars: Battlefront 2 and Destiny 2 gaming communities, publishers understand that they can cause significant damage to the reputations of their projects.

“We suspect that 2018 will lead to a retreat from attempts to actively implement microtransactions,” Creutz says.

He points out that Star Wars: Battlefront 2 still lacks the ability to purchase in-game items with real money, which would have been a significant source of revenue for DICE and Electronic Arts. Since the release of Destiny 2, fans have been annoyed by Bungie's new approach to paid loot boxes and the fact that free items in the original game are now being sold.

Currently, Ubisoft is attempting to add microtransactions and loot boxes to Ghost Recon: Wildlands and Rainbow Six: Siege. This has already caused some uproar in the communities of both games.

Even if video game publishers do not abandon microtransactions, government bodies may make that choice for them by enacting laws that will regulate this practice.