Microtransactions have become a ubiquitous, if contentious, part of mainstream videogames. They crop up everywhere, from mobile games to $50 big-budget titles, with varying degrees of success and backlash. At the heart of the issue lies the equilibrium between the consumer’s valuation of media, and the developer’s increasingly tight margins as developmental costs rise. Recent events have raised all manner of real, pertinent questions (and led to proposals to legislate microtransactions, something being explored in several countries).
But even as such measures are introduced, it’s hard to resist the urge to speculate on what microtransactions could become. What would happen if the consumers never protested? How far would developers push the envelope with microtransactions? What would a culture of unbridled monetisation look like?
What if that game already existed?