During yesterday's live gameplay reveal of Borderlands 3, Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford rather excitedly stated that the game won't have microtransactions, but it turns out that's not entirely true. While it does seem as though you won't be able to buy your way to victory with real money (phew), you will still have the option of coughing up cash for cosmetic items.
This is according to creative director Paul Sage, who clarified the situation to PC Gamer. Sage confirmed that you'll be able to purchase heads, skins, and auxiliary items with real world dosh, but there apparently won't be a whiff of pay-to-win nonsense. There are also no plans for any special microtransaction currencies or anything like that.
Good news we suppose, but it is worth pointing out that even cosmetic microtransactions can be a slippery slope. Here's hoping that Gearbox sticks to its guns when Borderlands 3 launches this September.
[source pcgamer.com]
Comments 23
I've never understood the point of having cosmetic items in a first person game.
Was wondering if they were gonna backtrack after Randy said that. I’m all for paid story dlc like in the 2nd game and micro transactions for cosmetics or camos if it means we get continual support like events and things (eg Destiny)
Sucks to pay for something you earned in previous entries. Hopefully you calm still unlock some and the ones you pay for are truly unique. Still day 1 buy. The game not the cosmetics.
I can see where they are coming from, albeit i'm still a little pessimistic.
Leveraging the very good will for this game is fine, but to a point. Assuming the content level and quality after release is as good as the Borderlands 2 dlc, no one will be too annoyed.
Its, if they do this and the game becomes a shadow of itself that the rough times will come and rightly so..
I hold my breath and just hope for something as good as I hope and to be as enjoyable and time investing as B2. Its really all i want...
I’m pretty sure the originals had DLC too with golden keys etc so this doesn’t bother me too much.
I think they’re refering to the cosmetic dlc borderlands 2 had too. We call it microtransactions now because it’s a small price, but they’re still DLC IMO.
A microtransaction is something you can buy multiple times.
Hopefully the cosmetic items will appear randomly in big rubber balls so they can also loudly proclaim:
"Borderlands 3 doesn't have loot boxes, it's got big balls!"
Just don't be like TLOU's/Uncharted's microtransactions and I'm okay with that.
It was amusing to see Randy have a go at Game Informer after they called them out on it. He was saying they made him look like a punk. To which I said "to be fair you do that to yourself often anyway"
Randy Pitchford's meltdown about this on Twitter directed at Gameinformer has been pretty golden so far.
@Enuo TF2 started it all
@YozenFroghurt his words really don't carry any weight, i have to see it for myself to believe it.
Anyone annoyed at their inclusion really needs to get a grip 😂
Borderlands 3 has emotes so yeah, they're definitely gonna be selling those.
In this day and age I would be more surprised if a game didnt have some sort of microtransactions.
I feel like someone's just standing by a lever waiting to open the floodgates.
I still don't get so you can buy the heads/skins as an alternative option instead of farming for them and everything is on the game or is exclusive DLC?
@Enuo My first thought as well. You are paying for something that only other people can see...
Clarifies? Randy Rage on twitter. The guys is insane.
I'm not bothered about them charging for skins that I cant see anyway, as long as the game is great with plenty of rewarding loot that it seems to have and we get DLC campaigns as good as those from Borderlands 2
What a fraud. Stick to magic tricks, at least then he was expected to trick the audience.
I have no problem with this as it does not effect gameplay. Gearbox have always supported the Bordrlands games with substantial DLC plus a meaty main game, that is more than enough for me.
@Cutmastavictory Yep you you still get cosmetic items for free in the game. My understanding is that there will be 'premium' cosmetic items you can use real money to pay for.
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