Dead Space 3 microtransactions to appeal to mobile gamers

By Alice O'Connor, Jan 25, 2013 7:00am PST

Those microtransactions in Dead Space 3 that you've grumbled and griped about? Don't worry, EA says, you won't need to use them to beat the game. Heck, they're not even meant for you! Supposedly the option to buy crafting materials was added so mobile gamers who, presumably on a whim, buy a console and a copy of the game will feel at home coughing up even more cash.

"We would never make a game you have to pay to win," producer John Calhoun told CVG. "There are genres of games where that is the answer, and you know what? The world has spoken, they suck."

Pay-to-win is bad, Calhoun says, and developer Visceral Games is made of the sort of "hardcore" players who "are reluctant to spend money outside the purchase of the game." So why are these microtransactions in there at all? Because of those people who "need instant gratification," he says. They need it. Absolutely need. Cannot be denied. Game design be damned!

"We need to make sure we're expanding our audience as well. There are action game fans, and survival horror game fans, who are 19 and 20, and they've only played games on their smartphones, and micro-transactions are to them a standard part of gaming. It's a different generation. So if we're going to bring those people into our world, let's speak their language, but let's not alienate our fans at the same time."

Who is giving these 19 and 20-year-olds so much money, and why?

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