Dragon's Dogma II, after months of hype to a sequel of a beloved series, is currently being bombarded by negative reviews on its Steam page over one reason: microtransactions.
However, what started as one player's grievance about the game has turned into a massive online criticism against the game's developer Capcom, and microtransactions in the industry.
Dragon's Dogma 2, Capcom Controversy: Reasons
The whole debacle on Dragon's Dogma 2 started after X (formerly Twitter) user @TheActMan_YT on March 22, posted an image of DLC being sold on the game's Steam page.
Saw some gameplay of Dragon's Dogma 2 and thought it looked really cool. Then I check the steam page and wtf is this? Isn't this a single-player game?? So many microtransactions lol pic.twitter.com/GNBvFcwlys
— The Act Man (@TheActMan_YT) March 22, 2024
Aside from the usual starter kit and music collections, the Steam page is offering players purchasable in-game items, including revive, fast travel, escape items, and in-game currencies.
Many of the supposed DLC products offered are also notably consumables, meaning they would be gone once used and players will need to repurchase the items.
It did not help that most of the items being sold on the Steam store page can easily be acquired while just playing the game or that some players are experiencing unoptimized gameplay despite the full AAA price treatment in the game.
The post immediately gained traction from both players and non-players, reaching up to 1.3 million views within a day, many of which had the same reaction.
Dragon's Dogma 2 DLC Products: The Backlash
After the post on X went viral, Dragon's Dogma 2's Steam store page immediately gets flooded with negative reviews just hours after the game is officially released.
Dragon's Dogma 2, one of Capcom's biggest games of the year, debuted with a "Mostly Negative" review from its players. As of writing, Dragon's Dogma 2 is rated with "Mixed" reviews after the platform removed spam accounts.
The backlash was so massive that the developers immediately responded to "sincerely apologize for any inconvenience" and promised to be "addressing crashes and bug fixes starting from those with the highest priority in patches in the near future."
It is worth noting, as pointed out by other people online, that Capcom uses a similar DLC strategy for its other games like in Devil May Cry 5, Resident Evil 4 remake, and Monster Hunter series.
Related Article : The Impact of Microtransactions on Game Design
Microtransactions and its Impact to the Gaming Industry
If there is one thing to learn from the whole controversy it is how microtransactions have evolved from simple cosmetics 20 years ago into a whole market strategy for game publishers to get more money from players.
Other games like Fallout 76 and Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League have been criticized before for locking many of the game's content behind DLCs and live service subscriptions.
Although some game developers have started pushing back against the trend, the majority of the mainstream games still use the strategy as DLC products continue to be patronized by many.
