Shadow of War - Removing Microtransactions

DSOGaming reports that Middle-Earth: Shadow of War will be removing microtransactions, including Gold, War Chests, and the Market by July 17th. In addition the game will be receiving some free updates.

Monolith has announced that it will release some new free updates for Middle-earth: Shadow of War in the next months. As such, the team will be permanently removing Gold, War Chests and the Market from the game, something that will please a lot of players.

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When a company that's sharing the same bed with politicians for a 100 of years decides taking a drastic measure…
Something is shakin'.

EDIT:





Sorry, AJ and TB didn't make the vid on it yet.

Still good news though it is taking them a long time to do the removal…

How do they expect to stay in business? I don't understand their model.

i.e. Macrotransactions? Will subscription holders and expansion pack buyers continue subsidize the FTP gamers?

I am not against transactions so much as a) transactions being too large a focus of the game and b) loot boxes and real money gambling

I wonder if they'll make the "total package" (or whatever they call the full-game-in-one) available at the same time?

lol that first video is hilarious.

He describes it pretty well.

Originally Posted by Lucky Day
How do they expect to stay in business? I don't understand their model.

i.e. Macrotransactions? Will subscription holders and expansion pack buyers continue subsidize the FTP gamers?

I am not against transactions so much as a) transactions being too large a focus of the game and b) loot boxes and real money gambling

Related to my signature

Originally Posted by Wisdom
Related to my signature

That's so 1980-2005. As my niece always says get with the times old man.

How about all games have a single huge lootbox you pay for up front that contains all the options, items, skins, unlocks etc? I'd pay for that!!

Not my kind of game, and it may be late but at least they are taking the right steps. Let's see if all these types of transactions disappear entirely from their games before applauding too loudly.

There is no right step in this it's just a crappy PR stunt with no value at all.
Wait there is some value as it sends a message to those that have bought ingame junk for real money that they indeed are losers being exploited.

Originally Posted by six
There is no right step in this it's just a crappy PR stunt with no value at all.
Wait there is some value as it sends a message to those that have bought ingame junk for real money that they indeed are losers being exploited.

There is definitely an air of PR about this. However, given what they have said about the nemesis system being diminished, it makes it harder for other publishers to claim there are no effects on these games mechanically from microtransactions.

I also think this move signals some legislative action brewing behind the scenes that has precipitated this move.

I really liked the first game in this series and was looking forward to Shadow of War but as soon as it became clear that the last part of the game was just one huge epic grind section specifically designed for you to purchase a "skip this BS content" box with real money I put it on hold….

If they remove the loot boxes as well as redesign the grind section to no longer be so "grindy", then I'm ready to take a close look at the game once more.

It's most likely as Joxer pointed out "too little, too late", but let's see :-)

Gotta agree with six it is a PR stunt as they have made 95% of their $$$ on this game, but want to make it look good in case of legislation.