Microtransaction have become an almost necessary evil of modern video gaming. Everything from mobile games like Candy Crush Saga to AAA games like Destiny, Assassin’s Creed, and Halo now feature them in some manner. With an online, multiplayer focused game like Tom Clancy’s The Division, many assumed that microtransactions would be a part of the experience, but according to Ubisoft, the game will feature none at all.
Speaking with Eurogamer at a press event for The Division, creative director Magnus Jansen was asked if the game would have DLC, microtransactions or both. He responded “It’s definitely just the one – the DLC. I don’t know if there’s a globally agreed definition of the word microtransactions, but you don’t pay to win or advance or anything like that. We have DLC plans – which we’re not talking about now – and obviously you’ll pay for that, but in addition to that there’s no microtransactions, as I define them.”
What will that DLC be exactly? Well for one thing, it will contain vanity items that are usually sold as microtransactions. Ubisoft explained “Magnus’s statement is correct, there will be no microtransactions at all. Not even for vanity items. Vanity items will be sold as DLC, through the regular first-party stores.”
Reading these responses doesn’t really clear up the confusion surrounding this topic. So the game will feature vanity items, that you will purchase and download. That really sounds like microtransactions, and seems to fit with the generally accepted definition of the term. However, Ubisoft is adamant that they are not microtransaction. The only way for this to work would seem to be packaging them into larger transactions or bundles.
DLC seems to be a big part of Tom Clancy’s The Division, but in what manner it will appear is still very much in question, even after these answers were supplied. We’ll have to wait until March 8th when The Division hits PS4, Xbox One, and PC to find out.
