www.develop-online.net/news/40387/Runescape-begins-first-microtransaction-experiment NewsSubscribe to News RSS FeedsNext ArticleTen studios collaborated on Kinect Star WarsNext ArticleSuper Meat Boy jumping to iOSToday at 2:23 pm
Runescape begins first microtransaction experimentby
Rob Crossley |
Email a friend |
Print1 commentTweetCredits for popular minigame can be earned through achieving in-game feats or paying cash
Cambridge based MMO specialist Jagex has
launched a targeted microtransaction system within a small section of
the Runescape universe.
Runescape customers are now able to
purchase new attempts to play a popular minigame called Squeal of
Fortune; a game of chance that offers various in-game prizes.
Jagex has preserved the many chances to earn spins through standard progression within Runescape.
The
company told its community: “Although earning and winning spins are
great new ways to spend more time [playing Squeal of Fortune], that’s
not enough for the impatient among us!”
It does not appear that
the microtransaction system appears anywhere else within the MMO, though
the company has now established a framework to sell virtual items.
The
new feature has immediately sparked complaints from vocal Runescape
players, of which many claim to have been “betrayed” by the new policy.
In
2007, Jagex removed certain aspects of Runescape to stamp out ‘grey
market’ trading of virtual goods. The game is monetised though
advertising and an optional subscription to premium features.
The subscription options available will cost users anything between £3 and £10 per month.
Jagex
CEO Mark Gerhard previously branded microtransactions “a stealth tax”,
though he may have been referring to how other games, unlike Runescape,
implement virtual sales by prohibiting player progression until such
goods are purchased.
Rob Smith, an executive at Jagex,
last week said that a gentle introduction of virtual item sales over time “could
possibly be introduced, providing our audience is happy with it”.