‘Red Dead’ prices trigger revolt
Real-world economics intrude on online game
VALENTINE – Rain soaked a forest path outside this cattle town in New Hanover’s Heartlands region as a rider on a horse named Skidaddle pulled out the rifle slung across her back to plug a passing rabbit.
The rider – a mud-smeared redhead in a buckskin vest and black cowboy hat – grumbled to a USA TODAY reporter tagging along that Valentine’s butcher would give her next to nothing for a pelt in such blasted condition.
She and the reporter could have robbed trains or hijacked stagecoaches during the hour they spent together online in “Red Dead Redemption 2,” a video game set in a fictional but stunningly realistic version of 1890s America. Instead, the redhead – who is actually Mutahar Anas, a 24-year-old film editor and video game streamer playing from Toronto – harvested animal pelts and fished bluegill from a river, relatively mundane tasks considered the best way to make a decent living in
a virtual world with a frustrating economic system.
“It literally feels like work,” Anas complained after Skidaddle had been loaded with several pelts and an elk carcass. “And I’m just going to have to keep doing it.”
“Red Dead Redemption 2” (or RDR2) was released as a single-player open world game in October and in its first three days earned $725 million in sales, making it one of the biggest launches of an entertainment product in history. Critics and gamers hailed the game as a masterpiece and work of art exhibiting an unyielding commitment to realism.
But after Rockstar Games, the company behind RDR2, two weeks ago unlocked a beta version of “Red Dead Online,” a multiplayer expansion of the game, many of its fans mercilessly lambasted the game’s economy that seemed designed to eventually force gamers to use real-world money to balance it out. As a result, players who once marveled over intricate details – such as how the horses physically responded to weather changes – posted rants online about the price of a virtual can of beans.
“This online economy is a mess,” was a common refrain on the website Reddit, where commenters compared it to the dire, real-life situation in modern Venezuela.
The online game’s missions paid out a period-appropriate pittance, they said, but the items for sale – anything from varmint rifles to hair pomade – were oppressively priced.
Disgruntled players on Reddit dug up century-old ads to prove that a Mauser pistol only cost $35 in 1899, roughly onethirtieth of what the online game charged at launch. Others used inflation calculators to ridicule the price of goods, such as a virtual can of baked beans, which at $1.20 in the game would equate to nearly $40 in today’s real dollars.
Anas’ redhead received $38.44 from the butcher for her hunting efforts. “The game might look good, but you tell me – is this what you want to be spending your time doing?” he asked.
Rockstar, whose parent company is New York-based Take-Two Interactive, pointed out the game’s online version was still in beta mode. Last week, the company responded to the criticism by reducing in-game costs, increasing gameplay rewards and even issuing gifts and refunds to players who had paid the previous exorbitant prices for goods.
Rockstar did not respond to a request for comment for this story. But in a post on Rockstar’s web site, the company said the changes were “geared towards creating a more balanced, fun and rewarding overall experience, across all modes and missions.”
The controversy is indicative of broader issues facing the industry. Video games are becoming increasingly online-based, which means the financial transaction doesn’t need to end after someone plunks down $60 for a disc. The potentially limitless opportunities for downloading additional game content include everything from a prequel that feels like a new game to something frivolous such as horse armor.
Often it works, and players happily spend more money to add a new chapter or episode to a hit game or to customize a character. But in some cases, the dynamic can leave gamers feeling as if developers are specifically engineering games to make them unplayable unless players constantly shell out money.
Rockstar has not yet introduced to “Red Dead Online” the ability to complete microtransactions, the term for ingame purchases in which players can pay for online goods and credits with real money. Critics have derided microtransactions as turning the meritocracy of video gaming on its head, especially when the games involve player-vs-player battles. For example, a player willing to spend real money to upgrade from a pistol to a tank could have an advantage over someone who tries to earn the upgrade by completing tasks within the game.
Rockstar already makes a fortune on microtransactions off of its other massive and ongoing hit, “Grand Theft Auto V.” On top of roughly $6 billion Rockstar has earned from retail game revenue since “GTA V” was released in 2013, it has reaped an additional $1.5 billion in “GTA Online” microtransactions as players bought supercars and helicopters, according to Michael Pachter, managing director of equity research at Wedbush Securities and a longtime video game industry analyst.
Other popular online games, even longtime hit “World of Warcraft,” had some initial bad reviews, he says. “They fixed everything people didn’t like as they went,” Pachter said. “I am certain (Rockstar is) going to fix it and this is making a mountain out of a mole hill.”
The injection of real money into virtual worlds has created significant financial, ethical and legal dilemmas for game makers.
Two weeks ago, Federal Trade Commission chairman Joe Simons said his agency would investigate “loot boxes,” random prize packages online players can pay for in many games that critics have compared to gambling. International Game Developers Association executive director Jen MacLean responded to the probe by calling for the game industry to create a standard approach to loot boxes.
“We cannot ignore the fact that video games face increased scrutiny, concern, and regulation because of their immersive nature,” MacLean wrote in a letter to the video game industry.
Take-Two’s president Karl Slatoff has said that he does not consider loot boxes to be gambling, though the company has not disclosed whether it plans to introduce them to “Red Dead Online.”
Some game developers have turned to experts to grapple with the implications of a massive virtual economy.
The space simulation game “Eve Online,” with 300,000 players, had one of the industry’s more dramatic showdowns over microtransactions, including an online riot with an occupation of one of the in-game trading stations.
The riot ended when the game’s developers agreed to hedge any edge microtransactions might give a paying player.