In the last year we’ve seen great games like Horizon Zero Dawn Resident Evil 7 Cuphead. There were gems amongst the titles that looked and performed well but were ruined because of corporate greed. Personal, I like to separate my online gaming from gaming online. I play Bingo on mobile or poker on my PC. As a result, I want to highlight five great games that have been ruined by trading cards, loot boxes or in-game purchase.

Star Wars Battlefront 2,

Star Wars Battlefront had everything fans wanted: a single-player campaign with a lot of depth, more maps, and more characters. However, the xin88 game chose to hide key characters in loot crates, and offered players options to ‘pay to win’ if they would part with their hard earned cash. After public outrage and an investigation by the gambling commission, the developers changed many internal systems in order to quiet the crowds.

Destiny 2

The first Destiny had a very satisfying gameplay loop, where players would blast enemy after enemy across a solar system. Gamers would get a variety of goodies, including colour-changing shaders and other goodies with each headshot. When Destiny 2 was released with its expanded storyline and upgraded systems, many of the free features, such as colour shaders, were suddenly hidden behind a paid-for paywall. This annoyed a large part of their playerbase.

Shadow of War

Shadow of Mordor’s Nemesis system was a great addition to the game. It allowed enemies to remember your name and seek revenge. Unfortunately, the Nemesis system was “overhauled” in the sequel, and Orcs were turned into virtual loot, which could be bought with real-world money, and players could avoid the game altogether. This was a great game that had a unique idea, but it was ruined by greed.

eed for Speed: Payback

Need for Speed: Payback, a decent arcade racing game, is undermined by its predatory and rampant monetization. The normal system of upgrading cars and earning money by racing was scrapped in favor of a completely unintelligible “Speed Card” system. You can upgrade your car with the random “speed-card” that is dropped after each race. Of course, you can also buy some cards using real money.

Forza 7

Forza, like Destiny 2, suffered from the paywalling of previously free content. When Forza 4 was released, gamers were ecstatic to have 500 cars available. Forza 5 had only 200 cars, and they had to explain why. Forza 6 eventually increased it to 460, and Forza 7 has 667 cars. However, they may cost $3.99 per car or $29.99 for a 48-pack. With the addition of a brand new loot system, some high-performance vehicles were also locked behind a lootbox system. Disgraceful.

The games are not technically bad, they’re far from it. They just ooze greed and make players feel taken advantage of after every session. I hope that the lessons learned over the last year will be reflected by developers and publishers, and we can expect a more traditional gaming experience in 2019.