this post was submitted on 06 Jan 2024
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Same way people spend thousands on games that are "free to play". What kind of a rock have you been living under? People routinely spend $10,000 on mobile games.
Yes, you can buy spaceships for hundreds or even thousands of dollars. You can also buy those same ships using money earned in game. This is not the first or last game to do this, and it's really weird how every time a pointless article gets written about it for cheap clicks, a bunch of people suddenly want to pretend that they're only just just encountering this phenomenon for the first time.
Free to play games with even a sliver of integrity only charge money for stuff like cosmetics, not for important shit or equipment, and I have never ever seen a free to play game charge over 1k for anything ever, let alone fucking 48k, so spare me the "pretending this is unusual" crap. I sure other games that pull this shit exist, but don't act like it isn't ridiculous or fucked up or like it's somehow completely normal. It's predatory leeching is what it is.
Please learn the difference between "Stupidly expensive" and "Predatory."
Lamborghinis aren't predatory. They're a dumb purchase for rich people to blow their money on, but they've got the money to blow.
Now Lotto Max? Those little one dollar tickets? That's predatory.
The most blatantly exploitative free to play games are often full of dirt cheap purchases. A dollar here, a dollar there, because when the numbers are small you lose track.
When SC charges you $200 for a ship that you could just unlock by playing the game, that purchase is an informed decision. You know up front exactly what you're getting, and exactly what it will cost. There's no loot boxes, no random rolls, no gambling. Just a simple transaction.
Whether or not the person on the receiving end of that transaction is getting a good deal is for them to decide. We could just as easily argue over whether or not spending $250 to go to a fancy restaurant is a good deal; it's largely down your personal preferences.
Bro just because something is expensive that doesn't mean it can't be predatory. The game has been "in development" for more than a decade and yet is charging thousands of dollars for equipment, if you can't see the issue with how they're operating then you are either blind or delusional.