Chocobo Grand Prix on the Nintendo Switch has just been released, and fans are having issues with how the game is dealing with microtransactions The game requires a lot of grinding to receive the necessary rewards to make purchases, causing players to consider using real-world money to buy premium currencies. This is despite Chocobo GP being a full-price game on the Switch.
Fan-favorite characters like Cloud Strife and Squall Leonhart are trapped behind a limited-time Season 1 event in the game. You need to level up to level 60 to unlock Cloud or purchase a Prize Pass to potentially get him. Meanwhile, Squall is only unlocked by collecting Gil. Both take a long time to accomplish within the game unless you use real-world money to get them sooner.
Worse still, some of the premium purchases players can buy with real-world money have an expiration date. One of those premium currencies, Mythril, can expire as discovered by Adam King on Twitter. Mythril will only last for around five months before “vanishing.” This expiring currency could be in part due to Japanese laws that regulate virtual currency.
Microtransaction and virtual currencies have always been the bane of video gamers’ existence. Companies have become more predatorial when it comes to enacting microtransactions, often using cheap tricks to “encourage” players to spend real-world money in their games. This isn’t the first time Square Enix has done something like this, but it may be the most offensive and greedy.
