The topic of microtransactions remains a controversial subject within the gaming community, especially with how it can lead to pay-to-win situations and exploit children who have a limited view of the value of money due to their young age. With this in mind, it has been confirmed that the upcoming Godfall will not contain microtransactions.
In an interview with Arekkz Gaming, Technical Producer on Godfall Richard Heyne confirmed that there will be no microtransactions for the looter-slasher, stating: "There are no microtransactions in Godfall, but we are planning that there is plenty of content for the player to dig into once Macros is defeated." Heyne also used the interview to highlight the game's replayability and endgame, stating: "There is replayable content. There is end-game content, and there is more for the player to explore and revisit once they have completed their ascent of the Skybreaker Monolith."
Godfall was announced back in December 2019 during The Game Awards as the first game confirmed for the PlayStation 5. Whilst an official release date has not come yet, it is expected that the game will come later this holiday season as a launch title for the PS5.
This revelation comes as surprising news, considering other games in the loot-based RPG genre such as Destiny 2 do have microtransactions and utilize the 'games as a service' model. The lack of microtransactions for Godfall is even more surprising considering how lucrative of a revenue stream it can provide, as evidenced by Activision Blizzard making nearly $1 billion from microtransactions during Q1 2020.
Microtransactions have become such an industry standard to the point where the ESRB have now added labels for in-game purchases to its ratings. With frequent news stories about the ridiculous figures people can spend on loot boxes and in-game currency, there is great concern from parents regarding how microtransactions can exploit children, especially considering how many children spend their leisure time on video games. It seems that Godfall will not have this issue based upon the statements of Heyne and Counterpoint Games and it will be interesting to see how this will affect the game's content.
Godfall will launch this holiday season for PC and PS5.