Gamers have become familiar with microtransactions since the seventh generation of consoles, but now theme park goers will get their first taste of these small purchases when Web Slingers: A Spider-Man Adventure opens.
Web Slingers: A Spider-Man Adventure will be opening up on June 4 inside Avengers Campus at Disney's California Adventure theme park. Disney has revealed that this Spider-Man ride will feature microtransactions in the form of a "WEB Power Band" and WEB Tech that unlocks "multi-fire webs."
The WEB Power Band by itself will set theme park goers back $35, while the WEB Tech will be an additional $30. The WEB Tech add-on for the Web Slingers: A Spider-Man Adventure ride is available in Iron Man, Ghost Spider, Spider-Man, and Rescue variants and they can all be taken home to display or in order for fans to re-use the same band on their return to Disney's California Adventure park. According to Disney, the Spider-Man and Ghost Spider WEB Tech add-ons for the WEB Power Band add electro-dynamic web-slinging actions, while Iron Man and Rescue unlock repulsor ray blasts to use on Web Slingers: A Spider-Man Adventure.
Microtransactions have been a staple in the gaming industry for a while, but the WEB Tech coming to Web Slingers: A Spider-Man Adventure is an early foray into the business model for Disney theme parks. Super Nintendo World has a similar concept to the WEB Tech, as visitors to the park can wear a similar powerband that's used for some additional fun and more opportunities to earn exclusive gear within the theme park. Both examples of powerbands seamlessly blend merchandise that theme park visitors may purchase anyway with the rides at those parks in an evolution of the theme park experience at Disney's California Adventure and Super Nintendo World respectively.
During the Web Slingers: A Spider-Man Adventure ride, theme park visitors will don 3D glasses on a test drive of Peter Parker's latest invention, the WEB Slinger vehicle. This is the point of the ride where fans discover their web-slinging superpowers and can utilize their brand new WEB Power Band. This Web Slingers ride uses innovative technology that recognizes body movements and gestures which will allow theme park goers to sling webs from their wrists just like the wall-crawler himself.
The WEB Power Band and WEB Tech microtransactions for Web Slingers: A Spider-Man Adventure allow Disney's California Adventure visitors to customize their ride experience. The Spider-Man and Ghost Spider WEB Tech feature lights, sounds, projections, and webs that eject and retract, while the Iron Man and Rescue-inspired Repulsor Cannons change the powers to repulsor blasts on the ride and at home. They also light up and blast air while theme park visitors practice their repulsor powers with training spheres.
Source: Gamespot