Microtransactions have been an increasingly touchy subject for gamers in the last few years, especially since Star Wars Battlefront 2 found itself in the spotlight after DICE pushed consumers too far. Game developers have been hard-pressed to find innovative ways to increase revenue earned from titles, but today's story is something else entirely: the developer of Warframe removed a microtransaction because it proved too successful. While some studios purposefully target high-spending gamers (who hold the industry nickname of "whales"), one man's click-happy purchase binge changed the philosophy of the Warframe crew forever.

In an interview belonging to the Noclip documentary series by Daniel O'Dwyer, Digital Extremes Studio Manager Sheldon Carter detailed an unexpected result that occurred when the developer introduced a small microtransaction for Kubrows, an in-game virtual pet. The studio had implemented what Carter defines as a "slot machine lever" that allowed gamers - for the price of about $0.67 - to randomize the fur pattern and fur color of their pet Kubrow. While it was only a cosmetic feature, the idea of putting something so random behind a paygate drew the ire of many of the game's fans. Still, Digital Extremes went forward with the idea - until one fan spent well over $100 on it almost immediately.

Interested gamers can take a look at the relevant portion of Sheldon Carter's interview below:

When Carter and the rest of the development staff looked at the ~$137 purchase history of a man who really, really wanted to find the perfect fur pattern for his in-game pet, they realized they had essentially created a slot machine that impulsive players would gamble away significant amounts of money on. While many studios would consider this a big win, Digital Extremes made the decision that this kind of activity wasn't healthy for the playerbase in the long run. As Carter explained, it wasn't long before the 'gambling fur randomizer' was removed from the game entirely:

We had a lever, basically, for all intents and purposes, and we saw, you know, a guy pull the lever like 200 times. And it’s just like, ‘oh my dear god, what have we done? We’ve created a slot machine.’ And so you know, it was a couple days I think it took us to take it out - a day, day and a half. That one is a big regret.

While Warframe still has microtransactions, the game has been widely praised for keeping things in balance: the online environment certainly isn't 'pay to win', and purchases within the game don't come remotely as close to gambling as the infamous slot machine lever incident mentioned above. Now some 5 years after its initial release, Warframe is still getting updates from the developers as the community continues to dedicate plenty of hours into the space-based shooter.

Warframe is available now on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

Source: NoClip