The topic of microtransactions in video games feels like it’s ever-present in the conversation around them. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion created a lot of buzz and discourse on this topic in 2006 when it released its paid horse-armour DLC, yet when the remastered version was released in 2025, it did so with the exact same horse-armour as a digital deluxe upgrade. While this was, in one way, a self-aware joke, it was also still very much exclusive content that was an optional extra purchase. Does this say anything about the state of microtransactions and how the perception of them has changed?
A Time and a Place
The fact of the matter might simply be that microtransactions as a business practice have been refined to the point where they’ve migrated to where they work best. Freemium games, most often found on mobile, are free, as the name would imply, but make their money through a slew of costs that emerge once you start the game. For example, something might be put in your way that means that you have to wait twenty minutes before you can continue making progress, or you could pay for an in-game currency that you can spend to bypass this obstacle.
Instead, payment might be a central part of the gaming experience – as in the case of the games people play at platforms like the Unibet online casino. When it comes to slots, roulette, blackjack, or poker, removing the financial element might also remove an element that draws people to the games in the first place.
Question of Quality in DLC
The question of microtransactions is somewhat muddied by the presence of very high-quality expansions to games, released as paid DLC. The Witcher 3’s Blood and Wine or the four DLC released for Fallout: New Vegas have received incredible amounts of critical acclaim over the years, and in these instances, people rarely have a problem with paying the additional cost. The fact that this practice is something that’s celebrated makes it easier for lower-effort DLC to slip through the cracks and continue. For example, rather than being something made after the game’s release to expand on that content, developers might purposefully withhold content just so they can release it afterward as additional, paid content.
Changes in Perception?
Perhaps there is some way in which the poor perception of microtransactions over the years has led to a diminishment of them in modern games. Or perhaps they became so pervasive that the vitriol against them died down as they just became an accepted practice? In general, where microtransactions emerge in a game where it’s deemed detrimental to the experience, media attention is still drawn to it. However, none of that matters if the practice still makes enough money to justify itself anyway. Many people over the years how filled with microtransactions Grand Theft Auto Online is, but that hasn’t stopped it from raking in an enormous amount of money since its release.
David Prior
David Prior is the editor of Today News, responsible for the overall editorial strategy. He is an NCTJ-qualified journalist with over 20 years’ experience, and is also editor of the award-winning hyperlocal news title Altrincham Today. His LinkedIn profile is here.
