Gran Turismo Sport Breaks Stance Against Microtransactions — Buy Cars With Your Wallet

[dar0ck]

There is likely to be a lot of anger and disappointment behind the wheel because Polyphony Digital has just introduced microtransactions in Gran Turismo Sport.

It was last year, just two months before the official release, when producer Kazunori Yamauchi promised that the controversial business model would be completely absent from the new entry.

This decision was clarified to be primarily because the content is majorly focused on a single-player experience. Hence, without a sizable multiplayer component, pushing for microtransactions would be considered incomprehensible.

The developer, however, has somehow found a substantial reason to change its stance and go against its previous word.

Following the big July update earlier today, players can now purchase cars in Gran Turismo Sport with real-world currency. There is surprisingly a limit to the content covered under microtransactions and only cars that cost less than 2 million in in-game currency are viable for your wallet. The more expensive and luxurious options still have to earned through traditional progression.

The prices start from $1 for the older models and exponentially increase for the newer ones. For example, the Alpine Vision Gran Turismo 2017 can be purchased for $3 from the PlayStation Store.

Polyphony Digital has not explained why it decided to break its promise but considering that sales were worse than previous installments, adding with the server maintenance cost and continuous development support, introducing microtransactions would make sense.

The community is currently divided over the new changes. There are obviously players who are not taking it well but there are also some who have no issues with microtransactions in Gran Turismo Sport. The reason being that this update allows people with jobs and full-time commitments to unlock their favorite cars without any grinding, jumping straight into the game for a few hours or so.

If anything, this incident draws a line that microtransactions are crucial for monetization if the product fails to amass impressive sales within the first six months or even a year.

Gran Turismo Sport is now available exclusively on PlayStation 4.