The Coalition boss Rod Fergusson has responded to fans who are upset and concerned about the developer's approach to microtransactions in Gears 5, arguing that the latest Microsoft-exclusive title is very much a work in progress when it comes to the in-game economy.
Since releasing back in September, Gears 5 has enjoyed its fair share of critical and commercial success. In our own review, we awarded it an 8/10 and praised the game's campaign as the best one in the series to date. A few weeks after launch, Gears 5 proved so popular that it was the first title in over a year to topple Fortnite as the most-played game on Xbox Live.
In spite of all this success, some have raised concerns over the price of in-game items and the amount of grinding it takes to actually earn these items without spending real money. As is the case with most modern multiplayer shooters, Gears 5 has its own in-game currency (Iron), which can be spent on things like weapon skins, emotes, and even experience boosts for a limited number of time.
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Like Fortnite, certain items in the store appear on a rotational basis and are only available for a limited time, which naturally encourages spending actual money over grinding to earn the items through gameplay alone. Perhaps understandably, people are less than thrilled about this and are worried it'll only get worse.
Responding to these concerns on Twitter, Fergusson said that Gears 5 has a completely different economy to Gears of War 4 because the latest game gives away more substantial content, like DLC maps, characters, and skins for free. As a result, he reasoned, it'll take the studio a while to work it all out properly.
"We're learning as we go," he said. "This is a completely different economy from Gears 4 (removed Gear packs) so it will take a little time to work through any issues. Our first attempt is not our last and we will continue to evolve until we get it right."
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In a separate tweet, Fergusson once again pointed out that Gears 5 is getting "waaay more free content" than Gears of War 4, and that the studio is "just getting started." How the in-game economy actually evolves remains to be seen, but it at least seems as if The Coalition has heard the concerns of players - now we just need to wait and see if they do anything about them.
Featured Image Credit: MicrosoftTopics: Gears of War
