CD Projekt chief financial officer Piotr Nielubowicz says that he doesn’t see a future for the dev’s single-player games where it introduces microtransactions.
We’re generally past the days of single-player games having scores of microtransactions for tat you don’t really need, but it doesn’t mean they’re completely gone. Luckily, it doesn’t sound like you can expect microtransactions in future Witcher or Cyberpunk single-player games, as in a recent interview with StockWatch.pl (via JuiceHead), CFO Nielubowicz spoke about the company potentially using them. “We do not see a place for microtransactions in the case of single-player games,” Nielubowicz said. “But we do not rule out that we will use this solution in the future in the case of multiplayer projects.”
It’s obviously reassuring to know that tentpoles like the Witcher series won’t suffer from microtransactions, as they do feel like a thing of the past – y’all remember Oblivion’s horse armour? Obviously multiplayer games haven’t been freed from the curse of microtransactions, and as Nielubowicz mentioned above they aren’t ruled out from CD Projekt’s multiplayer titles, but it’s a step in the right direction.
When Dragon’s Dogma 2 launched last week, it was quickly met with glowing reviews critically pretty much across the board, including in Alex’s review for VG247. However, it was just as quickly met with negative reviews on Steam over the game’s inclusion of microtransactions. Player’s frustration came from the fact the bits of DLC were for things like portcrystals, which are needed for fast travel, and camping gear, a method of letting you restore your health while out in the wild. You definitely don’t need to buy any of them, as all of these things aren’t actually that hard to get, though it is still frustrating that they exist at all.
In a recent earnings call, CD Projekt also spoke about the potential for Witcher and Cyberpunk mobile games coming in the future, which they didn’t outright say no to.