APB Reloaded… NOT so Free-to-Play? Pay to Win?
When APB Reloaded was announced and launched for PC it was also slated to come to the Xbox One and PS4. Reloaded Productions planned on a mid-2015 arrival, but quite obviously that schedule didn’t work out. The game has now soft launched on the Xbox One with little to no fanfare so that existing PC players can try out the game and provide feedback on the console port. Once all the feedback is received and the Xbox One receives its first update patch, the plan is to make the move to launching on the PS4 as well, but the release date is still yet to be set in stone.
If you’re unaware of APB Reloaded it’s a free-to-play MMO and is available for free to all Xbox Live Gold members. As with every F2P MMO however, there are microtransactions for additional services and in-game items, and this is where it gets ridiculous. Using the in-game currency of G1C players can purchase weapons, armor, clothing, vehicles and more. The pricing on purchasing G1C goes from relatively low to astronomically insane. It starts at a modest $4.99 for 400 G1C and then climbs to $34.99 for the next package with 3,052 G1C. Is that not enough for you? Do you want ALL THE THINGS? Well for $99.99 you can get 9,600 G1C and for the low, low price of $199.99 (ACT NOW, LIMITED TIME OFFER!) you can stock up on 20,800 G1C.
APB Reloaded’s publisher, Koch media stated that there’s tons of gear that can be earned for free in the game but that the custom gear you can purchase using G1C would allow players to ‘specialize in particular playstyles’, which sounds suspiciously like pay to win.
Perhaps this is old hat for the PC crowd as many games feature this kind of pricing structure, but a $200 ‘micro’ transaction is a bit over the top. As more developer move into the free-to-play space however, this certainly makes sense. There is money to be made and suckers to spend it! What are your thoughts on APB Reloaded? With a huge focus on G1C is it truly a free-to-play with cosmetic upgrades or is it a pay to win structure which will ultimately throw the user base out of whack? Sound off in the comments below!