Anthem will have a cash shop featuring cosmetic content. While items can also be earned in-game and prices are not yet final, the community is already discussing the microtransactions.
What is it about? During the VIP demo of Anthem, a player posted a screenshot of the alleged microtransactions on the Anthem subreddit. The image of the cash shop has sparked an interesting debate with more than 1,100 comments.
What is the cash shop in Anthem? In Anthem, cosmetic items, such as cosmetic armor sets for the Javelin, materials like fabrics or metals that change the appearance of the armor, or even emotes are expected to be offered. These can be purchased using the real-money currency Shards or an in-game currency.
Players can earn the in-game currency Coin while playing Anthem.
Why are players discussing it? Especially the amount of currency requested as shown in the image has players thinking. For instance, an armor set costs about 40,000 Coin, the in-game currency, or 2,000 Shards, the real-money currency.
In the post on Reddit, BioWare’s Chris Schmidt already commented that the prices for microtransactions are far from final and that the prices in the image do not reflect reality. What is certain is that they do not want to hide content behind a paywall.
Nonetheless, players are giving their opinions on whether a cash shop is really necessary in a full-priced title and how expensive the offered items should be.
What the community says: Some players speak out against microtransactions in Anthem. They view the screenshot as a kind of “test” from Electronic Arts to see how high they can set the prices for cosmetic items.
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Others see fewer issues with the shop as long as the prices remain fair. The comparison with Fortnite is often made, which although sometimes demands high prices for its skins, is free to play. Players wish that if there is a cash shop, further updates and DLCs are free for everyone.
The Anthem producer Mike Gamble stated that they do not want a season pass for the game to avoid unnecessarily splitting the player base. However, BioWare’s Mike Darrah did not rule out that there might eventually be a paid DLC for Anthem.
Some aspiring freelancers see no problem with the shop since they can earn the desired cosmetics through playing. However, some admit that they would rather spend 20 dollars on a skin than grind for 40 hours.
You can play the game without a shop during the open demo this upcoming weekend:
