Actually, Minecraft is not known for allowing players to buy their way to an advantage. The German Twitch streamer MontanaBlack has done just that and has received criticism for it.
Why Minecraft?
- Minecraft is one of the best survival games ever and currently the most popular game in the German Twitch area by far (via sullygnome).
- The biggest German streamer on Twitch plays Minecraft and many follow suit. MontanaBlack also plays the block game with others on a server after he found it less fun alone.
- On the shared server, he offered another streamer 50 subscriptions for a fancy bow – equivalent to 200 €.
What is so special about the bow? In Minecraft, you can craft special items. As a rule of thumb, the rarer the materials, the stronger the resulting items. Additionally, items can be further improved with enchantments.
The Twitch streamer Rohat had such an item, a bow with special properties. The weapon shoots flaming arrows from a quiver that never runs out. It also has enhanced durability, meaning it doesn’t break quickly, and possesses more penetration power.
For such an item, a normal player in Minecraft would have to farm and improve for many dozens of hours. However, MontanaBlack, who plays with Rohat, simply bought it.
MontanaBlack was once the biggest German Twitch streamer and was even a worldwide leader. In our video, you can see the streamer in portrait:
MontanaBlack: ‘I’ll give you 50 subs, right now’
This is what MontanaBlack did: MontanaBlack offers Rohat real money for the bow. As seen in a now-deleted video on TikTok, MontanaBlack gifts his colleague 50 subscriptions on Twitch.
Subscriptions cost real money and give subscribers certain advantages like emotes of their favorite streamers. Subs can also be gifted. A bundle of 50 gift subs costs 199.50 € on Twitch. In a later stream, the two discuss it directly. The respective streamer only receives a portion of the revenue; Twitch keeps the rest. How much that is can vary.
Rohat and MontanaBlack come to an agreement and the bow is traded. Shortly afterwards, the former biggest German Twitch streamer gifts his colleague Rohat the promised 50 subs.
By the way, subscriptions can also be obtained “quasi for free” if you’re an Amazon Prime member. This system is one of the secrets behind the success:
This is how fans react: On TikTok, users expressed their outrage over the action. As esports.com reports, one comment was: ‘Monte is doing Pay2Win where there is no Pay2Win’. Others compared MontanaBlack to Trymacs, who previously gained attention for Pay2Win content.
Others defend MontanaBlack, saying he can do what he wants with his money. They think Rohat should be happy to get a few subs.
Minecraft is actually a game where any progress can be earned for free. There are no enhancements that can be purchased for real money. This fair system is one of the reasons why the game became the most successful video game of all time. Originally, a single man created the game – he is now a billionaire:
