It is July 2004, and you just got home from your local GameStop. You bought “ESPN NFL 2K5” for the PlayStation 2 for only $19.99. You start up the game and find what most feel is the most complete football game and action-packed experience that gives you nothing but joy, that did not require DLC or paid subscription to access online features. 

Now let us ask ourselves, what happened to that? Popular video game creators such as EA, Activision, and Ubisoft evolved into money-hungry corporations and now ruin the classic experience of a fun and a complete game. It seems that the NFL was not a fan of Sega selling their product at a discounted price the day of launch.

Games such as “Star Wars Battle Front II” (2005) were released in full with all sorts of maps and game modes already available to be played without having to wait longer or pay extra for more content. 

What could have been a trend of an age of more “bang for your buck,” went the other way. 

Popular companies now sell us incomplete games and expect us to pay up to an extra $50 dollars for the rest of the content.

Not only that but the content is delayed several months; making us wait impatiently, and for the most part, it is not even worth the wait!

Current-generation consoles, the PS4 and Xbox One, now require you to purchase an online subscription in order to play online with your friends!

Back in the day, you connected your Ethernet cable to the back of your console and were able to play with friends online without having to buy Xbox live or PlayStation Plus membership. 

But it does not stop there, because once you are online, there’s a library list of items a click away.

Microtransactions now dominate the gaming industry and make some games pay to win. These games include “Grand Theft Auto 5”, “Red Dead Redemption 2”, “Madden 20”, and several other games.

Then there are free downloadable games, such as “Fortnite”, that is loaded with several customizations to your character, but majority of them require that you pay up to $20 dollars for new cosmetics.

In-game microtransactions have now made their way into every video game you play. 

Microtransactions have been around for a long time, but it was pulled to public attention when “Call of Duty Advanced Warfare” was released November 2014. Microtransactions for loot boxes became revolutionized in this game as it was very dependent on what you paid for.

In 2017, when “Star Wars Battlefront II” was re-branded and released again, EA, the creators, who was responsible for the game, immediately went under fire due to the surplus amount of microtransactions it had in the game. From what it looks like, soon people who play games will end up having to pay to play offline. 

New games that are announced now bait you into pre-ordering their deluxe editions to get access to bonus content that will not be available if you get it at release date. 

These companies are ruining video games due to their thirst for power and money. Video games do not feel the same anymore and this subject continues to cause a stir in the gaming community regardless of what you may play or what you play on.