Dragon’s Dogma 2 has enjoyed a huge day-one on PC, but it has also sparked a vociferous debate about microtransactions.
The fantasy action adventure game has 21 separate microtransactions available day-one, ranging in price from $0.99 to $4.99. Offerings include an Explorer’s Camping Kit for $2.99, a $0.99 gaol key that lets you escape from gaol but breaks after a single use, a Portcrystal warp location marker that costs $2.99, and $0.99 Wakestones that restore the dead to life.
These microtransactions have sparked a controversy not just for the sheer number available day-one, but because they make parts of the game deliberately designed to challenge players in certain ways either easier, less frustrating, or quicker. Players have already pointed out that these microtransactions help with fast-travel, which in Dragon's Dogma 2 is restricted. Players require expensive and rare Ferrystones to teleport to designated Portcrystals. A Portcrystal, which costs $2.99 as a microtransaction, can be set at a destination of your choice. You then use a Ferrystone to instantly transport your party to the Portcrystal's location. (For more, here's How Fast Travel Works and How to Get Ferrystones.)
Ahead of the game’s release, director Hideaki Itsuno told IGN why the development team wanted players to travel normally and experience the world around them. “Just give it a try. Travel is boring? That's not true. It's only an issue because your game is boring. All you have to do is make travel fun,” Itsuno said.
“That's why you place things in the right location for players to discover, or come up with enemy appearance methods that create different experiences each time, or force players into blind situations where they don't know whether it's safe or not ten meters in front of them.”
“We've put a lot of work into designing a game where you can stumble across someone and something will happen, so while it's fine if it does have fast travel, we decided to design the map in a way that the journey [itself] could be enjoyed. In the same kind of way [in real life] that you may deliberately choose to go by bike or on foot when traveling [instead of taking faster options].”
The Explorer’s Camping Kit microtransaction has also raised eyebrows. In Dragon’s Dogma 2, camping kits are used to make camp while out exploring, and offer you and your party brief respite from combat to recover and prepare. Elsewhere, the $1.99 Art of Metamorphosis lets players edit their character’s appearance or the appearance of a pawn. It can be used only once when visiting a barberie. You can edit character appearance in Dragon’s Dogma 2 without buying this microtransaction, but it costs a sizeable chunk of in-game currency.
Exacerbating matters is the fact Dragon’s Dogma 2 is a $70 single-player RPG (it’s Capcom’s first $70 game), with some questioning whether it should have microtransactions such as these at all.
Dragon’s Dogma 2 has launched with a ‘mixed’ user review rating on Steam after an initial 'mostly negative' rating, with most of the negative reviews hitting out at the monetisation. However, there are players defending the microtransactions, explaining that the items you can buy are available to obtain in the game itself through gameplay. It’s also worth pointing out that each microtransaction is limited to one purchase only. Here's a snippet of the reaction:
dragon's dogma? more like drags on my wallet jesus fucking christ capcom
— Rimmy (@Rimmy_Downunder) March 22, 2024
(refunded at 118 minutes god this sucks)
paying for fast travel? paying for character editing? paying for revive stones?
BRO IT'S A 100 DOLLAR GAME WHAT THE FUCK pic.twitter.com/7Y7eqQJqZq
WHY DRAGONS DOGMA WHYYYYY pic.twitter.com/EYdCuXUfBs
— Rock solid (@ShitpostRock) March 22, 2024
Saw some gameplay of Dragon's Dogma 2 and thought it looked really cool. Then I check the steam page and wtf is this? Isn't this a single-player game?? So many microtransactions lol pic.twitter.com/GNBvFcwlys
— The Act Man (@TheActMan_YT) March 22, 2024
Despite the row over microtransactions, Dragon’s Dogma 2 has launched big on PC (console player stats are unavailable). According to official figures, Dragon's Dogma 2 hit a peak of 184,724 concurrent players on Steam on launch day, breaking Capcom’s highest concurrent user peak record for a single-player game and beating out both Resident Evil 4 and Village. That number will no-doubt increase over the weekend as more people log in to play.
PC players are also reporting performance issues, even on powerful rigs. Capcom told IGN that performance issues with the PC version of Dragon’s Dogma 2 may be linked to the heavy amount of CPU demanded from NPCs in the game. In response, some fans planned an NPC murder spree in a bid to boost the game’s frame-rate.
If you’re getting stuck in to Dragon’s Dogma 2, be sure to check out Which Vocation to Choose, Things to Do First, Things Dragon's Dogma 2 Doesn't Tell You, and our Walkthrough hub.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
