CoD Mobile players furious over “gambling” style microtransactions
ActivisionThe Call of Duty: Mobile community is fed up with the state of microtransactions when comparing the luck-based system to the guaranteed purchases found in 2019’s Modern Warfare.
Mainline CoD games have gone through numerous iterations of the microtransaction model over the years. Advanced Warfare featured luck-based loot crates, while the latest release has switched to a more consumer-friendly model. Individual packs are on offer which guarantee a specific set of items upon purchase.
It appears as though CoD Mobile hasn’t quite caught up to this trend, however, and the player base is furious. Randomized loot boxes have been in effect since the game launched, though recent additions to the store have pushed things a step too far, according to the community.
While console and PC players are able to outright purchase what they’re after, mobile gamers have to cross their fingers and hope that the RNG Gods bless them. This led many to compare the current state of the game to a “casino.”
In a specific example, two bundles across the games were compared by Reddit user ‘resperas.’ In the Modern Warfare store, a bundle can contain three Legendary-tier items and seven Epic-tier items. This comes in at $20. On Mobile, a bundle for just a few dollars less reportedly contains two Epic-tier items and a tier skip for the Battle Pass.
“The disparity in value between Modern Warfare bundles and CoD Mobile bundles is immensely large and troublesome,” they said. “CoD Mobile bundles need to be reworked to have higher quality content that matches the pricing.”
Moreover, the mobile experience also features an outdated method of transactions as well. The old luck-based crates that were done away with in core game releases, are still present here in CoD Mobile. “About $10.00 – $15.00 per pull and hoping you get the item you want? That suspiciously sounds like gambling,” they added. “Crates should absolutely be removed.”
To exemplify just how harsh the random drops can be, popular mobile content creator ‘iFerg’ recently made a video on the issue. For just over $300 on loot crates, he came away with just three Rare gun skins and two Rare character skins.
The CoD Mobile community is demanding to see a change to this system. Perhaps with enough backlash, that change could be implemented sooner than later.