Microtransactions are always a cause for controversy, especially when they’re found within a full-priced title. However, with more and more AAA titles implementing premium currencies, they’ve become more expected. With that said, despite NBA 2K18 players expecting purchasable “VC” to make a return, this year’s installment seems to overstep the line when it comes to what’s deemed acceptable.

The amount of VC required to progress through the game’s myCareer mode has been condemned by players, deeming it as potentially the “worst case of microtransactions maybe ever.”

Reddit user “CowardAgent” has calculated that in order to achieve a player rating of above 86, without spending any additional money, you’d have to play over two hundred games. 

Here’s some more of the user’s complaints:

• You will need about 240 NBA games to get to 86 overall and that’s if you get A+ every game, C grade is about 360 games and B about 300
• You cant preview haircuts
• Haircuts cost money even tho they were free in previous games
• Filters resets in My Team Auction House every time to make sniping almost impossible and to make people buy VC
• No bonus for playing on high difficulties in My Career.
• Pro (lowest difficulty) is completely broken and some people (including me) cant make a layup or a shot to save our life, is 2k trying to make us buy VC to upgrade our player?
• You cant preview your ratings before you upgrade your player

User “CharlesManson420” countered those saying that “VC is nothing new” by explaining that “it’s the extent that they are charging us for it this year that is new”:

Everyone saying this is nothing new, the VC isn’t new. It’s the extent that they are charging us for it this year that is new.

To give you a quick example, when you scan your face to put on to your character, he turns out bald. Fine, so go get a haircut right?

Wrong. You can’t preview what a haircut looks like before buying it, and once you buy it your guy leaves the barber shop in a grueling cutscene basically teasing you.

Your haircuts don’t stay in your inventory like last year, so once you buy that 1500 VC haircut and see that it looks like shit, you’re out of 1500 VC and you can’t even use it again once you purchase a different haircut.

They’re gouging us for f***ing haircuts.

“airzoom23” exclaimed:

Holy s*** balls. I just browsed the 2k sub. Worst case of micro transactions maybe ever?

Here’s hoping Visual Concepts can, at the very least, increase the rate at which non-paying players earn the premium currency. 

Have you picked up NBA 2K18? What do you make of the game’s microtransactions?

Source: Kotaku, Reddit