Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Breakpoint has microtransactions for pretty much everything in the game. Released to a flurry of bad reviews earlier this month, Ghost Recon Breakpoint received a low score from Screen Rant due to clunky controls and an always-online multiplayer system which appeared to do nothing but detract from the player's overall experience and create dissonance within the game's story, in addition to the numerous pay-over-play options the game provides.
Breakpoint isn't the first game to fall victim to developer Ubisoft's apparent affinity with level-gating and microtransactions. Assassin's Creed Odyssey suffered from similar issues, and even with a post-release re-balancing many players still felt the game was forcing them to either grind for ridiculous lengths of time or simply purchase upgrades with real-world money. With PC gaming now Ubisoft's most profitable platform, even just a quick glance as Ghost Recon Breakpoint is enough to give the impression they have no intentions of moving away from the perpetual "live service" microtransaction-filled business model.
As compiled in a report by Polygon, nearly every single item in Ghost Recon Breakpoint is available to purchase with real-world money, not just the usual cosmetic items normally featured in such storefronts. Guns, vehicles, weapon attachments, clothing, and more can all be purchased with Ghost Coins, which come in packs ranging from $4.99 to a whopping $79.99.
Even more inane is, before a recent patch, Ubisoft had included an entire section in Ghost Recon Breakpoint's store called Time Savers which sold experience point boosts, skill points, and crafting materials, effectively removing any reason to actually play the game at all. They later removed the XP bonuses and skills from the store and the Breakpoint team released a statement which called the inclusion of these items an "error," stating they were intended to come to the game at a later date in order to help players "catch up" to those who have been playing longer. The Time Savers section remains, however, and still sells weapon upgrades and crafting material bundles, the larger of which costs $4.99 in its Ghost Coin equivalence.
Although the development team assures players the PVP and PVE is balanced in such a way that Ghost Recon Breakpoint will never be a pay-to-win game, the prevalence of so many purchasable materials, weapons, and vehicles definitely makes the game feel like they would rather the player simply buy whatever item they wanted rather than searching for it. While these microtransactions can theoretically be ignored during normal play, their very inclusion is obviously enough to make some people think twice about playing in the first place. If nothing else, hopefully the nearly unanimous negative response to these microtransactions in Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Breakpoint will give Ubisoft pause when deciding whether to include such mechanics in future games.
Source: Polygon