Halo: The Master Chief Collection may be getting new microtransactions to help players catch up on old seasons.
In a new blog on Halo Waypoint, 343 wrote about some updates coming to Halo Infinite and The Master Chief Collection. Notably, “Season Points” in The Master Chief Collection will eventually be renamed to “Spartan Points,” and may become purchasable via microtransactions.
Adding microtransactions to an existing game with existing economic systems is always a bit scary for gaming communities, but 343’s intentions with this change actually sound fairly reasonable. Over the years, the developer has added a lot of cosmetic items to Halo: The Master Chief Collection’s multiplayer mode, and these optional purchases would help players pick up items they want without having to grind.
“For players who are new to the MCC, or who may not have dedicated much time specifically to unlocking items during the seasonal updates, or are simply completionists looking to catch the last outstanding items they need, we are internally exploring a potential new feature for the future in the form of purchasable Spartan Points.”
It’s notable here that 343 is only exploring this new feature internally and nothing is set in stone — the studio is likely floating the idea in the blog post as a way to gauge potential reactions. Later in the post, 343 also states that it’s currently happy with how players earn Spartan Points for free via in-game challenges, and that the goal of making them purchasable is to give players more options.
Will the ability to buy these Spartan Points cheapen certain items? Potentially. Could it devalue the time that the most dedicated players have spent in-game unlocking these items on their own? Possibly.
But just like Fortnite’s ability to buy levels in its battle pass (a feature that also appears in games like Destiny 2), these are microtransactions that typically don’t hurt anyone. Instead, it provides an avenue for players who juggle multiple games, or a gamer parent who has more money than time to make their character look how they want in the handful of matches they play a week.
With everything still theoretical, it’s impossible to say how this system will effect The Master Chief Collection’s community. But as long as 343 is being honest in the blog post, there are far more predatory monetization methods out there in 2022 — especially considering The Master Chief Collection will remain on Game Pass ad infinitum.
Source: Polygon
