Dragon’s Dogma returns with surprise microtransactions and unexpected delays making the public more enraged than ever.
After a long development and the unexpected announcement of the sequel, Capcom captured the attention of the general public, attracting new players and old lovers of the original title. Dragon’s Dogma has always been a very authorial title with a unique and never equaled graphic, world building and gameplay style.
The only “defects” or rather limitations were due to the lack of hardware power of the PS3 and XBOX 360, which were very limiting for the original plans of the project.
The title achieved good success but remained very niche due to its non-immediacy, the lack of a conventional fast travel system, and the complexity of the clashes, if not managed adequately.
In 2022 the sequel was officially announced and in March 2024 it was released with an unsurprising addition that infuriated a significant part of the community, due in part to a fair lack of communication on Capcom’s part.
Microtransactions in Dragon’s Dogma 2
Like every Capcom title, Dragon’s Dogma 2 also has a series of microtransactions, which allow you to obtain objects that can be found during the normal gaming experience to simplify and speed up the experience.
Items such as crystals for fast travel or character modification are available for purchase.
You can find the classic Resident Evil package – with the different original costumes for the characters – or others, with infinite weapons and help for the various remakes. Monster Hunter has several microtransactions that only concern the aesthetics of the characters.
Capcom took a huge risk in deciding to develop the sequel to Dragon’s Dogma 2, due to the unconventional and “safe” nature of the title. Attracting as much audience as possible and consequently big profits are always the ultimate goal of a studio.
Microtransactions and Other Software Houses
For Example EA took the exploitation of microtransactions to the extreme as in the case of Battlefront 2. Even reaching court, leading to the banning of loot boxes and microtransactions in certain states such as Belgium and to regulation in other states with rules to protect the players.
EA is also guilty of having proposed confusing and unrealizable projects, bringing an oppressive climate to aim for easy money with extremely unsuccessful results, ruining the careers and reputations of many development studios (the most impressive example is the inhumane treatment of EA with BioWare and the development conditions of Dragon Age 2 and Anthem).
Capcom’s Choice
Capcom has chosen a path not always appreciated by the public but with great potential.
The studio guaranteed full creative freedom to the development team without imposing limits, to guarantee an excellent gaming experience. On the other hand, to attract a greater audience of less experienced or more casual players, microtransactions have been added to increase sales to obtain various useful objects such as crystals for fast travel and tools for character modification.
This approach by Capcom is acceptable but the biggest problem was the lack of previous communication, the online public is very “dangerous” and can influence the opinion of other players who wanted to approach the game.
An example is the shocking Steam reviews and the review bombing that followed.
Dragon’s Dogma 2 remains an excellent game which, however, absolutely must improve from a technical point of view due to the serious frame rate problems on consoles and optimization problems on PC.
From a technical point of view, there is always room for improvement. Managing communication with international gaming communities is increasingly complex and the risk of losing credibility is always around the corner.
Why Gamers Hate Microtransactions
Microtransactions are not born with a negative purpose, on the contrary as an extremely important technological advancement.
The simple fact of being able to add online components to a title via the internet in digital format and not with physical media was a great achievement.
In particular, the first DLCs for single player and multiplayer titles such as Star Ocean for Dreamcast, one of the main MMOs for consoles, were distributed on the first consoles connected to the internet such as the Dreamcast or the first Xbox.
The real breaking point was a simple experiment by Bethesda with Oblivion, a horse armor sold for €2.50.
This caused a real revolt and great discontent among the public. As the years went by, thanks to increasingly complex and predatory systems, microtransactions went from something positive to a very negative reputation, even ending up in court as in the case of Star Wars Battlefront 2.
Public hatred is perfectly understandable but sometimes it is necessary to have a more rational approach to evaluate each title on a case-by-case basis.
Planning and Communication of Enotria
The Jyamma Games team committed some naivety, also considering the independent nature of the Italian studio.
The first was to underestimate the work of the title on multiple platforms despite the small size of the studio, running a considerable risk for a small software house like Jamma Games.
The team despite its notable reputation has managed to lose the trust of the XBOX community. First, through a very hasty statement announcing that Enotria would not be released on XBOX platforms. The community’s reaction was very heavy and in some cases toxic and bordering on lawsuits, as said by the CEO.
In the evening, the CEO of Jyamma Games published another statement in which he explained the reasons behind the temporary postponement of the XBOX versions.
According to the press release, the XBOX versions will arrive after launch, to guarantee excellent versions for all platforms.
As understandable as the decision is, the method and timing were completely wrong, also revealing several flaws in the internal communications department.
Jyamma Games received a nasty surprise when From Software announced the release date of Shadow Of The Erdtree, the next expansion of Elden Ring, highly anticipated by the public.
This release was a big danger for the studio, because it could very easily overshadow Enotria.
The team has decided to move it to August 21st, the big problem is the proximity to Wukong.
Black Myth Wukong is highly anticipated and not to be underestimated. Although Enotria is of excellent quality, it faces a notable opponent and at the moment Jamma Games has not yet made a decision.
Dragon’s Dogma 2 and Enotria: Two Potentially Interesting Experiences
As complex as the current situation is, Dragon’s Dogma 2 is already available. A great RPG experience and is highly recommended due to its originality.
For Enotria the situation is very different and only a long pad test in hand will be able to give us a clearer vision.
Capcom and Jyamma Games have two extremely interesting titles and it is up to them to improve the current situation. Only time will give us a definitive answer.
