A cynical reading would be that they’re not making money from it anymore, six months later, and think they can score some goodwill points with the public with the move.
Maybe they were just listening to the feedback (lol unlikely).
Anyway, I might consider getting it now. I really enjoyed Shadow of Mordor, and was supremely bummed by the Lootbox of the Rings approach to the latest one. Though I do worry about how this may set a precedent: publishers forcing MTX into a game that shouldn’t have them, milking their whales, then peeling it back once they’ve had their fill.
WB said they’re taking it out because the MTX went against the core of the Nemesis system and blah blah blah. But let’s be real - they’re the ones who forced it in there. They’re basically admitting they did it for the cash grab, knowing that it was counter to the developers’ initial vision. At least that’s how I see it.
I agree, they tried jumping on the Lootbox bandwagon in the hopes of making some extra money. If this becomes a standard practice I’m sure more people will just wait until the microtransactions are removed before getting the game which could definitely hurt their release day sales.
One can only hope that the backlash has taught publishers a lesson; that they got hit in the pocket. Because that’s the only way this nonsense will end—if we all agree its rubbish and stop spending money on it.
But yes, this reminds me a but of the kerfuffle around paid DLC vs. expansion packs (horse armour), then day-0 DLC, then the season pass.
Folks huff and puff, but still hand over their money. Despite the bad PR, companies keep doing it because the backlash doesn’t appear to be hurting sales any. In fact, they make so much more money they keep pushing the enveloped.
And here we are.
Maybe this time it’ll be different, but I don’t feel like customers have ever won any of these scuffles with publishers.