Big Brother knows what microtransactions you want
Big Brother knows what microtransactions you want

As if the games industry hadn’t make itself look seedy enough lately, a new patent reveals a disturbing new method to sell you in-game items.

If you thought loot boxes were bad, then the latest revelation of what Activision is able to do with in-game microtransactions is going to make your blood boil.

Website Glixel has discovered that Activision has been granted a patent which purposefully manipulates matchmaking in order to encourage you to spend money on in-game items, with the basic idea being to purposefully match you with players that have better and more desirable items than you.

The patent specifically describes how, ‘the system may include a microtransaction engine that arranges matches to influence game-related purchases’.

‘For instance, the microtransaction engine may match a more expert/marquee player with a junior player to encourage the junior player to make game-related purchases of items possessed/used by the marquee player. A junior player may wish to emulate the marquee player by obtaining weapons or other items used by the marquee player.’

But they're not using it, honest!
But they’re not using it, honest!

The system is also able to work out what are the best in-game items to promote to any specific player:

‘In a particular example, the junior player may wish to become an expert sniper in a game (e.g., as determined from the player profile). The microtransaction engine may match the junior player with a player that is a highly skilled sniper in the game. In this manner, the junior player may be encouraged to make game-related purchases such as a rifle or other item used by the marquee player. ‘

And if that doesn’t work the matchmaking would be able to purposefully put you in a game where everyone else is using the item, to tempt you even further.

Activision insist that they are not using the technology in any current game, including Destiny 2, and that it was, ‘an exploratory patent filed in 2015 by an R&D team working independently from our game studios’.

Now that the patent has been granted though there’s nothing stopping them from using it in new games, like Call Of Duty: WWII, or adding it to Destiny 2.

As Glixel points out, Activision made $3.6 billion from in-game item sales last year, twice the amount it was making from them in 2015. So this is big business, and while Acitvision has the patent on this particular technology other publishers no doubt have similar systems in play or in development.

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