Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled Is Getting Microtransactions

I personally don’t mind about this sort of stuff. The option is there if you don’t want to grind.

And now we know why getting Wumpa Coins is such a grind!

This is becoming a common Activision approach did the same with COD release it without microtransactions to get more positive reviews then add them a couple of months later. Still baffles me how Activision don't get as much hate as EA they are as bad as each other.

Honestly have been waiting for this proverbial 2nd shoe to drop ever since it came out...usually get lapped most online races with the so called match making being non existent. But yep, rather than focus their efforts on such things its far easier to ram in the mtx...

What's the problem with this? I couldn't quite clear out the Pit Stop this GP and dont mind the option to make sure I get all I want if I feel like I need to. They've said it won't impact the GP mechanics.

This means nothing to anyone who doesn't want them and something to people who do...

Why does all the good will from the free GP with free items dissappear when more options that don't affect the original offer are added?

I knew it. As soon as I saw that Fortnite style shop of theirs and live service roadmap, I knew it was only a matter of time until Activision added microtransactions. I knew it was only a matter of time until they started pimping out the Crash Bandicoot license for more cash on top of the already large amount of money they've made from N Sane Trilogy and CTR.

And for all the people saying "but they give out free content", stop. Just stop.

Microtransactions do not belong in a game you have to pay upfront for. End of story

Well I'm not surprised... Playing offline (Well Online but not against other players at least) the last three/four days of the grand prix I managed to get about 4500 coins and got Ami, Megumi & Liz along with unlocking Tawna.

Still plays great and looks fantastic but can't say I'm not disappointed either in what was obviously a grindfest for money.

Disappointed to see microtransactions in a crash bandicoot game one of my favourite childhood games using these new greedy practices

@vrtualinsanity The fact that the items disappear, alongside the needed grind alongside introducing now microtransactions, just means that this was their idea from the start.

This is actually predatory and completely unnecessary.

so they purposely limited the amount you can earn just so they can entice you to buy MXT's later

F**K YOU Activision, F**K YOU

@vrtualinsanity because they purposely make it hard to earn the stuff while they dangle a "get more by spending some more money" thing in your face, it's predatory and and completely sh*ty

I got all the items I wanted only missing a few flag packs for free. I'll do that again this GP too.

They probably did have the intention to add these wumpa coins to the PSN store from the off but they've already giving us 5 new characters, 1 new track, 3 karts, numerous costumes, tires, stickers and paint jobs for free.

They even gave us Nitro Kart tracks and I wasn't even expecting that.

Are you begrudging them giving players the option and making money on content they have added to CTR for free?

My complaint about this kind of practice is simple - they are there to be sold. If you earn them in game, you have to grind (or work) for them which can only ever be artificially long to encourage people to spend. If I can pay to speed up a game (which is meant to be fun) because I don't want to grind, the grind means the game isn't fun.

Very predatory and one of the major reasons why Activision's shares are sliding so badly.

Saw it coming. I knew with how grindy everything was it would be inevitable.

Just make the new Crash game before you screw something else up.

Guess I expected too much from Activision now I'll never be able to get all characters and the shiny looking tires without having to grind forever

@vrtualinsanity Without meaning to sound argumentative, I would ask what you mean as free? I mean, this isn't a free to play game? You paid for it. If you are playing devils advocate you could say, why didn't the game launch with that content?

Nothing is free in this world really.

So why bother introduce new content to people that have already bought the game? Probably to keep you playing. Because the more people engage with the game, the more likely SOME people are to spend to get in game items.

@Rudy_Manchego you paid for the game. They added content to the game after release. Last gen this would have been paid DLC but it isn't. It's there to be earned in game. For free. It wasn't in the original CTR and Beenox are making new tracks for free.

I've got all I wanted from the last GP for free. They are not taking that option away. They are just adding a shortcut for people who can't or don't want to play to earn Baby Crash or whatever.

What part of that is wrong?

Disapointed? Absolutely. Surprised? Not in the slightest. Leopards don't change their spots

A shame because the game is amazing.

It could be worse. At least they arent locking items behind these microtransactions... or not yet at least. I personally dont mind just the coins being purchasable... if you dont want to grind (which is the point of playing a game, you have the option). As long as they dont start saying, well heres a new cart, but its $3.99, thats where ill draw the line. But just coins, im not too worried, yet...

@SoulChimera Making a game a chore too build in MT i do mind that.

@ShogunRok to the surprise of nobody as it had a mobile style store from launch added to the grindy nature of the coins, which can't be earned without an internet connection. This seems to be a common tactic recently by adding microtransactions in later on to avoid negative reviews. Activision are a disgrace doing this in a remaster but it's not surprising for such a company

Of course it is, you could see the signs.

That’s the new standard. Release a game in a traditional state to help get good reviews, then patch in the unattractive aspects later.

All these sites should do re-reviews and adjust accordingly.

Disappointing only because Wumpa coins are such a grind. Interested how much it’ll cost to get all the dlc....

Disgusting. They release the microtransactions after the game has been reviewed.

@SoulChimera you're part of the problem tbh

Since it takes so tediously long to get enough coins to unlock anything in single player, it's no surprise to see microtransactions appear. Still very disappointing though. Making a game less fun by making things more tedious, then adding in microtransactions to speed things up, just makes me less interested in the game.

@Flaming_Kaiser to be honest, the only chore I’ve come across was trying to get to the end of the last tier in the GP. That was way too much of a grind.

@oldschool1987 I’ve never spent a single penny on micro transactions and never would.

@vrtualinsanity your talking like a director from Activision. Wake up and smell the roses.

Lootboxes and microtransactions do not belong in any repeat ANY retail game. You paid your £30 far a redo of a 20 year old game and you are made up with this..

'5 new characters, 1 new track, 3 karts'

Jesus wept what kind of low bar are you setting here? Activision are a multi billion pound company who paid some director multiple millions just for a laugh and at the same time sacked a bunch of people in Ireland even though they made more money than ever. I have literally no idea why any semi sensible person would condone this nonsense.

Glad i never got around to buying this, now i never will till they remove microtransactions.

How the f*** is this disappointing?

• Earning wumpa coins is extremely easy
• Nothing is being changed about how you obtain them
• It's completely optional to buy them with real money

Quit virtue whining.

_{Mind the language, please - Quintumply}

No one is making you but any coins, I get tons by just playing the game. I was able to buy all of the new character bundles while still havung excess coins. This is just for the people that complain 24/7 about the coin rate is too low.

NOW are people finally going to stop buying Activision games?

@TheN64Dude Because Activision are predatory scum?

They obviously held this back to get good press at launch - they're playing the reviewers.

Time to update the review score.

Boooo

I managed to get enough wumpa coins in the nitro tour to get all the grand Prix items in the pit stop so as long as that's still possible then it doesn't affect me.

I imagine that lots of players will be put off playing though so it might be harder to get into the top 5% to get the new champion car skins next time though.

Having said that, it will probably attract more vulnerable gamers that like to spend tons of money across tiny transactions and that just makes me really sad. I wish games weren't like this. Microtransactions and loot boxes give gaming a bad name.

Glad I don't support this company. I don't have any other options for kart racing on PS4 (where is Modnation Racers 2 Sony?) but I knew this would happen.

I'm so glad I didn't buy it yet. I held off as I don't trust Activision and was right to do so. I hope others did the same.

Really activision? That disappointing

That’s a shame, because I was going to buy this game at some point in the near future. Not now, to hell with you Activision.

Wonder how they'll plug MT into Spyro?

I really dont mind i didn't need it and wont need it at Any point but a good frie d of mind dont have much time to play. Im sure he would be happy to be able to buy some of it.

@Starvex so he'll be happy to spend £35 on a game and then possibly up to half as much again for 1 track and a few characters? Bearing in mind the only reason he has to unlock them and it takes time to do so is to accommodate the microtransactions in the first place.

U dont think u got your moneys worth? U just wants all the work they do for a year to be free? Ofc u do! How dare they say "you can play a bit more IF YOU WANT TO" shame on Them!

Ridiculous and disgusting, this is why it's such a drag to get a decent amount of coins.

This is what I don't understand with so many defending them, they aren't doing this for your benefit. As some have said elsewhere they may pay for these because they doesn't have much time to play, why should they have to pay extra because they don't have as much free time as anyone else? What about kids who are just getting this game now and their friends have had it since launch and feel under pressure to catch up? There is no excuse for this kind of monetisation particularly in a remake and from a company swimming in money. Don't forget this will be ongoing and that's how they hide it, so it may just be 3 or 4 pounds this month but then what of the next event and the one after and again after that. Yes you can unlock all of these for free if you want to put in the time but many won't be able to
or have the desire to play just one game all the time, whilst others will feel like they have to pay over and over again because they have a need to have everything in a game.

I don't expect things for free and nor do they expect everyone to unlock them for free, these work by having a few who spend large amounts and then show off to their friends what they have, in turn the friends then spend to keep up, that's how these are designed. I have no problems paying for extra content or dlc, such as with Mario Kart 8 for a little over a tenner you got 6 characters and 16 tracks, this was good value and no wasting time unlocking. This way though, some will get it for free, some for a few pounds and some for much more than that and why do you think these wumpa coins are tracked online? It wouldn't take much to see who spends the most and time and flood the market with limited time offers at a time when their currency is low. Or simply put these items in rotation which coupled with the length of time to save coins create a market to exploit. Ultimately these will cost you whether it happens to be time or money or both

This game has been on my radar since release. Shame not anymore.

People are so overreactive, It’s all completely optional and it’s all purely cosmetic stuff. No pay to win, no stuff locked behind a paywall, no advantage over others by spending money. People who say they will pass on it because of MT, you’re missing out on a fantastic game...calm down people, seriously

@Chaoslink1 You and I don't care about cosmetic items in games but many do... Especially kids.
Many parents made their decision to buy, based on the absence of MTs in the game and Activision knew this - they withheld their introduction until after the game was in the hands of millions of kids.
That's the bit that's malevolent.

@SoulChimera The unfortunate problem is that the grind is built in to encourage buying. The reason it's so hard to get the amount of wumpa coins you need is because, from the get go, Activision intended to put in microtransactions to 'fix' a problem they engineered to make more money. It brings down the game design and pace of the experience for the sake of pinching consumer pennies, pennies Activision definitely does not need.

@Chaoslink1 The issue is that the game was developed with this in mind, an artificial grind that would encourage players to spend additional money by choking the flow of gameplay. Instead of giving us coins to buy if we don't like the grinding, why can't they just tweak the flow of coins to feel more rewarding and less frustrating? Buying coins to bypass 'irritating' gameplay mechanics is a pay-to-fix solution for a problem they designed, a problem they design in MANY of their games and discuss openly in articles and conferences about how to use microtransactions to extort players.

@Starvex They knew from the beginning that they would inevitably put this system in, the game was designed with poor reward flow to encourage microtransaction purchases when they were added and they made no move to let everyone know it was going to be coming. On top of that, they waited until after reviews to add the purchases, which is equally dishonest and consumer unfriendly. People weren't even allowed to make an educated decision before buying if they wanted to support a game like that, where a purchase system is actively intended to solve the issue of unrewarding gameplay that was purposely designed to drive sales.

If they want to make more money, sell extra content like tracks or characters and don't throttle the in-game systems to make it an objectively poorer experience.

@threedog64 The problem is the coin rate is too low because they knew they were adding in this system in later, a system they didn't tell their consumers about beforehand. Wouldn't it be much better to just fix the drop rates so the game is consistently fun and rewarding, and then monetize ADDITIONAL content that actually provides something? Systems like this hurt the games on a developmental level because microtransactions have been the plan from the beginning, and the grind is the incentive to spend. If they didn't make the game feel like a slog for certain consumers, then those consumers wouldn't feel like they have to fork over even more cash. Nobody wins except the company.

@TheN64Dude The system was hidden until after purchase and reviews which is very sneaky and dishonest, along with the fact that the grind is artificially built into the game to sell coins that they knew were coming. It's not that buying wumpa coins is a solution to a problem they didn't anticipate, it's that the grind is a problem they facilitated so that when wumpa coins were purchasable more people would feel they need to spend more money. Even if it's not a big deal to you, a lot of people feel deceived by the marketing and upset that the gameplay has to suffer so Activision can monetize everything they make in very unfair ways.

@vrtualinsanity To sell additional content post release is one thing, but to build in a system that hinders player rewards specifically with the intent of 'fixing it' with microtransactions you planned from the beginning, while ALSO not telling consumers you plan on doing this until after purchases and reviews, is incredibly anti-consumer shady behavior. Activision does this to so many of their games and it hurts both the players and the product, by introducing artificial problems that bring down the experience solely for the intent of pressuring players into dropping an additional $5 every couple of weeks. Why have purchasable coins and not just fix the coin drop rate while also selling DLC that's entirely new content? Because people won't buy coins if they don't feel like the drop rate is an issue.

Praying on those who have issues with their mental health & kids. It is disgusting!

Time to get rid of my copy

I am not happy

@LupeyLycan I understand that, but for me (appears I’m in the minority) I’ve had no difficulty with getting wumpa coins. Just going through the online GP challenges at the weekends gave me more than I needed without even trying to get them.

I can see if you only play the offline cups it would be a grind, hence my response about having the option.

The only grind I’ve come across is the GP Nitro points. The 3rd tier was an absolute nightmare.

Like I said, I’m obviously in the minority. I’ve just never noticed the coins being a grind.

You do make a lot of good points there... So i agree its a dirty move. Many ppl just lose their poo at Any chance they get.

I am just getting annoyed with the game because I want to get that bald character(I forgot his name) and he NEVER comes up each day I load the game up :-/ I will try for a few more days to get him then I won't bother with the game no more :-/ You should be able to get any character and item you want if you have the coins for them I think. Oh well.

Activision must be talking to EA. Greed never ends.