Mortal Kombat 11 Has A Way To Buy Cosmetic Items With Real Money

[Raider]

NetherRealm Studios has announced that while Mortal Kombat 11 contains no "pay-to-win" aspects, players will be able to purchase cosmetic items with real money.

Shaun Himmerick announced an in-game currency called "time crystals," purchased with real money, that lets you directly purchase skins, pieces of gear, intro and victory animations, easy fatalities (a consumable that simplify the inputs for fatalities), and other cosmetic items.

You won't be able to buy anything that alters your characters actual combat prowess or moves, however, such as custom moves or augments (which are the stat modifiers you plug into gear), as well as the consumable power-ups you can use in the Towers of Time mode. NetherRealm has stated in the past they're open to adding additional moves post-launch as DLC, though if they were implemented, they'd likely be free.

You can, however, earn everything in the game without paying for it. "Nothing in the game requires time crystals," Himmerick said. "You can play the whole game, unlock all the stuff there, without every dealing with time crystals. If you want, you can get time crystals and shortcut your way to different things." He also stated that time crystals would drop throughout normal play.

The company did confirm there would be no loot boxes in Mortal Kombat 11, however, so you won't be rolling the dice on getting the skin, piece of gear, or fatality you want.

Source: https://www.gameinformer.com/2019/04/12/mortal-kombat-11-has-a-way-to-buy-cosmetic-items-with-real-money

 

[OzzFoxx]

Cool. Don’t mind it, hope they make money from it to keep making games and sponsoring tourneys. Anyone who has issue with it prolly hasn’t suffered a day in their life.

 

[Jhonnykiller45]

This is ok, not great or even ideal but I can live with it.
People're gonna find ways to complain about it though lol. Like the one time some idiot thought you used the Injustice 2 crystals to buy gear and boxes.

 

[Gamer68]

As long as they don't make unlocks take a billion years to "entice" you into buying the currency, I couldn't care less.

 

[iiizzzunicorn]

Cool. Don’t mind it, hope they make money from it to keep making games and sponsoring tourneys. Anyone who has issue with it prolly hasn’t suffered a day in their life.

Exactly this. It’s a non-intrusive way for them to make extra money that will lead to continued support for the game from NRS. I don’t get why people still try to get up in arms about micro transactions that are totally optional and don’t affect the actual gameplay. Games get more and more expensive to make which is why developers need to do this kind of stuff. Do some companies take advantage of players and implement them in gross ways? Yes. But this is not one of those instances.

 

[HeavyNorse]

I'm very ambivalent on micro-transactions like these. That we can get everything without having to pay for these is awesome! And I understand that this is an option for those who don't wish to spend the time grinding for koins and go through unlocking everything in the Krypt. Kinda like the purchasable "unlock all in the Krypt" option in MKX.

But I'll never feel right about having this as an option to begin with in a game you have paid full price for. It works for games like Warframe, a free-to-play game which gives you the option of buying stuff with purchasable in-game currency, like new warframes, weapons etc. But that's because the game itself is free! You don't have to pay a dime to play the game or get the stuff you want, as you can unlock all that just by playing the game.

I dunno, it just kinda rubs me the wrong way. I don't mean to poke anyone wrong with my opinion though, if you're completely alright with this, then that's fair. No shade from me. ^^

 

[FoughtDragon01]

This is being published by WB, same guys who published, 'Shadow of War' and I have not forgotten that shit show where they used the same 'yOu CaN eArN eVeRyThInG iN gAmE' line. Lo and behold, game ended up being a grind fest.

I'm personally waiting to see how long it takes to earn things naturally. I don't need to be able to unlock everything over the weekend, but the process shouldn't feel like an unfulfilling chore either.

 

[RothVI]

Hopefully it's not like Injustice 2 with >200 cosmetic items locked behind a pay wall, that was really annoying.

 

[Circus]

I'm going to play this game for years, I will unlock everything naturally.

This system is absolutely OK by me.

Look at how SF5 does it's transactions.
Everything from stages to costumes could be unlocked with Fight Money. They have challenges come up for more Fight Money occasionally too, but you could just unlock everything with real money if you want.

This kind of system makes it so NRS is still making money throughout the games life, but still rewards the hardcore audience by not nickel and diming them to death because they will end up with everything anyway.

 

[B. Shazzy]

ya ya. What about the dlc special moves? Wait for that shoe to drop nrs players lul

 

[Shoah_Kahn]

ya ya. What about the dlc special moves? Wait for that shoe to drop nrs players lul

That would be the straw that breaks the consumer camels' backs, and likely risk support for the brand going forward; and do I think they're aware of this.

After all, they could not claim that their penny-pinching does not affect gameplay, then sell the very gameplay that they're saying is not being affected! That would be like claiming, "I LOOOOOOOOOOOVES WIKILEAKS!", then saying, "I don't know nothing about WikiLeaks. That's not my thing..."!
>"not knowing nothing" = knowing something

 

[Survivor94]

Lets hope the skins are not as hard to unlock as the shaders in Injustice 2. I was looking foward to the customization in MK11, but the lack of custom variations in ranked/tournaments and now these microtransactions are killing my hype for this aspect of the game.

 

[Scyther]

I'm going to play this game for years, I will unlock everything naturally.

This system is absolutely OK by me.

Look at how SF5 does it's transactions.
Everything from stages to costumes could be unlocked with Fight Money. They have challenges come up for more Fight Money occasionally too, but you could just unlock everything with real money if you want.

This kind of system makes it so NRS is still making money throughout the games life, but still rewards the hardcore audience by not nickel and diming them to death because they will end up with everything anyway.

I'm with you on that. Half the fun is unlocking everything ^^

 

[Gamer68]

Lets hope the skins are not as hard to unlock as the shaders in Injustice 2. I was looking foward to the customization in MK11, but the lack of custom variations in ranked/tournaments and now these microtransactions are killing my hype for this aspect of the game.

This is what I fear.

As long as it's like what they have shown before and completing a tower guarantees you a new skin, then I'm okay. There's a ton of skins so unlocking them all would mean having to beat a ton of towers, but the rewards would be consistent and fair.

If they change how it works so you only get a skin by completing specific towers, then it will end up being TOO grindy and unsatisfying. Add a currency that allows you to shortcut your way to rewards into the mix, and you will have a gameplay loop that players will find insulting. Not only would that ruin NRS' reputation, but it would turn players away instead of attracting them which is the exact opposite of what you would want in your fighting game. FGs have a problem with growth, shit like this would only make it worse. They are already asking a lot when they are wanting you to pre-order to get Shao Kahn and more specifically, they want you to pre-order a $100 version of the game that includes a bulky season pass probably won't include all future content.

Seriously, imagine getting a $100 fighting game only to be told that if you want this one particular skin, you either have to grind for 10 hours or pay $3 or some shit.

 

[Kal]

It's WB so you know that shit is gonna be grindy as hell.

 

[Swindle]

Video games today cost studios in the multiple millions of dollars to produce, but they still only cost the consumer around $50-$60 - exactly what the original Nintendo games cost consumers back in the eighties.
This is fine.
As far as “tedious grinding” goes, you youngins’ obviously never played any of the original Final Fantasy games...

 

[cavemold]

I didn’t have problem with this in INJ 2

 

[cavemold]

I suspect color swaps and classic skins etc

 

[B. Shazzy]

Video games today cost studios in the multiple millions of dollars to produce, but they still only cost the consumer around $50-$60 - exactly what the original Nintendo games cost consumers back in the eighties.
This is fine.
As far as “tedious grinding” goes, you youngins’ obviously never played any of the original Final Fantasy games...

yes, yes classic defense force and irrelevent.

sorry gramps but these things dont happen in a vaccuum. games also make more money than ever too

 

[MKF30]

Great news. Fine by me, they're offering options for the player who has time to grind. You get it free, but need to put time in. And for those who have less time due to life or whatever, if you want it badly enough you buy it. I kind of hope they have the same option as Inj2 where you could buy a shitton of coins with real money at once having different packages.

 

[Gamer68]

Great news.

Spoiler

Obviously I'm just joking around.

 

[pure.Wasted]

But I'll never feel right about having this as an option to begin with in a game you have paid full price for. It works for games like Warframe, a free-to-play game which gives you the option of buying stuff with purchasable in-game currency, like new warframes, weapons etc. But that's because the game itself is free! You don't have to pay a dime to play the game or get the stuff you want, as you can unlock all that just by playing the game.

Do those warframes and weapons impact gameplay? Because that is an infinitely greater sin, to my mind, than any amount of purchaseable cosmetics. Gameplay is sacred. Cosmetics are ultimately just fluff. Good fluff, yes, but fluff.

 

[HeavyNorse]

Do those warframes and weapons impact gameplay?

Oh, definitely! A warframe is your character, has certain stats and abilities, and the weapons are your... well, weapons.
That said, Warframe is a PvE game. You don't fight other real people like with fighting games.

 

[MKF30]

Spoiler

Obviously I'm just joking around.

lol ok maybe not GREAT haha but I'm fine with it I should say cause I admit, sometimes I'm impatient and just don't want to spend hours looking for my costume! lol

 

[LawAbidingCitizen]

I'll be fine with it do as long as it doesn't take a year to get all of one characters Unlockables.
If it's based on pay wall then I'll be irritated to say the least.