Earlier this summer, 343 Industries revealed they were planning to add microtransactions to Halo: The Master Chief Collection despite the game already being on the market for years. They tried to frame this as an “additive feature” for those intimidated by the very large array of unlockables in the game.
“We are internally exploring a potential new feature for the future in the form of purchasable Spartan Points. This would be an optional, additive alternative for players who might find the vast scope of content to be an intimidating amount of playtime and want to get ahead on (or skip) the grind, or maybe want to grab specific items they want (we all have our favorites!)”
Needless to say, most people didn’t particularly buy this reasoning, as it was pretty clear 343 just wanted to quietly keep Halo: MCC revenue rolling despite active development largely ending. Well, after the community made their feelings known loud and clear, 343 is backtracking, scuttling plans for purchasable Spartan Points. Instead, they’re dealing with the “we have too many unlockables” problem in the way they probably should have in the first place – by making stuff easier to earn.
“We can confirm that we will not be further pursuing purchasable Spartan Points for MCC. We are also looking to enact changes to the earn rates of Spartan Points and remove barriers that players have been facing. The 100-point cap is being removed, retroactive points will be granted, and we will make further adjustments to Challenges to make them more rewarding, along with bringing back Double XP Weekends.”
Good on 343 Industries for adjusting course, but one has to wonder what they were thinking making such an unforced error in the first place.
Halo: The Master Chief Collection is available now on PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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