Microtransactions for fighting games will always be contentious, be they for whole characters or cosmetics or other features. But with Dead or Alive 6 (DOA6), Koei Tecmo is taking things to the next level. The game is charging players every time they decide to change a character’s hair colour.
Every change costs a Premium Ticket, which is priced at US$1 (~RM4.20). Emphasis here is on the word “change”, because you’re not paying to unlock a hair colour. This means that even if you’ve paid for a change and want to go back to the default, it will still cost a Premium Ticket.
The change was added as part of the recent 1.60 update. Kotaku reports that this update is only for the PlayStation 4 version of the game.
Koei Tecmo, as a game publisher, is notorious for its monetisation practices. Dead or Alive 6 itself, for example, has so many available microtransactions that buying all would cost RM6870 on Steam. Beyond the DOA series, the publisher’s latest game, Warriors Orochi 4 Ultimate, has a grand total of RM1046 in microtransactions.
But because the publisher’s games are not as popular, they often escape public scrutiny. At least when compared to other publishers like Take Two, which tried something similar with NBA 2K18.
