Battlefront 2 ESRB microtransactions.


There's no way around it, microtransactions have gotten out of control these past few years. The days of games being $59.99 are basically over now that season passes, paid additional content, and mandatory subscriptions are the new norm. Although it seems at this point that there's little that gamers can do to stop it from eating away at the industry, something big is stepping in to help.


ESRB has announced that starting this year it will add in-game purchase details to its rating system. Not only will information about microtransactions be added to its database, but all physical and digital copies of games will have this information provided for all to see before they get lured into a money-making trap. As usual, this will be required by law for all games released in North America.


It announced the new measure in a Twitter post, which reads:



The main focus here is to highlight invasive practices that trigger gamers, such as in the case of Star Wars: Battlefront 2. ESRB hopes to educate consumers so they can make informed purchasing decisions, and in the process discourage bad practices that have gone unchecked for a decade.


Of course, big publishers aren't a big fan of the move as it'll require additional procedure during the release of a game, as well as explicitly detailing its money-making structure. Cry me a river.