Microtransactions are the bane of gaming. You know, when you’re playing Candy Crush and the game says you can unlock another level for x amount of cash? It’s what a lot of mobile games and some console games have started jamming down consumers throats.
One Canadian 17-year-old went nuts on microtransactions when playing EA Sports FIFA game on Xbox. Lance Perkins, the father of the 17-year-old, said his son racked up a $7,625.88 charge on his credit card on a microtransaction binge, which stunned him.
“Perkins said he had given his son a credit card for emergencies or to make purchases for the family’s convenience store.
Although his son confessed he had been using the card illicitly, Perkins said his son, too, was truly shocked at how much he had spent. “He thought it was a one-time fee for the game,” Perkins told the CBC.
“He’s just as sick as I am, [because] he never believed he was being charged for every transaction, or every time he went onto the game.”
For those who don’t play video games, EA likes to milk every dollar it can. They are after all the company that released a Star Wars: Battlefront game with barely any maps, and then charge $50 bucks for a DLC expansion. This comic describes their strategy perfectly. But still, that’s an insane amount of transactions. His son would have to be completely clueless to not realize he wasn’t paying real life money for that many transactions.
Perkins reached out to Xbox to try to have the charges reversed, but the attempt didn’t work. He says he’s banning video game consoles in his house.
“There will never be another Xbox system — or any gaming system — in my home.”
Perkins better ban mobile phones too.
