Clicker Heroes 2 ditches microtransactions for ‘ethical reasons’

The studio behind the in-development Clicker Heroes 2 has said that game is ditching free-to-play to become a premium game.

The first game was free to download but supported by microtransactions, which allowed the player to progress faster. Its sequel, however, will cost now cost $29.99 to buy but will be microtransaction free.

Furthermore, those who pre-order the game will be able to apply for a full refund for up to a year after launch.

“Games are inherently addictive. That alone is not a bad thing, until it gets abused,” a statement from developer Playsaurus said. “In Clicker Heroes 1, we never tried to abuse players with our real-money shop, and for the most part we designed it without the shop in mind so that you never have to purchase rubies to progress.

“Despite this, we found that some number of players spent many thousands of dollars on rubies. I can only hope that these people could afford it, and that they were doing it to support us, and not to feed an addiction. But I strongly suspect that this is not the case.

“We made a lot of money from these players who spent thousands. Great. If you’re rich, please be my guest. But we don’t want this kind of money if it came from anyone who regrets their decision, if it made their lives significantly worse as a result. We really don’t like making money off players who are in denial of their addiction. And that’s what a large part of free-to-play gaming is all about. Everyone in the industry seems to rationalize it by shifting the blame, assuming way too much cognizance on the part of their victims. People can make their own decisions, right? But it just doesn’t sit well with me.

“But going forward we’re going to at least try the paid-up-front model for our business. It may or may not work. It probably isn’t worth nearly as much money, but at least we can do it with a cleaner conscience.”

Clicker Heroes 2 will be released some time in 2018.