One Punch Man: World, the new video game based on the popular anime starring Saitama, has just been released by Crunchyroll on January 31. This is a free-to-play title with a strong gacha element. Although, in theory, this sounds like something harmless and fun, the game is already causing controversy due to a $1000 character pack.
The crazy microtransactions in One Punch Man: World
Distributed by Crunchyroll Games and developed by Perfect Games, this is the new proposal for One Punch Man fans that is available on PC and Android devices right now. In this open-world title, you can explore the huge Z City and defeat different iconic villains from the anime & manga, such as Mosquito Girl, Carnage Kabuto or Deep Sea King. As expected, you can control Saitama, but you also have the possibility to use other iconic heroes, such as Genos, Tatsumaki, Fubuki, Lightning Max, Puri Puri Prisoner and many more. And that’s exactly where the gacha element of this game comes in, to unlock new playable characters.
In One Punch Man: World, you can buy character packs with real money. Each one has a different price, but the most expensive of them all, the SSR Class Character Pack, is priced at $999.99. But don’t panic! Because right now it has a 90% discount that brings it down to $99.99. Which is still pretty high for a microtransaction.
$100 for a character in a free-to-play game is a lot of money. For example: a full “Triple A” video game on consoles usually goes for $60-$70, not to mention all the solid indie experiences that cost even less. And hopefully that discount is a sham to try to make the $100 price tag go unnoticed because, to give another example, a new PlayStation 5 goes for around $500 A One Punch Man: World SSR character would go for the same as two PS5s?
Fans of the genre and the original anime were quick to come out and complain about the exorbitant price of this One Punch Man: World character pack. On the specialized subreddit r/gachagaming we can find sarcastic comments mocking the discount, such as “What an amazing deal! It’s a steal! Better buy it now before the discount is gone!”, “A $900 savings? At this point, I’d be losing money if I don’t buy it!” or “Get it before the service is announced to be shut down!”, with the latter being a reference to the modern bad habit companies have of shutting down mobile video games with expensive microtransactions.
Even if the 90% discount is just a technique to make users think they’re coming out ahead, $100 is a lot of real money for a microtransaction, and people know it. The worst part is that One Punch Man: World is getting relatively positive reviews, but these kinds of decisions that push its gacha element is tarnishing the game’s reputation. Crunchyroll Games should do something about this, especially if they want users to use their money in the in-game store.
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