PlanetSide 2 'implants' scrapped over pay-to-win fears

Sony Online Entertainment has walked back plans to include purchasable Implants for PlanetSide 2, amidst a sea of negative player feedback.

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"Pay-to-win" is one of the worst possible consequences of free-to-play games, which is why PlanetSide 2 players were in an uproar over the idea of purchasable "implants," which would have provided temporary benefits during battle.

Players were none too pleased.

Implants would have offered bonuses like health regeneration and protection against flash grenades. Many players expressed a deep concern that Implants would negatively affect game balance.

Having listened to player outrage, SOE President John Smedley took to Twitter today to publicly scrap the current course of action, saying "after reading through your comments we have decided to go back to the drawing board on implants."

However, Implants haven't been completely scrapped. While they will no longer be included in the upcoming GU13 update, they might pop up in another way.

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?

From The Chatty
  • reply
    July 18, 2013 12:00 PM

    Ozzie Mejia posted a new article, PlanetSide 2 'implants' scrapped over pay-to-win fears.

    Sony Online Entertainment has walked back plans to include purchasable Implants for PlanetSide 2, amidst a sea of negative player feedback.

    • reply
      July 18, 2013 12:11 PM

      Oh I was under the impression these were purchased via certs and not station cash. I like the idea of them, but if they were SC only fuck that.

      I logged in last night and within 30sec of flying my Reaver I shot down a full liberator netting 3 kills, followed by mopping up a manned prowler for another 2, finally ejected out before dying and got two knife kills on infiltrators. It was probably the best beginning to a session ever. Also, fuck the TR.

      • reply
        July 18, 2013 3:44 PM

        The idea was to buy with both, but it still contributed to that "pay to win" idea that so many people hate.

        • reply
          July 18, 2013 5:34 PM

          Temporary implants is just a terrible idea in general.

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