EA, the company behind the much-maligned mobile game Dungeon Keeper which saw players being pilfered of their money in order to progress, is dipping its toes back in the murky water once again with iOS and Android game Need For Speed: No Limits, which requests that players fill up the tank of their vehicle with gas if they want to keep racing, or else they’ll have to wait an extended period of time in order to do so.
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This wait to play method has been employed by many different mobile game developers, though Dungeon Keeper was undoubtedly the worst example of the business model ever employed. But that hasn’t stopped EA from going down that route once again.
Though the Android version of the game is set to release at some point in spring, the iOS version has been released in a handful of regions and people are already complaining about it. That’s not surprising given that one of the largest real-world nuisances is forking out ever-increasing amounts of money for gas, something which EA has deemed acceptable to implement in a game about racing virtual cars in a virtual world.
Here’s a wait time of 1 minute and 25 seconds, which can be fast-tracked by purchasing 3 gold bars.
Placing limitations in a game titled No Limits feels like an almost intentionally annoying act on behalf of EA, as does employing a wait to pay business model in a Need For Speed game. While this is a money-making method utilized by a whole bunch of mobile games from Clash of Clans through to FarmVille (that still doesn’t make it much fun), Dungeon Keeper naturally has consumers expecting the worse when it comes to No Limits.
Need For Speed: No Limits will also feature multiple currencies, with some being earned organically while gold needs to be purchased with real-life money. Judging by screenshots from the game, gas can only be filled up using gold, naturally.
300 real-world dollars for 290 imaginary pieces of gold? NFS: No Limits doesn’t have a very good exchange rate.
Mobile gaming continues to be on the rise, but with great popularity comes not-so-great anti-player business models. I’ll never be a fan of wait to play games, particularly when they’re in the hands of EA.
