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Starbreeze studio Overkill has irked players once again with the addition of new gameplay-boosting microtransactions to Payday 2.
Destructoid reports that the game’s latest update has added ‘Team Boosts’ which grants cash and XP boosts for players. The effect is increased when more players on a team are using it.
The kicker, however, is that the boosts are linked to the controversial weapon skin boost system that requires drills to unlock – and these drills can be purchased for cash. Players are also unhappy with the randomness of the in-game goods that have also been handed out to buyers of the Completely Overkill pack, with some being left with comparatively useless items while others have grabbed themselves highly useful perks.
Such is the extent of the unrest within the game’s community that even its Steam forum moderators have gone on strike.
We’ve recently being under a great deal of stress after the Crimefest update,” one mod wrote. A number of death threats thrown at us as well as much more heavy moderation needed due to a huge increase in users breaking the rules. We are not paid and have been in a very stressful situation.
A lot of people will be wondering why we didn’t do this earlier, due to the recent safe release. A lot of things happened and Overkill admitted it wasn’t managed very well. We we’re hoping Overkill would learn from its mistakes regarding the last update and we were hoping they took these into consideration with the COP. We have a lot of issues regarding the release of the COP that shows they have NOT listened to user feedback at all.
I like to believe that I am not unreasonable but unfortunately the situation constantly degraded. We will no longer refuse to work if we are given a public interview with a member of Overkill. We want to be heard and see what Overkill are willing to do to fix the situation.
If Overkill decides to let us go as moderators it’s something we are prepared for, I personally cannot sit by when they continue to promote immoral business practices. I felt the skins system needed work but could function. The recent safe update showed against that.”
The trouble first arose back in October when paid-for boosts were added to the game’s DLC. It proved of particular annoyance due to pledges made in May 2013 about the game remaining free of microtransactions.
Despite a softening of the system later in the month, Overkill agitated players further by refusing to back down and saying that the system was working as intended” – i.e. it’s bringing in revenue.
