This week, Gears of War 4 developer The Coalition rolled out an important update to the game which brought gameplay improvements, new content as well as 280 Series 2 cards to collect. However, the developer has also acknowledged that the game’s monetization mechanisms, with cards pack that can be obtained by spending in-game credits or real money, have received their fair share of criticism from the community.
Adam Fletcher, Director of Community for Gears of War has addressed these concerns this week on the game’s forum (via Windows Central). “Over the holiday break we received a good mountain of feedback from the community regarding pricing on our premium packs (specifically UIR packs),” he explained. “With Series 2 cards now hitting the game (Title Update 3), we will be adjusting and changing some of the Gear packs which contain Series 2 cards. We will also be adjusting and changing all future premium content packs as well.”
You can find the full list of changes below:
- Horde and Versus Boosters – 400 credits or $.99 – We’ve seen some positive comments since we adjusted these values late last year and we are going to stay consistent with those changes.
- Operations Packs – 800 Credits or $1.99 (Formerly 1000 Credits or $1.99) – We have adjusted credit values to better align with Horde and Versus Booster values for Operations Packs.
- Elite Packs – 2000 Credits or $4.99 (Formerly 3500 Credits or $4.99) – We have brought the credit values significantly down on the Elite Packs to better align with the above packs. Players will now have an easier time obtaining these with credits. We have also re-tuned Elite Packs to offer better rewards and results.
- Community Packs – 400 Credits or $.99 – These packs will stay at the current pricing for future events. These packs are similar to our Gearsmas packs.
- eSports Packs – No Credit Value and $9.99 – These packs are meant to help benefit the eSports programs and our prize pools. We will continue to keep these at their current price point to help drive additional prize pool and event funding. Future Gears eSports City Supporter Packs will be getting tweaks. Three slots of the five card pack will now offer eSports Supporter Pack 2 Content related content. One slot will offer a potential Series 2 content card or emblem and the last slot will offer a weapon from the city pack. This helps offer more eSports content in these packs then before.
- Feature Packs – 2000 Credits or $4.99 (Formerly 4400 Credits or $9.99) – This one is the big change. Future Feature Packs will now have a much lower credit and dollar value cost. We are wanting to make sure these are obtainable by those in their limited availability windows. For reference, Feature Packs are packs that contain new content and sold in special packs (ie: UIR Packs were a Feature Pack)
It’s good to see that The Coalition has finally adjusted credit values for some of the game’s premium packs, though the developer may still have some work to do to better reward hardcore gamers. However, Fletcher also added that the team also plans to offer Community Packs and Feature Packs in bundles in the near future. Lastly, Feature Packs will also be tweaked so players won’t get multiple emblems in the same pack.
