We’ve already seen the $2.50 horse barding for Elder Scrolls: Oblivion. It was largely a useless item for the game, and hardlly was worth the price. However I think it is a portent of things to come. First you will see your initial game purchase lose most of it’s (if it has any to begin with) character customization. No longer will you be able to choose from any color hair or car paint you want. Instead you’ll get a selection between 10-20 and then the rest of the colors will be a .05 a piece. Then things like chroming effects (for cars) or hair/ clothing blowing in the wind effects will cost a .25. Next will go the cheat codes now you can buy them for .50. Shortly to follow will be unlockable and hidden characters..You’ll start with your normal 5-10 then each extra one will cost you a $1. Same with weapons, cars, body kits….. Then comes levels…..most games will take under 15 hours to complete and new tracks/ levels to explore will come in at $2.

Now all three companies are saying it’s allowing people to get additional content. But that’s bumpkis in a world of “maximizing profits” Why give away something at a given price when you can charge twice as much down the road. What we will see is an erosion of game quality……time will tell. I think Grand Turismo will be the biggest tale tail sign……let’s see if the next one has 300-400 cars….I bet you it won’t. It may not be that bad, but we’ve seen it before. Somebody decides to sell you something interesting for only a little more. Then they realize that rather than spending time developing that little extra something, they can just shave it off the original product, and sell it to you for the sae price. Thus saving development costs.

Microsoft, I think will be the one most likely to allow exploitation of micropayments the most. We’ve already have seen them use similar strategies with windows. There has always been features shaved off one version so they can mark up the “professional” version. Sony I don’t know, I think they may see how far they can push it, but I don’t think they’ll take Microsoft’s “You’ll accept it and like it stance.” Nintendo is the one who I think is the most likely to provide actual value to their micropayment structure. They have a huge back catalog of games that as long as they are reasonably priced will sell well.