Godus Wars Had Content Microtransaction, Now Pulled
After a surprise media appearance by Peter Molyneux, Godus Wars was both released and modified within a near 24-hour period.
Peter Molyneux has had a rough week. Early on, his Twitter account was hacked, in which his official account stated he was retiring from the games industry and that Fable 3 was a hardship to him and his development team. Molyneux then hopped onto his barely-active account to inform people that he wasn’t retiring, to the point that a full interview with Eurogamer was held a few days later. In it, he revealed Godus Wars, a more RTS-oriented version of Godus that opened up on Early Access on Steam for $14.99. Any Godus user could get it for free but, of course, developer 22 Cans had to make their money somehow.
After you finish one continent in Godus Wars, as you prepare to enter the second continent, you are prompted to pay for the second continent for $4.99 USD. It contains 40 new maps, additional siege units, God powers and cars, albeit at a “micro” transaction that costs a third of the price of the full game. The game was set for seven different continents at a full release, as described on the game’s Steam page, with just two ready for the Early Access build at launch.
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Naturally (deservedly), users reacted negatively to the news, prompting 22 Cans to act quickly and remove the microtransactions for Godus Wars continents going forward. CEO Simon Phillips made a statement on the matter:
"It’s been brought to our attention that the extra content being a premium add-on really isn’t a popular choice. Whilst we think that it does represent good value, especially considering that Godus Wars has been delivered as a free update to hundreds of thousands of users and the lower purchase price of the main game, we understand previous Godus owners frustrations with this.Therefore, based on your feedback, the extra content will be available to all free-of-charge.Apologies for the frustrations and we hope you enjoy playing."
You can judge the merit of statement (and the choice to use words like “It’s been brought to our attention”, “We think that it does represent good value” and “We understand previous Godus owners frustrations”) on your own, but with the negative clout that hangs with Peter Molyneux’s name over the project, it will be interesting to see how Godus Wars rebounds going forward.