One might imagine that the Star Wars Battlefront 2 PR disaster would mean game companies are now more cautious when it comes to any form of microtransactions---but not Konami. Following the release of Metal Gear Survive, players have discovered that if they want more than one save slot, it'll cost them an extra $10.
Long-time Metal Gear fans still haven't forgiven Konami for the unceremonious way series creator Hideo Kojima was pushed out of the company back in 2015. The Japanese studio held onto the IP, and six months later it announced Metal Gear Survive. The game came out of beta earlier this week to reviews that have been fairly mixed.
In addition to critics' complaints of tedious gameplay, annoying survival mechanics, and clunky combat, Konami's desire to squeeze every last penny out of buyers has caused plenty of controversy.
The game comes with a single character save. While there are three extra slots, these can only be unlocked using the in-game currency: SV coins. Konami's pricing tier starts at $0.99 for 100 of these coins, reaching up to $49.99 for 6000. If you want another save file, you'll have to pay $9.99 for 1150 coins---the closest available option to the 1000 coins it costs for an additional save.
As with other games featuring microtransactions, the coins can also be spent on cosmetic items and character/experience boosts, but unlike most of these titles, the currency can't be earned through normal gameplay, though Konami does give out small amounts as part of a login bonus.
Some people have put forward the argument that as Metal Gear Survive costs $40 instead of the usual $60, paying an extra $10 isn't a big deal, while others say the same practice appears in some online games, and that one save slot is all that's required (assuming you don't share the game with others who use their own characters). But it's difficult to justify what appears to be a move motivated purely by greed, especially in a game that already contains pricey microtransactions.