Is Shadow of War Trying to Legitimise Gambling in Video Games?

Bluehole, the company behind PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds has expressed reservations over Fortnite from Gears of War and Unreal studio Epic Games for including a battle royale mode. While this woudn’t be the first time a game company has been inspired by a popular game mode and wouldn’t be the last, we discuss why Bluehole’s pettiness could be its undoing. More so when you consider that PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds isn’t the first game to have a battle royale mode. Games editor Rishi Alwani, friend of the podcast Mikhail Madnani, and host Pranay Parab talk about games such as Playerunknown's Battlegrounds, Forza 7, FIFA 18, Shadow of War, LA Noire, and much more.

But Bluehole isn’t the only offender this week. Forza 7 developer Turn10 tries to explain why downloading oodles of data to play its game is a good thing and why the lack of a second disc for Forza 7’s retail release is for consumer benefit. Given that the game has a massive 50GB day one patch and an additional patch for 4K support when the Xbox One X is out, there’s a good chance you might be spending more money to download Forza 7 than you would to pay for the game itself. We explain why Microsoft’s Forza 7 and digital strategy is myopic, wasteful, and unfriendly to gamers everywhere.

Furthermore, we talk about FIFA 18’s India release and the game itself following our review. From widespread availability outside EA’s exclusive retail partner, Amazon India to Flipkart slashing prices for the game, we tell you where you should be buying FIFA 18 this year.

Finally, we talk about Middle-earth: Shadow of War and its microtransactions. From loot boxes that give you orcs to bolster your resources to items that let you skip parts of gameplay along with the randomisation of what users finally obtain, the monetisation model of Shadow of War feels more mercenary than it should be. The game’s developer Monolith explained the inclusion of microtransactions in the game, most of which could be described as attempts to legitimise gambling in a premium Rs. 3,499 ($60 in the US) game. We break down whether the reasons for its inclusion hold water or not.

You can subscribe to Transition via Apple Podcasts or RSS or just listen to this episode by hitting the play button below. The music for this episode comes via Magnus Souleye Pålsson's album PPPPPP, which is the soundtrack for the game, VVVVVV.