The latest game from EA’s stable called Need for Speed: No Limits – will charge the user to fill up the tank in their racing car before they can race. The app will be available for free for iOS and Android but will require in-app purchases (IAP) of things like petrol in order to play the game for a period of time. Players can either choose to wait until their petrol tank refills but will need to pay to avoid gameplay interruption.
Each race uses up a certain amount of gas – similar to the health metric in many fighting games.
The general opinion on the internet news sites and forums chattering about EA’s latest attempt to rake in more cash is that it has gone too far in making petrol an IAP in a car racing game. Irony on the part of EA, the game titled No Limits is limited to use of petrol.
Other in-app purchases will include gold, which can be bought via credit card and then exchanged for gas or used to upgrade the racing car.
While the money-making method has been utilised by a number of mobile games from Candy Crush through Clash of Clans, but buying petrol for a racing game is a new low EA has stooped to.
The Android version of the game is set to release at some point in February, the iOS version has been released in a handful of regions and people are already complaining about it.