Not Even 'Halo 5: Guardians' Is Safe from Free-to-Play Tactics

Halo 5: Guardians has everything modern gaming can offer, including the parts of it you don't really want.

Due October 27, it's bloated with features: A new story that alternates between two sets of four characters (so you can always play cooperatively with three friends), an Arena mode where players can design their own multiplayer scenarios, and Warzone, an all new, bigger than even multiplayer mode where two teams of 12 players battle over the largest maps in the game's history.

Unfortunately, it also includes free-to-play monetization tactics that sell players parts of the game that should be free. This way of charging players for bits and pieces of a game define the industry in 2015 just as much as the latest, cutting edge graphics, and as a game that has it all, it's a part of Halo 5: Guardians as well.

These new monetization tactics are introduced in the form of the Requisition system (REQ system). Players earn REQ Points after each multiplayer match, which can then be used to purchase REQ Packs, containing a variety of REQ Cards that unlock weapons, armors, vehicles, and more.

Cosmetic items, which change how guns and armor look, can be used in both Arena and Warzone mode, but Warzone also has its own special set of cards that let players bring in more powerful weapons and vehicles into the match.

Every single one of these cards can be earned by playing the game, but you can also purchase REQ Packs for real money to get them immediately whenever you want.

"You'll be able to buy a silver REQ Pack for $1.99 and gold REQ Pack for $2.99," developer 343 Industries' executive producer Chris Lee told me. "However, we've tuned the game to be generous with earning REQ Points and everything that you can purchase with those packs you can purchase with the in-game currency, so gamers will be able to access all the same stuff without paying."

Without paying more, I should add, because unlike the literally free-to-play Halo Online 343 is beta testing in Russia these days, Halo 5: Guardians costs $60 before you play anything, or even $250 if you want to get a special edition that includes plastic toys. The price of the REQ Packs, if you want to buy them on the spot instead of earn them, are on top of that, which seems kind insulting. Even the most premium product in the business, the latest entry in the massively popular first-person shooter series that came to define Microsoft's console, and the first Halo developed from the ground up for the Xbox One, will never stop asking for more money.

Here's the possible bright side: For years now, publishers haven't relied on the price of big budget console games alone to recoup the costs of development. They sell downloadable content, which in previous Halo games came in the form of extra multiplayer maps. The problems with those is that each map pack fragments the player base further, creating smaller pools of players who can team up, depending on who owns what maps.

Halo 5: Guardians will give all future maps away for free because it has another post-release revenue stream—REQ Packs—thereby preventing player fragmentation. This will hopefully create a stronger, healthier multiplayer community.

Is it a fair trade? It's hard to say until the full game comes out. Monetization methods like the REQ System put developers in a bind. On the one hand, they have to swear up and down that you don't have to buy anything if you don't want to because that would seem exploitative, especially in the Warzone mode where players can essentially pay for better gear. On the other hand, there has to be some kind of reason to spend money on REQ Packs. Otherwise it wouldn't make money and 343 wouldn't put it in the game.

I got to play Warzone last week at a Microsoft preview event, and it was super fun. It takes Halo's unique combat rhythms and iconic arsenal of weapons and vehicles, and marries it with large-scale chaos that more resembles my beloved Battlefield series.

It's just hard to believe that such well-designed, high-profile games—even Halo—have to resort to sleazy tactics, where buying and opening every pack is essentially a crank on a slot machine. Hopefully they don't compromise what seems like an otherwise great game.