Buy now, pay later company Affirm has announced that it’s partnering with financial services company Xsolla to offer BNPL options for “items they can use in vide𒀰o games” – while the announcement doesn’t specify exactly what this will be used for, I assume it includes in-app gaming purchases like cosmetics in free-to-play games like , at the time of writing.
Affirm Is Coming To Video Games
Microtransactions in video games are already a thorny issue as they exist right now. Many games and developers ( and Fortnite in particular) have been criticised and for making it too easy for children tꦡo spend money on microtransactions and facilitating video game addictions. Considering that both these games, and many free-to-play offerings besides, are largely marketed towards children and minors, having microtransactions at all is a morally grey area.
According to from the two companies, players will be able to “split purchases into interest-free biweekly payments or longer-term monthly instal🍎lments for carts starting at $50”. According to Xsolla, “By integrating Affirm’s customer-first payment options — known for their flexibility and predictability — we’re empowering developers to offer gamers a smarter way to pay for the content they♐ love while driving deeper engagement and long-term growth.”
"They Decided To Actively Promote A Dangerous Addiction To Millions Of Viewers": Rioꦗt Should Have Kept Gambling Out Of League Of Legends
Allowing teams to take gambling sponsorships is a🍨lready unethical before you consider the possible long-term consequences.
Buy Now Pay Later Is Even More Predatory Paired With Microtransactions
Let’s look past the corporate speak and delve into why this is bad, though, because of course a press release is never going to tell you the whole truth. Buy now pay later companies function similarly to credit card companies, in that they let you spend money you don’t have yet. Affirm doesn’t charge interest on Pay in 4, a scheme where payments are split into four bi-weekly payments, but charges anywhere from zero to 36 percent annual percentaওge rates on monthly instalments.
Like credit cards, payment schemes aren’t necessarily bad if you use them in very specific ways. Make your payments on time, and you won’t be charged interest. I have a credit card that I use in conjunction with a comprehensive budgeting system so that I never spend more than I can afford because it lets me accrue miles for flying, but I have frie🌄nds who know they’d misuse a credit card and therefore have never gotten one.
Buy now pay later schemes, like credit cards, don’t generate revenue from lending money to people at interest-free rates – they make money from people living paycheck to paycheck, who have no choice but to use borrowed money to make purchases and who are more likely to miss payments. It’s these people who will be forced to pay high interest fees on purchases they can’t afford.☂ They also are less regulated, and offer you none of the perks you might get from a credit card.
Mercifully, you can’t use Affirm if you’re under the age of 18. But th♎e💟 service still targets vulnerable people.
To use a payment scheme on a big purchase (furniture for a new house, or even just a triple-A game) makes some sort of sense, but offering it to people who want to buy cosmetics in games strikes me as particularly predatory. Microtransactions are already predatory enough, but making them more accessible ꧂to people who can’t afford to spend on them sigꦜnifies a pretty dire state of affairs.
Live-service games already take advantage of the fact that cosmetics in games already feel like fake purchases, given their value is obscured with in-game currencꦦies. Being able to use money you don’t already have to make these purchases just adds another layer of obfuscation that can easily make the money you spend in games spiral out of control. The whole thing stinks of bad 𒆙ethics, but that’s gaming for you, I guess.
