Unlike other publishers adhering to microtransactions, THQ Nordic has taken a firm stance against the controversial business model for Darksiders Genesis.
Where the past three installments were strictly single-player-focused, the upcoming spin-off offers cooperative action for the first time in the franchise. Multiplayer (in any form) generally gets integrated these days at the risk of receiving support for microtransactions. Darksiders Genesis, though, will not be adhering to that call, something that fans will definitely appreciate.
While speaking with SegmentNext in a recent interview, Reinhard Pollice, business and product development director of THQ Nordic, categorically stated that there will be no microtransactions of any kind in Darksiders Genesis. The publisher is actually marking a territorial line here and wants to remind that none of its developers will ever be forced to place in-game purchases.
Pollice also stated that THQ Nordic has never done loot boxes or gambling mechanics in the past, and there are no plans to start doing them now. THQ Nordic is approaching the notorious subject very carefully and will only be earning through post-release expansion packs. His sincere wordings made it clear that there shouldn’t be concerns of Darksiders Genesis getting microtransactions somewhere in the future, after it’s done with securing pre-orders.
That’s easy – no microtransactions at all in Darksiders Genesis! In general, THQ Nordic is treating this topic very carefully and we are only offering DLCs if we think that it perfectly fits to the game and we see a high demand from players. We’ve never done, and never will do, loot boxes or any other gambling mechanic.
The thing about offering DLC based on demand is notable. Darksiders Genesis features War and Strife as the only two playable characters in the top-down hack-and-slash take. According to Pollice, it’s completely possible to see Death and Fury (the other two horsemen of the apocalypse) return down the road. However, their inclusion will only happen if fans say so in overwhelmingly majority once Darksiders Genesis has officially released. The only thing that fan-feedback won’t help bring are microtransactions.
Having all four horsemen together in four-player cooperative action would be a dream come true for the franchise. Not many know that War was supposed to be joined by his brothers and sister in the first Darksiders. However, the goal became too ambitious and was saved for the second installment, which was ultimately built to the strengths of the first. It wasn’t until Darksiders Genesis that THQ Nordic felt the time was right to see the original vision materialized.
Darksiders Genesis is currently slated to release for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC at the end of 2019 without microtransactions. The spin-off will also release for Nintendo Switch and Google Stadia, which could possibly be after the main platforms are done. You can keep tabs on the game until then from its official website.
