Ahead of its 21st anniversary, World of Warcraft is dealing with some controversy around its latest update. Developer Blizzard has confirmed that WoW is introducing a new “Hearthsteel” housing-related virtual currency with its upcoming Midnight expansion, and users are worried that it could become a microtransaction trap on a game that already costs $15 a month to play.
In its post, Blizzard said the aim of the new currency is to allow players to purchase “multiple items at once” while offering “financial protections” for the parties involved. “You may want a full set of chairs to place around a dining table, multiple place settings for your invited guest [or]… many candles,” the company wrote. “Using an in-game currency can help make the process of obtaining many of these types of inexpensive items more efficient.”
Blizzard clarified that players will be able to buy Hearthsteel with their Battle.net balance and in-game gold via WoW tokens. It will also keep the catalog of Hearthsteel items small relative to what you can earn through gameplay. “Housing items tied to core fantasies of a player’s race or class, or that already exist in Azeroth, won’t be sold in the shop,” the blog post states. “Thematically important decor that players know and love will also not appear in the shop.”
The Hearthsteel currency was first uncovered by dataminers, and now that Blizzard has confirmed it, players are concerned. “It’s not even about the currency,” said one WoW Reddit user. “It’s about a large, dedicated portion of the player base crying out for years that we don’t want the game to head this direction and here it is.”
It’s hard to look at the new currency and not think of Microsoft’s recent edict to its Xbox division. Last month, the software giant reportedly implemented an “across-the-board goal” of 30 percent profit margins for its gaming division, which it internally called “accountability margins.” That’s a huge amount above Xbox’s own average in the last six years of between 10 and 20 percent.
