The term "pay-to-win" has grown in popularity since microtransactions in video games became the norm. Games that are pay-to-win can be extremely frustrating to play, but what constitutes a title with this description?

Let's look at what pay-to-win means and characteristics of games that fall under this category so you can be informed and spot them before wasting your time.

What Does Pay-to-Win Mean?

In the simplest terms, "pay-to-win" describes a game where paying real money gives players a significant advantage over those who don't spend any money.

Simply having microtransactions does not make a game pay-to-win. Most games these days, especially multiplayer titles, have microtransactions, loot boxes, battles passes, and similar monetization systems.

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But in most of these cases, these only grant cosmetic bonuses, like player skins and unique emotes. While these look cool and let the player express themselves, they don't give a real gameplay advantage.

Examples of Pay-to-Win

Let's look at a few instances of how pay-to-win is implemented in games.

Paying for Advantages: Battlefront II

One of the highest-profile examples of a pay-to-win game was 2017's Star Wars Battlefront II. When the game launched, it contained a system built around Star Cards, which provided gameplay benefits like healing after getting a kill, or increased movement speed. These cards were available in loot boxes, which are randomized drops that you earn through normal gameplay or by purchasing with real money.

Thus, players who were willing to spend money to buy more loot boxes, and thus have more chances at unlocking powerful Star Cards, had an advantage over players who didn't pay and had to grind to earn cards instead. This is a clear example of pay-to-win; losing a gunfight not due to a difference in skill, but simply because the other player has a better card than you, is extremely frustrating.

Thankfully, due to player backlash, Battlefront II received a major update that removed these cards from loot boxes. Now, cosmetic items are the only rewards you can get for spending real money.

Paying Not to Grind: Mobile Games

While Battlefront II is an example where paying brings you an obvious advantage, another form of pay-to-win is when not paying gives you a significant disadvantage. Many mobile games fall into this category—this type of pay-to-win requires you to spend a colossal amount of effort to avoid spending money.

For example, in the mobile version of Dungeon Keeper, building new structures takes an absurdly long amount of time. You can spend gems, available for real money, to skip these timers. If you don't buy any gems, the gameplay grinds to a halt as you wait for every little task to complete. This ruins the gameplay experience, all but forcing you to pay—and keep paying—if you want to keep playing at a smooth pace.

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Pay-to-win is especially insidious in multiplayer games, since it ruins the spirit of competition with other players. But as Dungeon Keeper illustrates, it's also an issue in single-player games. Adding a real-world spending requirement, instead of playing the game to build up skill, ruins the appeal of video games in the first place.

Gray Areas for Pay-to-Win

As we've seen, pay-to-win includes both situations where you pay to gain a clear advantage over others, as well as when you must pay to avoid grinding for an absurd amount of time. Some examples fall between these, and may be pay-to-win depending on how strict you are with the definition.

One-Time Payments for New Content: Rainbow Six Siege

For instance, in Rainbow Six Siege, you can unlock new playable characters using Renown, which is in-game currency you earn by playing matches and completing challenges. It's possible to unlock all the operators using Renown, but it will take you a pretty long time of playing to earn enough for them.

Instead, you can unlock operators using Rainbow Six Credits, which require real money to buy. There's also the option to buy the season passes, which unlock all operators that came out in a certain season. While newer operators aren't necessarily better, having them does give you more gameplay options.

Compared to a game like Overwatch, where all new heroes are available to everyone for free, you could argue that Rainbow Six Siege is pay-to-win. However, since you can earn the operators through normal gameplay and the game is totally playable without them, this isn't really accurate.

Instead, you can think of Siege's new operators are DLC characters, which the game offers a way to unlock without paying. This illustrates another important factor: true pay-to-win games don't cap your spending; you can pay forever to keep getting advantages. Siege asking for a one-time payment for each new operator it releases is reasonable, since those characters take time to develop.

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Compare this to something like Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, which also added paid DLC characters after launch. There's no way to unlock those characters unless you buy them—yet nobody would consider Smash pay-to-win.

Game Shortcuts: Battlefield

There are similar instances of this. Many Battlefield games, for example, offer "shortcut kits" that unlock all the weapons and items for one of the game's classes. This isn't a pay-to-win mechanic, since these packs don't come out until months after release and many players have played enough to unlock everything for their classes by that time.

As their name implies, they're more of a way for lazy players to take a shortcut if they don't even want to play the game they've bought. You can argue that the games would be better without these packs, but they aren't really pay-to-win. They're a one-time purchase that's not necessary for normal gameplay.

Pay-to-Win Isn't All or Nothing

You can probably gather that pay-to-win isn't one static description. People's interpretations of the term vary, and even its implementation isn't always the same.

Some argue that being able to spend money in any way that affects gameplay, like the shortcut kits in Battlefield, is pay-to-win. Others say that pay-to-win only applies if you're directly boosting yourself above other players. And games might have a minor pay-to-win element, but not be completely tainted by it.

The definition we've outlined here is pretty clear, but it's open to interpretation and can appear to various extents. If you can spend to give yourself advantages, or have to pay to skip tedious grinds—especially if those payments have no limit—then a game is probably pay-to-win.

Avoid Predatory Microtransactions

Microtransactions are how a lot of games last for years and provide free updates to players, but they aren't always implemented in a respectful way. In general, you should avoid pay-to-win games if you can help it.

There are plenty of other games that reward you for mastering their mechanics, not for spending more money. They also respect your time by not requiring absurdly long grinds to unlock some features. If you want to spend money on cosmetics, that's your call, but a game shouldn't pressure players into spending a ton of money just to enjoy the core experience.

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