EA, the corporation behind the much-maligned mobile game "Dungeon Keeper," which saw players being fleeced out of their money in order to make in-game progress, is dipping its toes back in the same murky waters once again with iOS and Android game "Need for Speed: No Limits." This racing title asks players to fill up the tank of their vehicle with (virtual) gas if they want to keep racing, or else they'll have to wait an extended period of time to continue on.
This "wait to play" gameplay method has been employed by a plethora of mobile game developers, though "Dungeon Keeper" was clearly the worst example of that business model ever implemented. But, it appears that EA hasn't learned any lessons from that debacle.
The iOS version of "Need for Speed: No Limits" has been released in a handful of regions (the Android version is supposed to come sometime in the spring) and people are already carping about it. That's not surprising given that one of the largest real-world nuisances is forking out ever-increasing amounts of money for fuel, something which EA has deemed acceptable to implement in a game about racing virtual cars in a virtual world.
Placing limitations in a game titled "No Limits" is absolutely absurd and feels like a purposefully vexatious act on behalf of EA, as does using a wait-to-play business model in a "Need for Speed" game.
I've never been a huge fan of racing games, especially mobile racing games, but I'm even less of fan of racing games that make me wait to play by paying for virtual gas. Shame on you EA for employing such unreasonable, consumer unfriendly tactics once again. Thanks to reddit and Hexus for the heads up.
