The price tag on the cover of most sports video games is only the beginning of what players are being asked to pay.
The genre is teeming with microtransactions, in-game purchases that tantalize those who want to be competitive during online matches in the most popular and robust game modes. Rare “cards” of the most coveted players are hidden in packs acquired using in-game currency, which can be slowly earned by playing or bought with real-world money.
A soccer fan who wants to build a competitive squad in FC 24’s Ultimate Team mode — or who simply hopes to have Kylian Mbappé or Lionel Messi as a captain — has to either spend a lot of money on card packs or grind out virtual currency over hundreds of hours of gameplay.
