A recent Gran Turismo 7 update made some crucial changes to the game’s rewards system that went down like a lead balloon. In the wake of the criticism, Polyphony Digital have acted quickly and released a statement confirming that the changes will be undone.
Games that contain microtransactions always run the risk of crossing a line. Gran Turismo 7’s were actually not known about until the game’s official launch, and their later addition drew the ire of many people.
But the game’s in-game reward system was healthy enough that avid car collector’s had more than enough ways to earn Credits – the game’s official currency. It was made less effective though thanks to a recent update that reduced the number of Credits that could be earned for many of its races.
The notion was that doing this was a way to decrease overall earnings and increase the desire to buy microtransactions. It seems like the GT7 team have listened to the feedback and are going to undo this unpopular change.
The Credits controversy was so big that players all around the world were taking to Metacritic to user bomb the game’s score. It is now officially the lowest-rated, user-reviewed PlayStation title of all time, that’s how devastating the whole thing has been.
On March 25, 2022, the official PlayStation blog shared a statement from the President of Polyphony Digital – Kazunori Yamauchi – explaining how the company intends to make things right.
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“I would like to apologize for the frustration and confusion caused last week with our patch updates which resulted in, not only a server outage but also adjustments to the in-game economy which were made without a clear explanation to our community.”
He goes on to say that players will receive a “non-paid credit pack of 1 million Cr” to make up for the events and also that rewards will be increased going forward.
“We will reestablish the reward system with greater balance throughout the game to benefit all players,” and this includes doubling rewards in a lot of cases too.
Polyphony Digital have acknowledged that the change to the game’s economy was an oversight and something regrettable, so it’s nice to see that they’ve acted so quickly and positively.