The Mercenaries releases today as a free-to-consume upgrade to the Resident Evil 4 Remake. It has already been noted, however, that time-saving microtransactions exist in the game that allow players to exchange real-world cash for ‘pay-to-win’ weapon upgrades.
On digital stores, players can purchase ‘Weapon Exclusive Upgrade Tickets’, which give them the opportunity to instantly unlock a weapon’s exclusive ability (see: trait) without actually levelling up the weapon. It’s a time-saving mechanic that isn’t necessarily going to cause any real damage, but some people do feel quite strongly about the existence of any microtransactions these days.
Get There Faster
In The Mercenaries, which is out today for the Resident Evil 4 Remake, players can earn spinels which can be used to purchase these upgrade tickets in-game. Otherwise, they can take advantage of the newly-discovered microtransactions to skip the grind and simply buy the upgrade tickets outright.
It’ll cost around $10 USD to purchase five upgrade tickets, so if you spend enough, you’ll be able to simply unlock the exclusive traits for every single weapon in the game without playing The Mercenaries for even a single moment. Here’s the description of the ticket item from the PlayStation store:
To gun enthusiasts, knife collectors, and lovers of weapons of any and all kinds:
here’s your ticket to the gun show! Specifically a ticket to be redeemed at the Merchant’s shop.
With this, you’ll have access to a weapon’s exclusive upgrade at any time, regardless of the weapon’s level.
Not only that, but once unlocked, the upgrade itself is free of charge!
It’s not exactly a controversy, but there’s a valid argument that these microtransactions make things feel a little ‘pay-to-win’ for some players.
It was also revealed recently by IGN that, apparently, two key characters are missing from The Mercenaries’ line-up – Albert Wesker and Ada Wong. They’ve both been present in The Mercenaries before, and earlier datamining efforts suggested that they’d be readily available with the release of the DLC.
There’s a chance that they’ll be added later as further paid DLC.
For more Insider Gaming news, check out our coverage of the new trailer for Season 03 of Modern Warfare II.
The upgrade tickets and spinels are from the main game, nothing to do with mercenaries at all.