Dust 514 will require gamers to fork out for a “cover charge,” developer CCP has revealed.
This fee, according to CCP boss Hilmar Veigar Petursson, has been implemented in order to facilitate the launch of the PlayStation 3-exclusive shooter next year.
"You’re really getting the game for free but you have to pre-buy credits in the beginning," he commented. "We might go fully free-to-play down the line, but in the beginning we have a cover charge just to manage the initial launch of it."
He went on to add that while players must plonk down the cash to get started, the fee will be refunded as in-game currency which can then be used to purchase as-of-yet-undisclosed items.
Furthermore, Petursson stressed that Dust 514’s system differs from that of the traditional microtransation initiative seen in popular modern shooters such as Battlefield.
"In the beginning you have to pre-buy credits, so you pay something like $10-$20 to enter the game and you get the equivalent number of credits in the game once you do that,” he explained.
"It’s not like in shooters where you’ve seen virtual goods sales. Whether that’s some of the games you’ve seen in Asia, whether that’s Battlefield, or other games.”
"We have always been a big believer in growing up a social network behind [Dust 514] in a slow and predictable way…Because we have seen that if you don’t do that you can end up with a very unstructured experience, where there’s no cohesion to the community. By growing it at the beginning we help to make a healthy environment initially," he continued.
Dust 514 is due out in spring 2012.