Some Warframe players are planning to boycott Digital Extremes’ third-person shooter following news that the developer may be acquired by MMO company Perfect World and Fujian chicken meat supplier Sumpo.
The deal isn’t yet signed but a document from Sumpo shows that the companies have entered into a "non-binding term sheet" and Digital Extremes has agreed not to discuss offers from other would-be investors.
The issue from Warframe players appears to stem from the belief that Perfect World may shake-up the way that the free-to-play MMO is monetised. Currently, players are happy with Warframe’s free-to-play business model which allows players to purchase items via micro-transactions. The concern is that Perfect World may become more aggressive with micro-transactions based on their history with other MMOs such as Dungeons & Dragons, Star Trek Online and Neverwinter.
Though there’s no evidence to suggest that this would happen, (would Perfect World mess with a game that currently has over 5 million users?) it’s easy to emphasise with WarFrame fans who are understandably concerned that things may change with a new company involved.
While some Warframe players agree with the boycott, others think it’s pointless because Perfect World woudn’t even see the user statistics from the boycotted days so the only people it would really affect is Digital Extremes.
Warframe launched on Windows PC in March 2013 and was released on PS4 in November 2014. An Xbox One version is expected later this year.