History BribingYourWayToVictory / VideoGames

* About 2 months after VideoGame/ResidentEvil4Remake was released, in addition to the free Mercenaries game mode update, there were ''several'' microtransactions posted on online storefronts for "Weapon Exclusive Upgrade Tickets" that allowed players to skip the money grind required to unlock any weapon's exclusive upgrade straightaway, which ran the gamut of [[MagikarpPower making the weapon more viable]] to [[GameBreaker allowing the player to breeze through the rest of the game]]. While they are one time use per save ID (which means you can't restock on them if you go into a New Game Plus run), in the case that you didn't need all of them, you can still sell them to the merchant and earn an easy 80,000 Pesetas for each ticket, which makes even acquiring the rocket launcher from the merchant on Hardcore/Professional easier than it would normally be or can allow the player to shore up any remaining upgrades that aren't also acquired by unlocking the Exclusive upgrade. Granted, none of this is 'necessary' for the game (especially on the lower difficulties), but it does make [[ThatOneAchievement clearing Professional mode with an S+ ranked run]] ''much'' easier to accomplish by making even one of the infinite ammo weapons become live far earlier than they would be otherwise.

* Playfish games also have separate coins (generated in-game) and cash (real money) counters. One of their games, ''VideoGame/PetSociety'', is now an AllegedlyFreeGame. Another Playfish game, VideoGame/RestaurantCity, had its players up in arms over a set of limited edition recipes. Players could unlock a karaoke bar and upgrades for it by mastering these recipes within a certain number of days before they became [[PermanentlyMissableContent lost]]. However, they came in a certain order, and you weren't allowed to start leveling up a recipe until you had mastered the ones that came before it. To make things worse, several of them required large quantities of some of the rarest ingredients in the game. It was incredibly difficult to obtain these ingredients without buying them with Playfish Cash, something that the players have been very bitter about.
* ''PAYDAY 2'', sequel to ''VideoGame/PAYDAYTheHeist'', has several perks that were given to players who pre ordered the game on Steam. People who pre ordered would get a laser sight mod for rifles and a bundle of in game money to spend on items. For $10 more, you could pre order the Criminal Edition that contained the previous bonuses and other perks like discounts on all in game items. However, the perks are only open to those that pre ordered, so those that did not were out of luck. The perks are also minor since they do nothing but slightly speed up the process one has to go through to grind for money in game.

* In the West, originally, ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' was marketed so that players were [[SocializationBonus encouraged to make friends]] with each other and trade their Pokémon around to [[ToBeAMaster collect all 150]] of them... [[BrokenAesop Instead, this taught kids to buy multiple Game Boys and every single cartridge.]] [[GoneHorriblyRight ... Win?]] Of course, the older gens (pre-Gen IV, which introduced both the Global Trade Station and wireless trading) also pretty much served as an incentive to buy link cables for trading.

* ''Project Torque'', a free Massive Multiplayer Online Racing Game, revolves around racing with fantasy cars - unless the player purchases (or wins via community events) a certain number of AP (special in-game currency, the normal currency being RP, or "Reward Points"), which allows him to purchase exclusive extras like longer lasting nitros, double XP or double Reward Points alongside with ''real life cars''. The kicker? Items that can actually help a player during a race and car upgrades ''can be purchased anyway without using AP'', and the real life cars are not better in anyway than their "free" counterparts - in some case ''being worse'', forcing the player to spend more hours grinding in order to get extra upgrades to match their "free" opponent.

* The UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch port of ''VideoGame/{{Bayonetta 2}}'' lets you scan up to 32 amiibo per day to get items, alternate costumes, and halos. If you regularly scan your amiibo, you'll have a steady source of halos to buy out the shop's entire stock with.

* The UsefulNotes/{{iOS|Games}} remake of ''VideoGame/{{Contra}}'' has this in spades. Lost all your lives? You better have a buck or twenty on hand to buy some "diamonds" from the cash shop, or else it's back to the start with you. Since this is [[NintendoHard Contra]], this adds up ''very'' quickly.

* ''VideoGame/MaddenNFL 10'', at least for the UsefulNotes/PlayStation3, went absolutely insane with it. It's bad enough that they expect you to shell out ten dollars to purchase an "AFC LEGACY PACK" that's just a few different costumes and stadiums that in all honesty should have just come with the game in retail (and [[DummiedOut technically did]]). But for the first time, inputting cheat codes for the single player games isn't a matter of using 'cards' awarded in game for good play, but rather purchasing the use of those cheat codes online in the [[UsefulNotes/PlayStationNetwork PlayStation Store]]. Not to mention the new "Madden Ultimate Online" mode, which is like any other online mode, but with the added fun of shelling out $5 a pack for 11 cards, and needing a deck of 100 cards to play. Oh, and those cards you just paid real life money for? They disappear from your account forever after playing enough online games with them (usually around 6), forcing you to buy more packs.[[note]]Luckily, this trope is averted in the UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 version, since that system doesn't really have the capaiblity of microtransactions.[[/note]]
** Madden's college counterpart, NCAA 10, is slightly less insane about it. You can pay for dynasty accelerators, such as recruiting reports (they give you a leg up in recruiting new players) and a 'Toughest Places to Play' boost (it bumps your stadium higher on the list of toughest stadiums to play in, which rattles visiting teams). Quite a lot of people don't bother with the accelerators because they're unnecessary. There was a lot of controversy over players using the accelerators in Online Dynasty, which gave them an advantage over the other OD players.[[note]]Again, this trope is averted in the UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 version.[[/note]]

* In the UsefulNotes/{{iOS|Games}} ''VideoGame/MegaManX1'' port you can buy all the weapons and health upgrades in the game with real money from the very beginning.

* To unlock cars early in ''VideoGame/NeedForSpeed: Carbon'', ''[=ProStreet=]'' or ''Undercover'', buy them for real money on [=XBox=] Live or [=PSN=] store.[[note]]This trope is averted in the UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 versions of said games.[[/note]]

* ''VideoGame/TetrisBlitz'' for UsefulNotes/{{iOs| Games}} embraces this with a vengeance, constantly nagging you to buy power ups for real money. You can buy a few of these with coins, but all the best ones are cash only. It also borders on AllegedlyFreeGame territory: powerups heavily influence your score, so forget about competing on the ladder unless you fork over money. To further twist the knife, you can also pay a separate fee to remove banner ads... except many power-ups are sponsored and will ''also flash (unremovable) ads when you activate them''.

** ''[[VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOpsIII Black Ops III]]'' has it even worse. Though its Black Market system originally did not allow for spending money, nor did it offer game-changing items, Creator/{{Activision}} eventually decided to implement a premium currency in the form of COD Points, which could be used to buy Supply Drops from the Black Market as an alternative to Cryptokeys, which are earned through gameplay (albeit at a somewhat slow rate). Then, they added Supply Drop-exclusive melee weapons that all function identically to the standard knife, and then they added ranged weapons, such as the [[AutomaticCrossbows NX Shadowclaw]], [[HandCannon Marshal 16]] and [[BreakOutTheMuseumPiece HG-40]]. What makes this a problem is that the drop rates for these weapons are ''terrible'' - Activision confirmed that the odds of recieving a weapon from the Supply Drops were a measly 0.8% chance, and that includes the worthless melee weapons mentioned earlier. The system is clearly designed to squeeze as much money as possible out of the player, which is made more apparent by the frequency of duplicate items and the lack of any way of unlocking those weapons other than through the Black Market.

* ''[[VideoGame/ProjectBlackout Point Blank]]'' - [[SimilarlyNamedWorks Not to be confused]] with [[VideoGame/PointBlank1994 the Namco game]], but this Korean MMOFPS is [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff very successful in Indonesia]]. And you either need in-game point grinding (since the point reward often painfully small) to buy CoolGuns, or rent (yes, it limited from 3 to 30 days of "purchase") with real cash for instant (or even more) CoolGuns.

* ''VideoGame/EchoBazaar'' allows you to buy Fate with real money. Fate is obtainable in game on very rare occasions, and can be used for mundane functions like restoring your opportunities deck to unlocking new and complex story inlets.

* ''Videogame/{{Dungeonmans}}'' inverts it with its DLC, which is ''literally'' called "[=Pay2Lose=]". All it offers is ways to make the game even harder than it already is, with no methods to make it easier. Even options like adding more bosses make sure the extra bosses give you neither items nor experience, to make '''sure''' all you get is additonal difficulty.

* The ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'' games include DLC that make grinding much faster, either by letting you access maps full of {{Pinata Enem|y}}ies, or giving a trivially-easy and infinitely-repeatable quest with generous rewards.

** ''VideoGame/MarioKartTour'': This being the mobile phone version of the MascotRacer, the game increasingly draws complaints as to mainly being on this model. There are two currencies in the game - coins (freely available on the race tracks) and rubies (of which you only get a modest amount during each two-week set of courses). These currencies can be used to get new drivers/karts/gliders, but the coin shop requires a very large amount of coins for the higher-end drivers/karts/gliders (with Super Rare drivers costing 12,000 coins on the off-chance one appears in the shop - and the game has a limit of 300 coins per day that can be earned in races, and another 100 for idling on the matching screen for multiplayer). Plus, the pool of drivers that can appear in the coin shop is rather limited, so its usefulness is rather questionable. On top of that, each race has a list of preferred drivers, karts, and gliders - and the game has a habit of almost always adding new courses where the '''only''' drivers/karts/gliders that give the best bonuses (score bonuses, additional item slots, and the entire ability to perform Frenzys) to do well in Ranked cups, where your placement in the entire cup versus 19 randomly chosen players entirely depends on how well you score on all three courses, are Super Rares that were only available via the ruby-only store for a limited two-week span. Also, as time goes on, the game introduces more and more courses where the only options for High-End drivers/karts/gliders are time-limited.\\

** ''VideoGame/MarioKartTour'': This being the mobile phone version of the MascotRacer, the game increasingly draws complaints as to mainly being on this model. There are two currencies in the game - coins (freely available on the race tracks) and rubies (of which you only get a modest amount during each two-week set of courses). These currencies can be used to get new drivers/karts/gliders, but the coin shop requires many more coins for the higher-end drivers/karts/gliders (with Super Rare drivers costing 12,000 coins on the off-chance one appears in the shop - and the game has a limit of 300 coins per day that can be earned in races, and another 100 for idling on the matching screen for multiplayer). Plus, the pool of drivers that can appear in the coin shop is rather limited, so its usefulness is rather questionable. On top of that, each race has a list of preferred drivers, karts, and gliders - and the game has a habit of almost always adding new courses where the '''only''' drivers/karts/gliders that give the best bonuses (score bonuses, additional item slots, and the entire ability to perform Frenzys) to do well in Ranked cups, where your placement in the entire cup versus 19 randomly chosen players entirely depends on how well you score on all three courses, are Super Rares that were only available via the ruby-only store for a limited two-week span. Also, as time goes on, the game introduces more and more courses where the only options for High-End drivers/karts/gliders are time-limited. Paying for the [[{{Freemium}} monthly Gold Pass]] for bonus rubies, karts, and drivers and buying extra rubies to regularly get more draws from the [[LootBoxes gacha]] (before it was removed) or directly buy the high end drivers/karts/gliders (after it was removed) are required to keep pace with what you need to guarantee getting the best ratings on courses as the game strongly encourages players to buy more rubies (or any of the purchasable packs that just hands out drivers/karts/gliders) to stay on top of the rankings.