Ryse: Son of Rome won't have microtransactions on PC

The Xbox One version of Ryse: Son of Rome, you will recall, employed microtransactions to allow players with more money than time to fast-track their progress through the game's multiplayer mode. But that won't be an option in the upcoming PC edition.

Most of the recent Crytek blog post entitled "See how Ryse is embracing the power of the PC" focuses, as you might expect, on the power of the PC: Things like support for 4K resolution, supersampling, native upscaling, particle quality, anisotropic filtering, temporal anti-aliasing and other graphical voodoo that few of us are willing to admit we don't entirely understand. Midway down the post, however, there's an interesting bit about a rather significant change to the game itself.

"The PC version of Ryse will launch with 4 DLC packs that were previously released over time for the Xbox One version of the game. All in all, these packs add more than a dozen new maps to the Multiplayer Mode, as well as the all-new Survival Mode and five new skins that you can deck your gladiator out with," Crytek wrote. "We have also removed the optional microtransactions that were present on the Xbox One."

It's fair to say that microtransactions haven't been the most popular videogame innovation of the past few years, but is cutting them from Ryse really a positive development? They're optional, after all, and if people want to pay extra for quicker access to better equipment, why not let them?

Crytek didn't say why it elected to ditch microtransactions, but it did confirm that as a Steamworks title, the PC version of Ryse will support Steam achievements, trading cards, leaderboards, cloud saves and controller support. A 25-track orchestral soundtrack is also up for grabs as a Steam pre-purchase bonus. Ryse: Son of Rome launches on October 10.

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.