War Thunder developer Gaijin Entertainment has added a new Auction feature to the free-to-play vehicle combat game, and it’s already causing chaos. The experimental Auction mechanic is currently being tested, and is planned to help content creators put cosmetics up for sale that players can bid on with in-game currency. In response, the game’s forum, Reddit, and Steam page are being flooded with negative feedback from users, with some concerned that the Auction may one day be used as a way for them to bid on actual vehicles.
On Monday February 3, Gaijin revealed the Auction, a new War Thunder system. Here, player-created content can be distributed and bid on, meaning the entire game’s community can wager in-game money to try and obtain a specific cosmetic item. Auction bidding is done with Gaijin Coin, a virtual currency used in the free Steam game’s store and market. To obtain the Auction item, you need to have bid the most Gaijin Coin by the time the listing closes.
War Thunder Auctions can also contain identical cosmetics, according to Gaijin Entertainment. In this case, all the players who make the highest bids will receive the item by the time the listing closes. As of right now, Gaijin is testing the system with a handful of cosmetics related to the Lunar New Year, with only 100 of each available.
As a result, however, there’s been an increase in negative Steam reviews since the Auction was revealed. Players issued 170 negative reviews on February 3, with a further 250 so far on February 4. “The newly implemented Auction system is predatory and one of the most greedy decisions Gaijin has ever made,” user ‘Galaxian’ writes. “Excessive monetization and a ridiculous new Auction system. Broken gameplay and missing features for years,” ‘LostTanker’ adds.
The War Thunder Reddit is also filled with posts criticizing the Auction system, and the comments under the feature’s announcement in the forums are equally disapproving. “We already have the marketplace where people can put whatever buy and sale prices they want so why?” ‘MJPIA’ adds. ‘Devil06’ calls it an “artificial way to pump up money into the game. Very hostile, [and] predatory to users, and the fact that there is only a 100 of each is an obvious FOMO farm.”
We’ve reached out to Gaijin Entertainment for further comment on the new Auction system, but the developer has responded to the announcement post.
“We released the Auction with the intention of making it an experimental feature, aimed to support community content creators. The items that will be offered for sale will be made by content creators and the authors of these items will get a percentage from the total sales as a reward,” Gaijin writes.
“We may add other cosmetic items besides the ones currently available during the Auction testing period. The purpose of the Auction is to provide an opportunity to purchase cosmetic items of interest without having to rely on luck, as well as to give authors the opportunity to receive a reward that corresponds to the demand for the items they create.”
If you’re looking for more we also have all the best tank games and WW2 games you can play on PC today.
You can also follow us on Google News for daily PC games news, reviews, and guides, or join our community Discord to stay in the know.