Since its launch, The First Descendant has received criticism from both players and critics. Despite the mixed reception, Asmongold defended the microtransactions in a recent stream.
On July 14, Asmongold reacted to a video by ParallexStella titled “Why The First Descendant and Other Korean Games Have So Many Microtransactions, explaining why Korean games have so many microtransactions and how the rest of the world (particularly U.S. players) view them.
Asmongold responded, “I’m going to have a hot take. Get ready to get mad. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with The First Descendant’s microtransactions at all”
Asmongold continued by saying the game is “quite good” on the ethical scale. He praised the game for not having loot box or gacha mechanics and for not putting any content behind a paywall.
“Most of the things you can get in the store are available in the game for time spent instead,” Asmongold said when talking about The First Descendant’s shop.
The First Descendant currently has a critic metascore of 57 and a user score of 5.1. One of the main problems the players seem to have with the game is the microtransactions, which many believe are overpriced.
Asmongold’s reaction to The First Descendant’s microtransactions certainly raised some eyebrows among the community, but he isn’t wrong about his reasoning. You may not agree with his opinion, but it’s true the game doesn’t gate any content behind a paywall and that all items in the shop are cosmetics, small boosts, or time savers.
Ultimately, everyone has their own opinion about microtransactions and what they consider pay-to-win, and Asmongold is no different. Regardless of how you might feel about the game’s monetization, it’s definitely doing something right, given how it managed to draw over 10 million players in its first week.
