s&box
Microtransactions in s&box are summarized as...
The game launches for 20 USD, but with an intention to go free-to-play after roughly 2 years.
The game is a content creation platform where players can create their own game modes, or even fully fledged games. In this sense it is closer to a game engines but with a content exploration system built in. The game is fully customizable, including any cosmetic content. Player characters, skins, effects, etc, can all be downloaded for free and added from external sources.
Despite that the game also features its own premium cosmetic content. This largely comes in the form of player cosmetics such as hats, clothing, and more. These can be purchased in a store where some of the items are only available for a limited time or a constant rotation. The sales of these cosmetics is meant to go towards a "playfund". This is a collective pool that pays creators on the platform for their created game modes. You as a creator can get paid based on the time other plays spend in your creations. The finances of this are publicly visible, showing exactly how much money was earned through each cosmetic, and showing exactly how much money was paid out to specific creations.
Game modes may also implement their own monetization, but with some limits. The creators do not want the platform to follow similar platforms with creations that are heavily monetized.
Many cosmetics can also be purchased via a player controlled market place where anyone can sell their earned cosmetics for any price. This may result in some items being sold for ridiculously high prices. These prices are not set by the developer.
As the game is largely made up of user generated content, users can choose to upload any sort of content and moderation of the platform is key to the quality of what you are getting. As it stands a significant portion of creations use AI generated content. This is in line with the terms of service of the game.
The game being a game engine is further shown by the fact that you can export your creations as fully fledged games that can be published on Steam as stand alone games, just like any other engine. The game must be published on Steam but may also be published and monetized on other platforms. This is completely free and there is no revenue split.
