‘Injustice 2’ Dev NetherRealm Explains Microtransaction System

NetherRealm Studios has officially announced that “Injustice 2” will feature a microtransaction system at launch. NetherRealm and Warner Bros. Interactive have made it clear that this system will not function as a “pay to win” feature.

The new microtransaction system on “Injustice 2” will involve what’s being called as Source Crystals. These will be the in-game currency that gamers will use to buy cosmetic features for their characters.

“Source Crystals can be purchased using real money but aren’t required to progress or advance in the game and can’t be used to purchase Gear or an advantage in gameplay,” NetherRealm said in its forum post. “We value our community and want to be clear – you cannot ‘pay to win’ with Injustice 2.”

Players will only be able to purchase cosmetic adjustments for their characters, Premier character skins and shaders for costumes. Shaders will let players make different color combinations, while Premiere skins will change a character’s look from top to bottom.

Source Crystals can also be used to Transform Gear, which allows players to perfectly match the overall look of a character’s costume based on a single piece of gear. Source Crystals can also help players level a character up to 20. However, this will only work if a player has at least one character that has already reached level 20.

NetherRealm stressed that Source Crystals will only be for buying customizations for the look of characters and that it won’t affect gameplay and game progression. Source Crystals can only be bought from the PSN and Xbox One stores and cannot be earned through playing. Pricing hasn’t been revealed yet.

It’s possible that NetherRealm will reveal pricing for Source Crystals soon since the “Injustice 2” director, Ed Boon, has already teased a “more aggressive” approach to DLCs, as pointed out by Game Rant. It would make sense the post-launch content plans will be revealed alongside pricing for the Source Crystals.

In other “Injustice 2” news, NetherRealm recently revealed that Firestorm has joined the roster of the upcoming fighting game. “Injustice 2” is scheduled to be released on May 16 for the PS4 and Xbox One.