"Our focus at launch [is] on a great game experience. When we deliver this first major update, that's when we'll turn on the ability for players to spend money optionally.
"We thought long and hard about what's right for our game experience, and the key thing we think is that it has to add to the fun, social nature of the game. So anything in this area will not impact power or progression, and you'll always know what you're getting - so that means no loot crates."
The first paid content for the game will come in the form of pets. "It'll either be on a shoulder, like a monkey, or like a cat on the ship", explains Neate. "But it'll kind of benefit everyone socially and emotionally. So if I've got a cat, I can pick up it up and look at it, or you can pick it up and run off with it. Obviously when you put it down it'll come back.
"I really, really want to allow us to fire cats and other animals out of cannons. It'll land on its feet, it's a cat, it'll be fine!"
Beyond that, Rare's looking to include potions that can alter you cosmetically - like a draught that turns your character model old for a certain amount of time. The mission statement is that microtransaction items have "emotional value, not mechanical value."
As for why the game has microtransactions at all, Neate puts it down to the increased costs of running a game that will continuously add content beyond launch:
"It's always an interesting topic, but ultimately I have to look at the reality of running a game-as-service as a business. My goal and everyone else's goal here is to have as many people as possible working on this, and just keep giving people reasons to return, reasons to have fun. We have to run that like a business, you need revenue coming in."
So just to summarize here; - No DLC at launch. The first paid content update will focus on pets and will release later - No loot boxes. If you want something you can get that one thing specifically - The features for stuff like pets aren't even fleshed out or finalized yet. But they promise it won't be tied to progression - Every other content update is completely free. Stuff tied to gameplay mechanics, quests, etc. will not be paid content
What do people expect from a game like this? How would they handle a game like Sea of Thieves? Why is any of that stuff anti-consumer? ---