Apparently, the PSN Store has been updated with the coin purchases and it's not looking very nice.

Deal is, you get your initial FOB for free but 3 others must be bought using Mother Base Coins. They cannot be earned and seems like it will cost ~5000 MBC to unlock 4/4 available FOBs.

Here is a link to interview with Robert Peeler talking about micro-transactions (spoiler free discussion):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1RrIIAw6Ho&feature=youtu.be&t=4242

Source: http://metal-gear.net/2015/08/31/mother-base-coin-aka-in-game-currency-prices-revealed/

Mother Base Coins cannot be earned in-game:
https://twitter.com/AshleyGrindley/status/637436300795232256

Best Value

So is it confirmed that these coins are only for use in FOB? No single player "accelerators" or anything?

This mode, i'll stay far away. Not even a problem for me, considering the scope and the amount of things to do in MGSV. Although, it should be said, this should NEVER be in a full priced game EVER.

They are used for other stuff as well, such as accelerating weapon development and so on.

Sorry, I haven't been following along. Is it impossible to gain mbc organically?

@bceagles128: Nope. Purchased only.

The important thing to note here is you do get one FOB for free. So you CAN still participate in the FOB mode and I do believe I heard there are ways to get at least a trickle of MB coins for logging in and other stuff. Considering they give you at least one base for free Im.. well I can't say I'm "ok" with it but I'm at least not angry that I'm locked out of a mode.

They said this stuff is strictly for people who don't have the time to unlock stuff organically in MP. Nothing is locked out. I guess it would suck if they make it so you have to really grind for unlocks, but we don't know if that's the case yet.

Wow that's insane. Yeah this game metacritic is going down the toilet. Say goodbye to that gamespot 10/10 and any GOTY awards. "Guaranteed game of the year" my ass. Damn.

@thephantomstranger: I have to assume this is sarcastic? The score may go down yes but the vast majority of people are playing this for the single player mode. And at the very least, you have to assume that it will be a strong goty contender at gamespot.

Sounds like brad is reviewing based on his tweets last night, so we should know where gb falls on it soon. I'm pretty sure Dan will have it ranked high and Jeff will not. Beyond that it's wide open but Brad certainly liked GZ a lot...

This is why review events are dumb.

The war economy trades only in Big Boss Bucks.

"Micro... transactions? Colonel! What's an F2P mechanic doing here?"

From what i've seen, its all MGO stuff. Like the cash cards in GTA V.

Personally, I see it as unfortunate, but I don't often partake in competitive play anyway.

Yeah, this is gross. No reason for it whatsoever.

@bceagles128: Maybe I went a bit over the top but I still imagine that this will cause most of those perfect 10/10 to bump down to 9/10 and the microtransactions will at least give people pause when talking about in GOTY discussions. Plus the coins also act as accelerators for base and item development and considering some of those take over 2 hours to build. No game is good enough to outweigh that negative. I like Metal Gear. I will probably love this game. This game doesn't deserve perfect scores or GOTY awards if items take over 2 hours to build, it stops counting while the game is off too, that could be accelerated via microtransactions. I hope when I play this I'm blown away and this whole post seems laughable...I hope at least.

I don't know but, if the coins can be earned through in game tasks the same way that money can be earned through in game tasks in GTO I'm okay with it all.

I don't mind the cash card it is like a boost for people who don't have the time or skill to do jobs and other things for money but want to buy certain stuff. From what I hear that's how the coins are to be used.

I can only hope. a fool and his money are soon part and if one wants to pay for cheat codes-so be it. So long as your cheat codes don't give you something I can't get any other way.

@ddi_kazal_st_drebin: From what we have heard from official sources, coins cannot be earned ingame and they are the only way to unlock additional FOBs. They are not required, but will give you access to more resources and such. GTAV cash cards are different because they simply give you in-game currency.

The review event for this game ends up looking pretty bad, reviewers assigning a score and recommendation while bypassing much of the actual game play and challenge. I've also heard that many of them didn't see significant portions of the story (up to and including the ending!) or any of the microtransaction stuff. I was a little surprised to see Gamespot reviewing a game in this way, sending their "Crazy Metal Gear Guy" Peter Brown to handle it, but I guess I shouldn't be too surprised as they probably want the traffic that day -7 10/10 review would bring, which is presumably quite a bit.

I'm usually not one to suspect impropriety wherever I look in the games press, but all these early reviews seem like huge ads to me. Just contributing to the whole "SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY" "THROWING MY WALLET AT THE SCREEN" "TAKE ALL MY MONEY" internet consumer culture I guess.

This is disgusting. Seeing this just after that goddamn Deus Ex trailer makes it even worse.

Fuck all video games forever. -- Jeff Gerstmann

You thought it was Kojima but it was me, Michael Transactions!!!

God dammit, Michael.

Added a link to a tweet from Metal Gear Community Manager who clearly says the coins cannot be earned in-game.

I am so unsure about getting this game. I wish Redbox carried it.

You're pretty good.

Yup, it's highly suspect and I personally would not trust any of the reviews that were formulated under such conditions.

Anything over $10/€10 should not be qualified as a "micro" transaction.

This is unfortunate and kind of scummy from Konami, but it doesn't detract from the single-player campaign, which is ultimately what I (and presumably most players) are really interested in. If I can still engage in the FOB stuff without paying, then fine.

I wouldn't be surprised if this was a contributing factor into Kojima's falling out with Konami.

@ttthrasher: The number of FOBs increases the amount of outer ops missions in the single player you can dispatch soldiers on at a time. MB coins also act as accelerators to base development in single player and some development times take over 2 hours to the point where some early player at neogaf said he/she missed when development time was only 2 hours. Even the one free FOB will likely be meaningless and better turned off if players can develop all the high level items instantly through microtransactions and thus become an unstoppable force. It's fucked.

Yeah hopefully the impact on the game is minimal. If it's mostly in this mode I can do without.

@crommi:

So it may not be a either play for or pay for reward system. too bad.

but if FOB's are just ways to get more resources for single player- I still don't mind it. More FOB's means more resources in the end $ is being used to affect the single player. The effect on online is that the person paid $ for that gun camera instead of hours.

I hope

Imaizumi from Konami said MB Coins were rewarded by playing missions, though.

Here's the tweet: https://twitter.com/Ken1555/status/630571490786717697

They are so close to getting it. Please don't break your own potential masterpiece...

@thephantomstranger: lmao. I.got.the game 3 days earlym. Offline cuz servers aren't on. Can tell u right now game is amazingm

@catlicker: He meant GMP.

People will hack this on PC in like 5 minutes tho.

He was and is still talking about ingame currency, not MB coins.

https://twitter.com/Ken1555/status/638015030512873473

@trashmustache: Have you finished it yet? How long does it take to develop an item past rank 3? How long for new motherbase platforms? What's the longest development time?

@crommi: Then it stinks, and it must be some bad shit.

Ken sort of made it sound like you can get more FOB bases with GMP; at least, that's the impression I've got.

Any ways, microtransactions should never be defended, and that includes saying "this doesn't affect me" -- don't say that, that's a very short-sighted view to have. Microtransactions are bad and they will always affect your experience of a game.

@trashmustache: I really hope this isn't meant to be sarcastic.

Holy shit, I was literally herventilating at work today with excitement over getting to come home, wait until 9PM and play the shit out of it. By the averages of what everyone is saying, it seems like this MT bullshit evens out to being "gross, but not totally a heavy interference". I pray to any God who's listening that this, at the very least, is true. They are SO, so close to making maybe my favorite MGS, please don't absolutely fuck it up, Konami. Please.

This is sort of a bummer. I planned on constantly invading my friend and stealing the least important things.

This goat now belongs to me.

But as someone who got an early copy, I've played about 12+ hours and Ive completed 17%. There has never been a better stealth game.

Everything looks gross when it's in Australian or New Zealand dollars.

@kasaioni: I defend the ability to buy in-game currency in racing games, is that okay? It makes people happy to be able to skip the fun and the grind in exchange for money and it doesn't affect me. Same with this, I get one FOB for free, the others are just boosters, like the exp boosters planned for MGO.

I do however think that games like Evolve should not be defended for what they had in their $60 package, and how gross they went with DLC. This is nothing compared to EA games.

Being able to pay for things you can get IN-GAME = Fine, acceptable, and actually sometimes a good option for people.

Paying for shit that is not available any other way but is already on the disc = bullshit

Is it? someone transfer it so Zanzibarland bucks.

@somejerk: So instead of $80 it's $60. Woo. What an amazing value.