The narrative around Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 is starting to sound like a broken record – but the live service lever-pullers have once again introduced a microtransaction roundly criticised by pretty much everyone who plays Treyarch’s shooter. Although the word microtransaction may not be the right word for what’s happened with Black Ops 4’s latest update, which went live yesterday.
In among the introduction of significant changes to Blackout, the addition of a new zombies experience for Black Ops Pass owners and the new Barebones mode for multiplayer is the new Home Wrecker melee weapon.
The Home Wrecker, which can be used in multiplayer and Blackout, was recently bigged up by Treyarch as a cool new weapon for Black Ops 4 that would obliterate your opponents in an explosive, bloody mush.
Official Call of Duty®: Black Ops 4 – Studio Livestream: March 26 Update Watch on YouTube
But then, the crushing blow: yesterday’s update made the Home Wrecker available for sale, but the only way you can get it is by buying the Triple Play bundle, which costs £20.
This bundle includes the hammer, a weapon crate that guarantees a MKII weapon from reserves as well as 10 loot boxes and 10 progression tier skips. Activision, of course, would argue the bundle offers value for money because of all the extras it offers. But for many Black Ops 4 players who are flush with unopened loot boxes, the bundle offers no value for money. They’re just in it for the hammer.
Which leads us on to the current condemnation: Black Ops 4’s new hammer costs £20. This isn’t technically true of course, because you can’t just buy the hammer, but you can understand where upset players are coming from on this.