My God, they finally gave up on Games-as-a-Service for something.
If you played any amount of Chocobo GP, you know this is a big deal. Square Enix released the racing game last year to fairly mixed results, mostly due to all the goddamn microtransactions. Late last year, they announced that there would be no more major updates, and in January that they were discontinuing the premium currency (necessary for all those microtransactions), Mythril.
Now, the listing for the game has changed the release date to June 15, 2023. Why? Because they’ve now launched a version of the game without all of those microtransactions. Instead, you unlock characters and everything you used to have to pay for by playing the game (you know, how games used to be before an internet connection was expected for everything) and using in game currencies like tickets and gil. Battle pass is nowhere in sight.
Before you get too happy about that, though, know that they also got rid of the free “Lite” version of the game. If you try to load that version up now, you will be prompted to purchase the full game for $49.99 / £39.99. The good news is that your save data will carry over.
As for whether it’s worth the price, that’s really up to you. At the very least, the game is functionally complete now.
Source: Nintendo Life