The Star Citizen cash shop has once more become the tinderbox for player rage: The starship sandbox recently launched the Argo ATLS, a single-person walker vehicle that effectively lets one player lift huge cargo boxes without needing any help, but many backers are crying foul over the price CIG is asking.
The ATLS is priced at either $35 or $40 depending on whether players get one with lifetime insurance or six-month insurance. To put that price into perspective, this individual walker vehicle that has a single purpose can cost nearly as much as a bundle that includes the game and an insured internet spaceship.
Many players argue that the ATLS is far too expensive for what is being called an overblown tractor beam, especially since it effectively reverses hand-held tractor beam changes that require two players to move a cargo container that the ATLS can handle on its own.
Multiple players call it a cash grab, and others are referencing a developer quote that claimed the ATLS is a tool, which they argue should not have been commodified. Even the comments of the game’s YouTube channel, which normally are extremely kind to CIG, are lambasting the decision in the comments for the vehicle’s trailer.
The ATLS went live this past Friday, so perhaps unsurprisingly there hasn’t been any human response to the furor over the past weekend as of the time this story is being written, so it remains to be seen whether CIG will perform an about-face. Either way, many players are shrugging at the ATLS.
