Final Fantasy’s new kart racer is rife with microtransactions, despite $50 price

If you’re interested in Chocobo GPA full-priced, $50 kart racer was launched by thrasher Thursday. But, it turns out that microtransactions are everywhere and that upsells can also be found in the game. Irate Final Fantasy fans who paid the freight say they feel duped, and those who play even the free, “lite” version available on Nintendo Switch say the whole thing feels like something you play on your phone.

It’s a good game. You can choose a Final Fantasy or chocobo character to zip along a course and gain speed boosts or defeat your opponents with magic spells or power-ups. As for the rest of the game, “everything is [built] around purchasable season passes despite it being a paid game,” wrote one player on the Final Fantasy subreddit. “[I]t’s basically the same currency systems we see in gacha games, only it’s all for minor cart customization shit.”

Racers and levels may be unlockable. However, you can only buy karts or outfits at various shops with more than one currency in the game. Players have to keep track of Gil and tickets, which they earn from playing the game, and then there’s Mythril, which is available only with real money.

“[I] booted up the game, was greeted immediately with ingame currency you buy with mtx,” said one redditor, “battle pass to get rewards with two tiers, and the entire design making it feel like my nintendo switch is a phone. Like am I paying a $50 game or a f2p mobile game?”

Progression through the game’s Prize Pass also feels slow and stingy, according to some players. After an hour of playing online, one player tweeted that he felt slow and stingy. Chocobo GPHe was the winner of a tournament. was only Level 7 — barely one-tenth of the way toward level 60 and its ultimate reward, a playable Cloud Strife.

There’s also the matter of the Prize Pass’ cost itself. This costs 800 Mythril. To be honest, premium games may also offer a battle pass. While the first season is functionally free, returning players 800 Mythril once players log on, they still have to buy said Mythril, and that’s ordinarily $10 for 1,000 in the currency.

A launch promotion is giving out 1,600 for $8, but that’s effectively only $2 off if you’re only in it to unlock things in the Prize Pass. Further, the 800 Mythril you get paid back from the Prize Pass expires if you don’t use it within five months. It’s clear Square Enix wants players to acquire and spend that Mythril even if they don’t want anything it buys.

“I wonder how long it will take for Square Enix to learn that just because games like Destiny 2, Call of Duty, and FIFA are able to double dip doesn’t mean they can do it too with their lower budget games,” another player wrote on Friday. “You either need the content or the brand to do it, ideally both. Chocobo GP has neither of the two.”

Kotaku On Friday, it was noted that the Mythril real-money economy wasn’t present when gamer reviewers played it. Some reviewers were still able to see its purpose. “Watching [unlockable characters] Squall and Cloud get relegated to a season pass and/or Gil purchases just brought my enjoyment down outright,” wrote Destructoid, “because these crucial cast members should just be in the game with no strings attached.” The review called for the elimination of the Prize Pass and a price cut to make the game “way more enticing.”

Square Enix was contacted by Polygon to provide additional comments on the Prize Pass, microtransactions and player reactions.