Step 1: Intro
In Need for Speed: No Limits, you play as a street racer trying to make it big in the underground scene. But definitely, no one plays the game for the story. What really matters is lots of racing and car upgrading and collecting. And monetization, of course, is all the way along with you.
Step 2: Racing
From the beginning, the player can take part in races at two locations on the map, i.e. two different racing scenarios, which respectively have different numbers of chapters:
CAMPAIGN
SPECIAL EVENT
(Click on pictures to learn more.)
Entering a race or restarting a failed race requires the usage of 1, 2 or 3 fuel points. A player can have a maximum of 10 fuel points at a time, which are refilled automatically around every 55 minutes. Winning a single race will unlock the next one along the roadmap with it eventually leading to the chapter accomplishment.
Campaign Interface
Special Event Interface
There are approximately 8 racing modes (called “Events”) in this game. Shown along a road map within each chapter, each race is featured with a specific mode and has an accompanying rating of either easy, average or hard.
Below is a list of the racing modes:
-
Rush Hour – Cross the finish line in the first place.
-
Time Trial – Cross the finish line quicker than the highlighted target time.
-
Delivery – Deliver the car without damaging it. Colliding with anything adds a time penalty.
-
Team Battle – Race against rival crew members.
-
Hunter – Catch your opponents and beat them to the finish line.
-
Nitro Rush – Cross the finish line before time runs out with the aid of nitro charge-up zones.
-
Blockade – Win the race with heavy police.
-
Airborne – Cross the finish line first with added jumps.
Step 3: Rewards
Cash: Cash is rewarded when winning a single race and is also one of the mystery prizes in chapter rewards. Performing in races certain skills like drafting, drifting, near miss, or getting air will net the player more cash.
Reputation points: Reputation points are obtained by winning races in Campaign or completing daily activities. Players’ reputation level will increase as they acquire more and more reputation points.
Performance parts: Performance parts are items that can be used to increase a vehicle’s performance rating (PR). There are six parts making up a car that can be upgraded: Engine, Turbo, Gearbox, Wheels, ECU, and Nitro. Each time when a player finishes a chapter in either scenario or reaches a higher reputation level, a performance part will be awarded and added to the Garage menu.
Blueprints: Blueprints are awarded at the end of a chapter in Campaign or a successful race in Special Event. Collecting a certain number of blueprints will make a new car available and upgrade the vehicle’s STAR level.
Gold: Gold is awarded upon reaching a new reputation level, finishing a chapter in Campaign, and completing daily activities.
Fuel points: Players' fuel tanks can be refilled when their reputation level progresses.
Wraps: Wraps are rewarded occasionally when winning a single race or completing driving milestones for each car. They're used to customize players' rides even further with access to a variety of different looks.
Participating in Campaigns and Special Events grant players opportunities to get the following rewards:
Step 4: Car upgrading & collecting
Reputation Level
Car Upgrading and Collecting
If we take a closer look at the aforementioned rewards, they actually contribute to two progressing systems in this game: one is the player’s reputation leveling up, apparently, and the other is car upgrading and collecting.
After players gain performance parts and blueprints by winning races, they can go to install the given parts to and upgrade the PR of the car in the Garage. (Loaned cars in Special Event can only be upgraded using exclusive performance parts obtained from the event in its Event Store.) Acquiring enough blueprints will unlock more cars building up to the player’s car collection and as well as upgrade the STAR level of the car.
Car Upgrading and Collecting Illustration
Winning races
Performance parts
PR
Car performance rating
Car blueprints
A new car from any of the following categories:
STREET
C.SPORTS
MUSCLE
SPORTS
SUPER
HYPER
The STAR level of each car
Step 5: Expansion
Expansion in this game also comes with the two different progressing systems.
On the one hand, as players reach specific reputation levels, more racing scenarios and in-game functions will be opened-up to enrich their game experience:
(Click on pictures to learn more about the new scenarios, functions, and rewards.)
LEVEL 5
LEVEL 10
LEVEL 15
CAR SERIES
UNDERGROUND RIVALS
TUNER TRIALS
CHAPTER 9 IN CAMPAIGN
CHOP SHOP
On the other hand, it is also very satisfying that gaining new cars and upgrading their collections will allow players to have a bunch more races to play since each car unlocks a side career. And indeed, this factor is closely related to the design of in-game barriers.
Step 6: Barriers
Just like many other free-to-play games, this game starts off with very easy access to victories and offer very addictive gameplay with lots of rewards, but as players progress further, they will feel the opponent AI players unbeatable with cars having increasingly higher performance rating (PR) and running super fast, and get forced to grind past races to collect rewards and upgrade their collections.
The game is also full of choke points where players cannot continue unless: (1) they have a certain car; or (2) one of their cars has reached a certain PR or STAR level; (3) they themselves have reached a certain VIP level.
And there is a design of barriers in car upgrading, too. Once a part of the car has achieved its maximum rating, its rarity can be converted to the next higher level through the use of conversion kits, and it thus becomes more difficult to collect the performance parts that match the rarity.
These barriers are exactly part of the mechanism devised to motivate more players’ activity and encourage more spending.
Step 7: Monetization –
In-game "commodities"
When players hit a plateau, the only way to create a breakthrough is equipping themselves with more useful resources contributing to their collections or their VIP level.
These resources can be categorized into two types based on a simple property: can be purchased or not. Thus, one category includes rewards like reputation points and underground scores, which can only be accessed through practicing and racing; and another category of resources is tagged with price, i.e. “commodities”, as they have both use-value and value (yet this point is questionable since no in-game labor is required to “produce” those items).
Anyways, if we see the resources that can be purchased with in-game currencies as “commodities” – at least they have monetary worth – then the commodities in this game are fuel points, performance parts, car blueprints, conversion kits, and Loading Docks crates which contain random performance parts and car blueprints.
Step 8: Monetization – In-game currencies #1: Cash
As mentioned in Step 3, cash is earned in-game by completing an event with the amount based on the player’s driver skill during that event. It can be used to purchase Loading Docks Crates, shift and buy performance parts and blueprints in Black Market, and get conversion kits that are used for car upgrading.
Step 9: Monetization – In-game currencies #2: Gold
Except for obtained as rewards, Gold is also the only in-game currency that can be purchased directly with real money in Store (though on some occasions, Cash came along within a pack for sale). With each purchase, players also receive VIP points, which can expand the maximum fuel points. Gold can be used for fuel points, conversion kits, premium Loading Docks crates, shifting and buying performance parts and blueprints in Black Market, flipping up more mystery prize cards when leveling up, and skipping races.
>>Skip Race
Step 10: Monetization – In-game currencies #3: Event Credit
Event credits can only be used in the Pro Store during Special Event, and can only be earned by racing in the event. Players need to save them for as long as they can and use all their spare event credits to grind for performance parts in Pro Store.
Exclusive in Special Event Store
Step 11: Monetization – In-game currencies #4: Scraps
Scraps are the main currencies in Chop Shop (unlocked upon beating chapter 9 in Campsign). Players gain scraps by selling their performance parts in storage, or by acquiring excess blueprints that are already at max star ranking from Loading Docks crates. The scraps can be redeemed at Chop Shop for any vehicle blueprints or any performance parts.
Step 12: Monetization – The real commodity
It's pretty straightforward that in this game, players can only spend real money on gold or packs including gold, cash, blueprints, VIP points. But absolutely, neither gold nor packs are just what they seem to be. They're a greater degree of customization, as a higher VIP level will unlock more wraps for players to build their own dream cars; they're also a more advantageous facility, as they can prevent players from the pay-or-wait dilemma and bring players more in-game boosts than when nothing is spent.
To put it crudely, therefore, players are actually spending real money to optimize their gameplay experience:
-
they cannot keep winning races if they don’t upgrade their vehicles or get a new car, they have to splash the gold to faster get a new motor that fit specific criteria and perform certain skills;
-
once they’ve got themselves a car, they’ll need to continuously upgrade it with new performance parts along the way, or they’ll be left behind in races;
-
the higher the level of the upgrade, the more performance and the more in-game money they’re going to get out of it;
-
and as players win more races, no matter in which scenarios, they’ll get more currency rewards to purchase more resources, which will lead them to even more victories and achievements.
Step 13: Conclusion
Basically, there is no much difference between NFS: NL and other free-to-play games in terms of the tactics of monetization. The developer and publisher are very careful to not block any players behind paywalls for anything. Each reward players gain from the game will push them forward in some shape or form, so players don’t have to spend money at all at the beginning. But as they become more and more addicted while more barriers prevent them from progressing, opening up the wallet is just a matter of time.
So be aware:
Anytime when you feel jealousy, unsatisfied, frustrated, and anxious, the companies are squeezing money out of you!
