14 DAY TRIAL // The development team at DICE and publisher Electronic Arts announce that the Battlepacks that have been introduced to Battlefield 4 can now be purchased by all those who are interested in them with real-world money.
Regular players can still spend their time with the first-person shooter in order to get access to them, but the two companies say that they are eager to make sure that those who might have the disposable income but cannot play for as long can still compete in the long term.
The official announcement explains that, "we are introducing a new way to acquire Battlepacks, the bundles of content that provide a mix of in-game items including accessories, emblem shapes, profile pictures, dog tags, XP boosts, knives, and paints. Battlepacks can still be earned through normal gameplay progressions, but we are now giving players the option to purchase Battlepacks as a shortcut to catch up with their friends on the Battlefield."
Gamers who are interested will need to pay 1 dollar or Euro for a Bronze version of the Battlepack, 2 dollars or Euro for the Silver version and 3 dollars or Euro if they want access to the Gold package.
Battlefield 4 packs can be picked up on the official Origin digital distribution service from Electronic arts, on the official Battlelog site, on the Xbox Live Marketplace from Microsoft, the PlayStation Store from Sony or the in-game store front.
The Battlepacks do not guarantee access to any sort of weapon or other content for Battlefield 4, but gamers who are feeling lucky could get access to some cool hardware that can then be used in multiplayer.
It's unclear why DICE and Electronic Arts have chosen to introduce real-money trading for the first-person shooter and the initiative is guaranteed to attract some criticism from the loyal player base of the franchise.
Recently, rumors have been suggesting that the next title in the Battlefield series is called either Hardline or SWAT and that it will focus on smaller battle spaces and more varied modes.
The title might be delivered as soon as the fall of this year on the PC, the PlayStation 4, the Xbox One and current-gen consoles.
Until then, gamers will get access to two final downloadable content packs for Battlefield 4, one of which is called Dragon's Teeth, which are being created by a DICE studio in Los Angeles and will be offered all through summer.