Microsoft Silently Changes VIP Rewards for Forza 7

If you purchased the $100 Ultimate Edition of the upcoming Forza Motorsport 7, then you will have already gotten your copy of the game ahead of the general public. While the game does not officially release until this Tuesday (Oct. 3rd), the Ultimate Edition buyers have been able to play since last Friday.

After some close observations by fans, some have noticed that Microsoft has been silently making changes to the VIP pass listing. Initially, the listing claimed that WIP users would have permanent "CR" bonuses, a currency used to buy cars and upgrades in-game. Recently that listing has been changed to instead give the players five consumable mod cards, each with five uses. So instead of a permanent boost, they are getting 25 manually set boost. Unfortunately, they are on their own after that.

This has been yet another push towards changing the economic structure of the Forza franchise closer towards a microtransaction-heavy environment, the primary offense being the introduction of randomized loot boxes to the game. Can you guess where you get more Mod Cards? That's right - in those loot boxes.

Currently, the Microsoft Store rating for Forza Motorsport 7 is sitting at 1.2 stars, brought on by the heavy community retaliation in protest to these changes. Whether or not Microsoft will change their decisions is uncertain, though I fear that it will not improve for the better.