Credit and Power Pack Confusion.

[Voodoovaj]

I'm actually astonished at the amount of people that press Buy through multiple pages without ever looking at what they're buying.

Genuinely shocking. I had no idea they even added this new MTX before going to buy the pack but I didn't buy it as I wanted the Power Pack and looked and clicked the thing that said Power Pack? Not something completely different?

I'm 100% in agreement.

Fire up the game, go to the giant pirate ship, and boom - Power pack. The credit pack has "5,000,000" emblazoned across it, so it's not in any way, shape, or form deceptive. The Power Pack says "Power Pack"...I don't know how much more obvious it could be.

 

[Famine]

then loaded the game to see it was apparently already downloaded in the time between me paying for it and getting into my game

The data is within Spec III (I assume as the previously mentioned 1.64, as part of 1.65). What you buy is basically a key to unlock access to it.

 

[Thorson1987]

 

[benjoi84]

I'm actually astonished at the amount of people that press Buy through multiple pages without ever looking at what they're buying.

Genuinely shocking. I had no idea they even added this new MTX before going to buy the pack but I didn't buy it as I wanted the Power Pack and looked and clicked the thing that said Power Pack? Not something completely different?

I'm completely unsurprised that a large multinational company has tried slightly misleading and morally dubious tactics to make people part with their money (and succeeded) in 2025.

Welcome to capitalism, folks!

 

[Thorson1987]

I'm completely unsurprised that a large multinational company has tried slightly misleading and morally dubious tactics to make people part with their money (and succeeded) in 2025.

Welcome to capitalism, folks!

What is misleading about it.

There is a clear and obvious difference between the 2 items, and if you got through multiple pages to confirm the purchase and still get it wrong that's on you.

 

[benjoi84]

What is misleading about it.

There is a clear and obvious difference between the 2 items, and if you got through multiple pages to confirm the purchase and still get it wrong that's on you.

I agree, I bought the PP through the boat on the main screen. Then when I returned to the PS Home, I saw the thing and thought "well, that's obviously intentionally placed".

 

[eran0004]

I'm completely unsurprised that a large multinational company has tried slightly misleading and morally dubious tactics to make people part with their money (and succeeded) in 2025.

Welcome to capitalism, folks!

It seems like a case of expectation bias - your mind tricks you into seeing what you expect to see rather than what's actually there. It's not that it's misleading in any way, but rather that your mind is taking shortcuts and interprets the information incorrectly.

 

[Wannablackbee]

I'm actually astonished at the amount of people that press Buy through multiple pages without ever looking at what they're buying.

Genuinely shocking. I had no idea they even added this new MTX before going to buy the pack but I didn't buy it as I wanted the Power Pack and looked and clicked the thing that said Power Pack? Not something completely different?

Even Super GT did buy the 5 Million credits by mistake live on stream last Thursday while waiting for the maintenance period. I remember checking for Power Pack pricing and the first thing the ps store screen showed me is the 5 Mil MTX. I had to search and look for it to find it. And it is 39,99$ here in Canada.

 

[SPDN Stefano]

I'm actually astonished at the amount of people that press Buy through multiple pages without ever looking at what they're buying.

Genuinely shocking. I had no idea they even added this new MTX before going to buy the pack but I didn't buy it as I wanted the Power Pack and looked and clicked the thing that said Power Pack? Not something completely different?

Tbh when buying video game dlc it is not always spelled out completely what exactly you are buying. "Power Pack" is also a rather meaningless term. So I can understand the confusion.

There is no reason why a 5 million credits dlc pack should be the "highlighted dlc" on the PlayStation dashboard instead of the Power Pack that also includes 5 million credits.

 

[Lomic]

There is no reason why a 5 million credits dlc pack should be the "highlighted dlc" on the PlayStation dashboard instead of the Power Pack that also includes 5 million credits.

And for it to be created just on the same day and never seen before. If it is not shady, it is at least awkward.

 

[Famine]

"Power Pack" is also a rather meaningless term.

Yet it is the name of it. Surely if you are informed enough to know that there's a DLC pack, you'd be aware of its name and check to see if that's name of the thing you're buying before even the first click, never mind the third?

Maybe it's just because I'm a tight-fisted Yorkshireman who doesn't like giving any money away at all, but I'd read the name of the thing I'm buying.

There is no reason why a 5 million credits dlc pack should be the "highlighted dlc" on the PlayStation dashboard instead of the Power Pack that also includes 5 million credits.

5 comes before P when alphabetically sorted. The two were published at the same time.

The other Add-Ons for GT7, all released on March 4th 2022, are - in left-to-right order - 100,000cr, 2,000,000cr, 250,000cr, and 750,000cr. That is again alphabetically sorted. Date order, then alphabetically sorted, and the highlighted Add-On is the left-most one (5,000,000cr). I don't need to, because it's obvious, but I'll note that they are not in price order.

Just scanning across other games in my library with Add-Ons, the order for Project Motor Racing is "Project Motor Racing: Year 1 Season Pass" (28th November), "PMR: Group 5 Revival Pack" (25th November), and "PMR: GTE Decade Pack" (25th November). As you can see, this is also date order and then alphabetically sorted - and the highlighted Add-On is the left-most one (Project Motor Racing: Year 1 Season Pass). They are also not in price order (Group 5 is £1 cheaper than GTE, and the Season Pass obviously is the most expensive).

TDUSC doesn't have a highlighted add-on, but its Add-Ons are, L-R, "Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown - Diamonds Large Pack", "Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown - Diamonds Premium Pack", "Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown - Diamonds Small Pack", "Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown - Diamonds Standard Pack", "Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown - Diamonds Starter Pack" (all released on July 23rd 2025), and then "Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown - Upgrade to Gold Edition". I'm sure I don't need to restate that this is also date order and then alphabetically sorted, and not in price order either (which goes 2nd most expensive, most expensive, 4th, 3rd, 5th).

As we can see, it's very easy to point fingers and alledge deception, when the reality is usually just prescriptive stupidity.


Personally, if I were either SIE (which controls this sort of thing) or PD (which does not) I'd want the new shiny game experience highlighted, and not the MTX, to draw people into the game.

After all, you can sell more MTXs to people who have the game than to people who don't. Well, usually.

 

[Ryan81]

Yep, did the same as the OP. Sneaky how both the Power Pack and 5 million credits cost exactly the same. On the PS UI the only image that's available is the 5 million credits. Lesson learned, I guess. Never assume anything and read things a million times before committing.

 

[ZevZoq]

lol. Yeah, if you go in the game and click on the boat it's all good. The problem is the brand shiny new little button that appears on the PS game page before you even enter the game. That's the sketchy bit of BS. It shouldn't be there. The actual power pack should be. It's laughable. Obviously a lot of people are going to blindly assume that new button that appeared on their screen which says "add-on" costing $39.95 on a day when a pre-publicised actual add on pack costing $39.95 is released is the new add-on pack they've been waiting for. Should people be more wary of what they are clicking on? Absolutely. Is Sony making extra bank off knowing some people won't pay close-enough attention? Obviously. I mean here we are a week later and that stupid 5M credit pack is still the thing that appears there before I load the game every day! After a week of Sony getting calls from people making this mistake! Come on...

 

[Famine]

That's the sketchy bit of BS. It shouldn't be there. The actual power pack should be.

As noted above, it's there because it's the most recently available thing and alphabetically first of the most recently available things. This is, as far as I'm aware, is how all Add-On listings work: left-to-right in date and then alphabetical order, with the leftmost (newest-then-alphabetically-firstest) one highlighted if one is highlighted.

That's literally the reason. Nothing more nefarious than prescriptivity.

And of course the 5,000,000cr pack was made available at the same time; the pack's needed to provide the 5m bonus in the Power Pack.


The ship is also particularly interesting, as PD explicitly stated that you get the DLC by going to the ship but didn't mention the PS Store at all. It actually left a few people confused as to whether it would even be in the PS Store (obviously it would be; it was always obvious that clicking on it would take you right to the correct PS Store listing)... and was almost like PD wanted you to do it this way for some reason.

@Ryan81's reaction is a healthy one:

Lesson learned, I guess. Never assume anything and read things a million times before committing.

 

[ZevZoq]

Honestly, am I to believe there is no way Sony could have avoided having that 5M credit shill package being the high-lighted item on the game screen?? Seriously? They can't possibly include 5M credits in the power pack without creating a seperate 5M credit mtx category that conveniently costs exactly the same amount as the power pack? I don't recall seeing anything there where that button is before the power pack release last week...if it's just the last item alphabetically why was there nothing there before?

 

[jrbabbitt]

Just look at the brighter side of life... you now have 10 million credits to use....

 

[ZevZoq]

Just look at the brighter side of life... you now have 10 million credits to use....

lol...for only another $80 (cdn) you can have a single, bright shiny 20M LCD car!

 

[Famine]

Honestly, am I to believe there is no way Sony could have avoided having that 5M credit shill package being the high-lighted item on the game screen?? Seriously?

I mean, I didn't suggest that it couldn't. At best I suggested nobody cared enough to make it any different than the standard format which highlights (where one is highlighted) the alphabetically first of the most recently added Add-Ons.

They can't possibly include 5M credits in the power pack without creating a seperate 5M credit mtx category that conveniently costs exactly the same amount as the power pack?

In fact the 5m is cheaper by proportion than any other credit pack. All the others scale by almost exactly 40%, and that scaling from 2m to 5m would give a price of $39.99. It seems that it, and it alone, is discounted to be 75% the price.

As for the rest of it, do you recall what the credit pre-order bonus for GT7 was? It was 100,000cr, which is also the lowest MTX. Do you recall what the 25AE bonus for GT7 was? It was 1.5m credits, which is also 6x the second-lowest MTX (250,000cr) - plus the 100,000cr if you pre-ordered it. The actual reason for that is game-related: these bonuses are classed as Paid Credits, which the game spends only once your Free Credits (earned) are exhausted.

I imagine that they could have delivered the 5,000,000cr as 2x 2,000,000cr and 4x 250,000cr rather than a single 5,000,000cr, but looking back at the artwork for the Power Pack DLC kind of made it obvious that there'd be a specific 5,000,000cr MTX:

... as it's exactly the same as the other MTXs but in a different colour and with a different value. Nobody picked up on that though.

And renewed interest in the game is a chance for SIE to increase monetisation. There's actually so many Free Credits in the Power Pack that the bonus itself is irrelevant (although if you want more than your first Supra GT Road Car it'll get expensive quick).

I don't recall seeing anything there where that button is before the power pack release last week...if it's just the last item alphabetically why was there nothing there before?

Some games have highlighted Add-Ons. Some don't. I don't know what the reason for that is.


Again, the reason why the 5m credit MTX is highlighted is nothing more than prescriptiveness. Double-again, it does not contain the words "Power Pack" anywhere in it nor gives the impression it is the Power Pack DLC, and if you're sufficiently informed to know that there is a DLC to buy you should probably be aware of what it's called and make sure not to click past three screens that check if you really want to buy this thing. It could not be any clearer that the 5,000,000

I mean, I get being cross at yourself because you made a mistake but... this much outwardly directed outrage isn't healthy.

 

[ZevZoq]

there's no outrage from me. There's cynicism. It's a fairly obvious case of a corporate entity doing things in the way that benefits them instead of the consumer. They know people sometimes don't pay close enough attention with this sort of thing. Did they do anything beyond the absolute bare minimum to avoid people making this mistake? Are they now - knowing people are making this mistake - doing anything to prevent it from happening more?

And yeah, it's nice of them to give us a "break" on the price of those 5M credits...but I would argue that a more reasonable (aka less laughable) price for 5M credits would be something like $5. Yes that's right. $5. That way, a person could use $20 real dollars to buy a 20M LCD car. $20 seems like a reasonable price for one frikking digital car in a video game.

 

[Voodoovaj]

Even Super GT did buy the 5 Million credits by mistake live on stream last Thursday while waiting for the maintenance period. I remember checking for Power Pack pricing and the first thing the ps store screen showed me is the 5 Mil MTX. I had to search and look for it to find it. And it is 39,99$ here in Canada.

Fun fact, games used to have game manuals. Then the manuals got smaller. Now, SOME, have pdf files that you can download if you care to.

GAMERS DON'T READ - The rush to action first, and then puzzle when the outcome doesn't match the expectation. The 5 million credit pack is in the same format as the other credit packs, which have been in place for years now. The Power Pack selection matches the Power Pack artwork on the website.

It quite literally could not be more clear.