When Forza Horizon 2 races onto the Xbox One on September 30, long-time series’ fans will notice a distinct lack of proprietary currency, only useful for buying virtual cars and other accoutrements within the game.
Though these “tokens” were an omnipresent hallmark of Forza Motorsport 5, developer Playground Games prefers to grant players new cars based on their in-game performance, instead of their meatspace bank accounts. “The approach we’ve taken is that we’ve designed our game at Playground Games from the ground up to be fair, to be fun, to be rewarding,” creative director Ralph Fulton told Digital Spy. “That’s incredibly important to us. For that reason, we will launch in September without tokens.”
The idea, Fulton claims, is to offer players the ability to switch vehicles on a whim without having to spend real money to do so. “We want to enable you, at very regular intervals, to be able to change your car, pick a new one from the list,” Fulton said. “If that doesn’t work out, you’re able to buy a new one really quickly.”
Unlockable cars will still be a cornerstone of Forza Horizon 2, but in lieu of a token-based marketplace, the game institutes a nigh-random prize wheel at the end of each race. If you’re incredibly lucky, you could win a sole event and drive away in a $2 million Bugatti Veyron.
