Pay to win simply refers to a game where spending money provides players with a clear advantage in the game. However, even if a player bought all the most expensive upgrades, they could still lose a game if they entered a lobby and just faced the wall the whole time. For example, a while back Star Wars Battlefront 2 was accused of using pay-to-win mechanics because players could spend real money to buy better upgrades. That is to say, some people hear “pay to win” and think it means if you spend enough money you’re guaranteed to win, but that’s not really the case. I’ve seen a common misconception that the phrase is meant to be completely literal. One thing that I think is important to lay out before I discuss why Arena is pay-to-win is to explain how I’m defining the term. Final Payment | Illustration by Victor Adame Minguez
