Lost Ark has been out for less than a month, but Michael ‘shroud’ Grzesiek has already spent an insane amount on microtransactions, and he revealed exactly how much on stream.

Shroud’s attitude towards Lost Ark has come full circle. Shortly after it launched, he claimed it was the most boring game he’s ever played. He backflipped on those claims a week later though, admitting he’d become addicted to the game.

Since then, he’s defended it from people claiming it’s ‘pay-to-win,’  insisting every MMORPG is pay-to-win to a degree and telling them to “get over it.”

Now, he revealed the insane amount he’s spent on microtransactions in just a few short weeks.

The topic came up while looking at his Steam purchase history. “You can see my purchases back in 2008 and 2009,” he said. “I bought three things in one year, equalling up to $100. That’s about how it happened each year.”

Things ramped up in 2013 and 2014. He was surprised to learn he’d made “hundreds of purchases” in those years, describing it as “insanity.” Then, he skipped through and realized how much he’d spent on Lost Ark.

“And then Lost Ark happened,” he said, pointing out all the $100 transactions on his account.

After tallying them up, he came to a rough estimate. “There has to be over $2000 spent on Lost Ark. There just has to be.”

Shroud told fans the microtransaction splurge has caused him to advance through content so quickly that it’s limiting the content he can do. For that reason, he’s hesitant to spend another dime unless he needs to.

According to SullyGnome, he’s streamed the game for more than 100 hours, racking up an average of 19,000 viewers per stream. So, although he’s spent quite a bit on it, it’s enriched the experience for him and his viewers.

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