In a bid to become more like Facebook, video game publishers are moving from retail to gaming-as-a-service, but hi-tech schemes capable of convincing players to part with cash may bring about its downfall.

Activision, the firm behind multi-player games like World of Warcraft, Hearthstone and Overwatch, was met with vitriol after a secretive project to pit players against each other based on their personality, encouraging them to pay for performance boosters to beat their opponents.

The so-called “matchmaking” is tipped to make the $54bn (£38bn) company huge, recurring revenue. But it sparked fury when the design was discovered in patent filings late last year. Activision says it has not applied the system to its games yet.

But it is not the first games giant accused of steering customers. EA Games was forced to temporarily halt “lootboxes” in its highly anticipated Star Wars release. The $36bn company was inundated with complaints after adding pay-to-win elements to Battlefront II. Players were given the opportunity to level up by making online payments to EA. For the chance to play as a classic Star Wars character like Darth Vader customers had to pay extra. Within days, EA Games reduced the cost of each character and brushed it off as a trial-gone-wrong.