Activision made $4bn on micro transactions in 2017.

oliverclaude said:

Back then it wasn't as cheap and while I agree, that it was for actual chumps to cheat, those cartridges were also used for import games. The latter demanded another micro transaction: you wanted to play japanese exclusives, you had to pay extra. You wanted to see the censored juvenile bath scene in Landstalker, you had to pay for the Action Replay code.

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No problem though because those things are actually desirable for a fairly niche market of gamers. I have never had any problem spending lots of money on imported games or equipment related to playing them. I don't think this is really comparable to the microtransactions we see today, where you pay for tempting bullshit that you usually don't need, or they completely gyp you like with FFXV and force you to keep paying and playing for an endless game (a game that sucks huge fucking cock)

It's having an edge on your preferred gaming experience versus having the implied needed "next mandatory or super awesome piece" that everyone else already has because its practically wafted into their nose through their automatically charged online credit card from the big flashy screen. Shit that you should be able to unlock by being good at the game is buy only these days, lots of the time I think anyway...? So its not even fun to play the fucking games anymore. Devotion to gameplay is no longer truly rewarded, its just biding time for you to pay more money when you're done what they have to offer. And not in the way that RPGs used expansion packs and such things either. Those were usually always really good expansions, for a good price, that come in packaging, made specifically for people who are devoted to the main game and have beaten all that it has to offer (which was always PLENTY)

Sylvie said:

I don't think this is really comparable to the microtransactions we see today, where you pay for tempting bullshit that you usually don't need, or they completely gyp you like with FFXV and force you to keep paying and playing for an endless game (a game that sucks huge fucking cock)...

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Valid arguments, everything has a beginning, though, just like Space Invaders being responsible for all later STGs. The search for sources often seems ridiculous, but once you see things from a different perspective, similarities are undeniable. Like in theorems.

Yeah, but that's not what we're talking about. We're talking about why the current situation with microtransactions and DLC is fucked up and shitty, not the prototypes to it that made perfect business sense.

Now that Loot Boxes are illegal in Belgium, It's only a matter of time before this goes to the next level. I never had a problem with DLC for some games as long as it was worth the extra money. Loot Boxes and Microtransactions are just awful.

Modern good games is so few and far between these days.

Sylvie said:

Yeah, but that's not what we're talking about. We're talking about why the current situation with microtransactions and DLC is fucked up and shitty, not the prototypes to it that made perfect business sense.

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Yep, you're right, I just addressed a side-aspect. Returning to the main topic, there is one positive facet micro transactions do offer: they extend the life of a game, hence resisting the throw-away society dictate, as I suggested earlier.

oliverclaude said:

Returning to the main topic, there is one positive facet micro transactions do offer: they extend the life of a game, hence resisting the throw-away society dictate, as I suggested earlier.

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Microtransactions require a server. A server requires ongoing expenses. When the server is shut off, the game ceases to exist. That's the opposite of extended life.

(And yes, even in games where the microtransactions are "optional", the game involves design concessions to those microtransactions, and the lasting value of the art is diminished as a result. Wondered why split-screen is gone?)

oliverclaude said:

Yep, you're right, I just addressed a side-aspect. Returning to the main topic, there is one positive facet micro transactions do offer: they extend the life of a game, hence resisting the throw-away society dictate, as I suggested earlier.

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I disagree. I think proper expansion packs and such in the form of DLC extend the game, but the majority of microtransactions are the BASIS of the game, and as Spammy up there said, everything is based on an expensive server. I find it completely fucking intolerable, so I sold my PS4 and all my games.

Sylvie said:

I disagree. I think proper expansion packs and such in the form of DLC extend the game, but the majority of microtransactions are the BASIS of the game, and as Spammy up there said, everything is based on an expensive server. I find it completely fucking intolerable, so I sold my PS4 and all my games.

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Hmmm... I think money extends a game's life and microtransactions provide it, which can finance proper expansion packs and such in form of DLC. Everything comes with a price tag, tough microtransactions may be a price to high to pay.

Viewpoint said:

Now that Loot Boxes are illegal in Belgium, It's only a matter of time before this goes to the next level. I never had a problem with DLC for some games as long as it was worth the extra money. Loot Boxes and Microtransactions are just awful.

Modern good games is so few and far between these days.

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Good. I hope this cascades to other countries and becomes a thing. Paid loot boxes need to be stopped.

Makes me wonder how much game devs make at that company.

Crazy that Warcraft, which came out 14 years ago, is still massively popular and profitable thanks to this kind of business model.

With this kind of news, and the idea that businesses are all about profits and pleasing shareholders, it makes me wonder how many designers will get told from higher-ups to focus on crafting a game based on microtransactions instead of the single-player experience. I haven't played a modern home game since the Wii era - how big are single-player games into microtransactions?

Here's an image that kind of explains what I was talking about:



When you can make serious profit on adding minimal updates and microtransactions to an already existing game, what incentive is there to create something new?

LoneSage said:

When you can make serious profit on adding minimal updates and microtransactions to an already existing game, what incentive is there to create something new?

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But was it really that "new" in the first place? Just adding the next number to yet another title in a franchise doesn't necessarily make it a new game. Granted, one L.A. Noire had a new gameplay system, but it didn't sell. The other games on that timeline are just iterations, macrotransactions, if you like.

To be fair Red Dead Redemption 2 is coming this year but that's still 4-5 years without a single new title even if it was to be a sequel. I was never into GTA Online which is where all of this micro-transaction bullshit exists. I'm just left high and dry like many others who wouldn't mind another single player experience every 2-3 years.