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Activision Blizzard Made $1.2 Billion From Microtransactions In Just Three Months

borborygmus

Member
Benefits to the ecosystem are this...

They exist.

You might not like them, but there's no denying they serve social, competitive gamers exponentially more than any single player game has ever done. A market historically underserved.

As Sid Meier once said "A game is a series of interesting choices" and those four games are interesting choice generators for a massive population of gamers.

We can debate about their merits, but they're all fresh franchises that provide newer gameplay mechanics.

Without F2P, the industry would be dominated by Uncharted 9, Gears of War 7, Final Fantasy 18, Gran Turismo 7, Mario 22 etc...

I think most people can appreciate how boring franchises generally are.

F2P gives developers an opportunity to take riskier chances in terms of gameplay design, and that's why it's objectively the healthier model.

I don't think "what's good for the industry" can be determined objectively, but arguments can be made.

The question that determines whether they are a net benefit is this (imho): generations later, will these games be studied as master classes of game design? Maybe "yes" in MBA programs, but "no" in game design as an art. The paradox is that the Mona Lisa was not made for commercial purposes, yet still draws paying crowds to this day, and I'd argue that it's these kinds of edifying works that are good for the ecosystem. And you can't study how to recreate that in an MBA program.

We lose something over time if we stray from making things under these kinds of principles.
 
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Men_in_Boxes

Snake Oil Salesman
I don't think "what's good for the industry" can be determined objectively, but arguments can be made.

The question that determines whether they are a net benefit is this: generations later, will these games be studied as master classes of game design? Maybe "yes" in MBA programs, but "no" in game design as an art. The paradox is that the Mona Lisa was not made for commercial purposes, yet still draws paying crowds to this day, and I'd argue that it's these kinds of edifying works that are good for the ecosystem.

I'm not sure why we have to wait.

The entire industry is studying what made Fortnite and PUBG the most revalotory games in the last 20 years. They've broken the paradigm. No other games have been studied more this generation.

And I'm talking about their game designs, not their payment models.

They've provided players with an entirely new set of choices to make during gameplay.
 

borborygmus

Member
I'm not sure why we have to wait.

The entire industry is studying what made Fortnite and PUBG the most revalotory games in the last 20 years. They've broken the paradigm. No other games have been studied more this generation.

And I'm talking about their game designs, not their payment models.

They've provided players with an entirely new set of choices to make during gameplay.

We have to wait because time would rule out that these games were just a fluke.

For a while everyone was analyzing Flappy Bird.
 
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Arkam

Member
Yeah I hear this a lot.

And it's fucking bullshit. Whales are responsible for those shitty business models and exploitative game design we have.
In my experience they are not. True whales are not prevalent in all ecosystems and often non factors. Its the normal player (the 3-10% who pay) that make up the lions share of MTX. The only business decisions I have seen whales influence regarding MTX, is when we make one or two ludicrously large/expensive bundles cuz we know a few will grab. Buts a tiny drop in the bucket. One of the games at my last company (not my game) had a couple whales that would spend ~$5k a month on the game. But the game was bringing in over a million a month. Mostly from those who spent $20-$50 a month.
 

Men_in_Boxes

Snake Oil Salesman
Yeah I already explained how targetting at the whales fucks it up for the fish.

But the fish loving these games kind of proves you wrong, no?

F2P is the land of the original IP.
Traditional model is the land of the sequel.

What more is there to say?
 
H

hariseldon

Unconfirmed Member
But the fish loving these games kind of proves you wrong, no?

F2P is the land of the original IP.
Traditional model is the land of the sequel.

What more is there to say?

People love junk food, doesn't mean it's the best thing they can eat. As for your F2P original IP vs traditional model sequels thing.. I mean honestly I have no idea where you're coming from with that one. It's like you're just making shit up as you go along.
 

NullZ3r0

Banned
I have no issue with MTX in free to play games. What I hate is devs like Ubi Soft gimping the in-game economy to force you to buy skins and weapons with real money. Normally at the end of AC games I'm flush with cash and loot from some side-hustle. Normally I can then buy any outfit or weapon I wanted. Not anymore. I'm just as poor as I was at the beginning.
 

Men_in_Boxes

Snake Oil Salesman
People love junk food, doesn't mean it's the best thing they can eat. As for your F2P original IP vs traditional model sequels thing.. I mean honestly I have no idea where you're coming from with that one. It's like you're just making shit up as you go along.

"Uncharted 9, the broccoli of the games industry."

The F2P juggernauts are largely new IP. The leaders in single player industry are rife with sequels.
 
H

hariseldon

Unconfirmed Member
"Uncharted 9, the broccoli of the games industry."

The F2P juggernauts are largely new IP. The leaders in single player industry are rife with sequels.

You're playing the wrong games. Plenty of good single-player non-microtransaction stuff that's not sequels.
 

IntentionalPun

Ask me about my wife's perfect butthole
Still never been bothered by microtransactions, and I've never actually bought one.

In fact I love games with loot and RPG mechanics.. and the very existence of MTX has encouraged devs to include those in many games that didn't have them before (it's also just... fun.. so there's that)... so they are an overall win for me lol
 

Javthusiast

Banned
Games don't need to be 70. it's just that companies can get away by charging more and they will happily do it in addition to all the mtx and battle passes.
 
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Men_in_Boxes

Snake Oil Salesman
You're playing the wrong games. Plenty of good single-player non-microtransaction stuff that's not sequels.

No, this is about the rot of the AAA single player business model vs the new green garden of the F2P business model!

Nature is taking it's course! The era of the dinosaur is over! We are witness to the rise of the mammal!
 

R6Rider

Gold Member
What's worse is people buy so many skins and use them for a short amount of time before buying new ones and never touching old skins again.
 
H

hariseldon

Unconfirmed Member
No, this is about the rot of the AAA single player business model vs the new green garden of the F2P business model!

Nature is taking it's course! The era of the dinosaur is over! We are witness to the rise of the mammal!

I assume your plan here is just to keep talking bollocks until anyone who disagrees with you just agrees because they can't be arsed anymore? It's a novel tactic, I'll give you that.
 
Gamers love their MTX. No matter how much they bitch and whine about it on the internet. Companies and devs know it.
It's weird how much backlash they get but are extremely profitable at the same time. Are people really that incapable of self control or is it a tiny fraction of people spending a ton. Would love to know exactly how many users they made that billion from. Things get real gross real quick. A good number of whales aren't financially stable, they merely forgo paying bills or eating to spend more on their addiction.
 

LarknThe4th

Member
It's weird, I have never bought any kind of micro transaction in my life, makes me feel old seeing as everybody else seems to be In that market
 
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