Current Events > Honestly, I am getting worried for the future of the gaming hobby.

(+) Yeah! (+)

Monetization has basically kicked into high gear towards the end of this generation, with bussinesses focusing increasing on the mobile, multiplayer markets, and more ridiculous season passes used. We seen stupidly greedy dlc practices, yet people are still buying the shit. Destiny is throttling experience gains to make the game grind fests, and bussinesses are increasing ignoring fan feedback in favor of higher profit margins.

I think the video game industry has suffered from severe monetization issues that can't be corrected because the causal market just don't care about getting fucked. They just buy the same overpriced products every year with minimum research done. Worst yet, sjws has essentially stolen the spotlight, so people are more concerned about rainbow haired clowns, than they are with actual exploitation. It is fucking sad

At this point, even Nintendo cucked out and started charging for a shitty online service that manages to feel like a rip off even at $20. Like even a pizza from Little ceasars X4 would micralously be a better deal, and they just released a investor meeting that signals they want to make even more money. The end times are near. Soon Netease style games will ripoff the consumers, and drive real developers to indie titles. I am not ready tbh

I mean, as long as people are buying it, why would they stop

They can't seem to break the $60 game cap, but development costs will increase, so they have to make up for it elsewhere.
---

gamers. rise. up.

in some ways its kind of a coming home moment, I mean the original microtransaction was a quarter at an arcade right
---

Muffinz0rz posted...

I mean, as long as people are buying it, why would they stop

They can't seem to break the $60 game cap, but development costs will increase, so they have to make up for it elsewhere.

This much is obvious, but bemoaning its implications isn't a crime. I think should understand its effects so it doesn't blindside us.

Games with microtransactions do way better in places like China, who are relatively new to gaming compared to the West, and don't have a stigma about microtransactions being a stupid ripoff. Those games are mostly not made for you and me.

I wouldn't worry. The indie market is alive and healthy, and there are plenty of people like you and me out there that won't drop a dime on a microtransaction, but will pay good money for a full, all-in-one video game.
---

Reis posted...

gamers. rise. up.

They are to busy crying about how lolicons are getting censored. That is where they draw the lines.

gta 3, vc, sa....tanks

gta 4, where is the tank? the ballad of gay tony....the DLC....theres the tank!
---

making games is expensive. making an A-tier game is exponentially more costly than it was 20 years ago, while game prices at the initial sale have remained more or less the same

stop being poor
---

Traditional gamers might see a crash, while developers try to one-up each other for mobile microtransaction dollars. The profit margins for a successful microtransaction platform are too good for publishers to pass up.
---

Weird how this pattern emerges in every entertainment industry
---

ohnoitschris posted...

Games with microtransactions do way better in places like China, who are relatively new to gaming compared to the West, and don't have a stigma about microtransactions being a stupid ripoff. Those games are mostly not made for you and me.

I wouldn't worry. The indie market is alive and healthy, and there are plenty of people like you and me out there that won't drop a dime on a microtransaction, but will pay good money for a full, all-in-one video game.

Investors crave endless economic profit and returns, which is not possible. If video game companies prefer money over their fanbase, which they logically should, we are a dying breed. We aren't big enough as a market to really keep these titles alive. Markets like candy crush casuals just are way to big and basically swamp us.

Antifar posted...

Weird how this pattern emerges in every entertainment industry

Thanks capitalism.

sims 1 and 2....billiards tables...sims 3, where is the pool table?? THE DLC
---

Balrog0 posted...

in some ways its kind of a coming home moment, I mean the original microtransaction was a quarter at an arcade right

Sort of, though the money went to the arcade themselves, who had to buy the machine outright. Arcade machines are extremely expensive. I don't really know about how much old ones cost, but like, Dance Dance Revolution machines back in the day generally ran around $7500. Brand new DDR A machines today, like you see at Dave & Busters and Round 1 are $20,000. Add in how many proprietary parts arcade machines use, and how much maintenance they need (a LOT), and it's kind of mind boggling how they're even profitable.
---

Just play PC games then
---

Antifar posted...

Weird how this pattern emerges in every entertainment industry

I don't think that I follow. Microtransactions seem to be very much a game specific thing to me.
---

I could stop buying new games and would be set for life on current and past generations of gaming.
---

Kaiganeer posted...

making games is expensive. making an A-tier game is exponentially more costly than it was 20 years ago, while game prices at the initial sale have remained more or less the same

Exponentially? What are the industry prices that risen so greatly. Advancements in technology and storage greatly cheapened some developmental costs. I wonder how long it will take to start outscoring some of this stuff to foreign underpaid techies.

YookaLaylee posted...

Just play PC games then

Huge intial and upkeep costs, to basically have the chance to pirate, which is becoming increasingly difficult. Quality still won't change anyway, so this is a moot point.

https://www.saving.org/inflation/inflation.php?amount=60

You're also forgetting that Bethesda delayed the release date for the $60 version of FO76 vs the more expensive versions
---

DanHarenChamp posted...

stop being poor

Even if I was a billionaire, I can't make games better. They will still decline in quality.

The quality has never been higher though
---

the only thing that worries me is the trend away from AAA single-player games in favor of mobile and multiplayer cash-grabs
---

Teddytalks posted...

Kaiganeer posted...

making games is expensive. making an A-tier game is exponentially more costly than it was 20 years ago, while game prices at the initial sale have remained more or less the same

Exponentially? What are the industry prices that risen so greatly. Advancements in technology and storage greatly cheapened some developmental costs. I wonder how long it will take to start outscoring some of this stuff to foreign underpaid techies.

I mean, thats where its going to go. Everything else has.
---

pogo_rabid posted...

https://www.saving.org/inflation/inflation.php?amount=60

You're also forgetting that Bethesda delayed the release date for the $60 version of FO76 vs the more expensive versions

Are you fucking kidding me. Why. Such a ripoff.

HydraSlayer82 posted...

Teddytalks posted...

Kaiganeer posted...

making games is expensive. making an A-tier game is exponentially more costly than it was 20 years ago, while game prices at the initial sale have remained more or less the same

Exponentially? What are the industry prices that risen so greatly. Advancements in technology and storage greatly cheapened some developmental costs. I wonder how long it will take to start outscoring some of this stuff to foreign underpaid techies.

I mean, thats where its going to go. Everything else has.

Already happened to some people in silicon valley

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-13784487

Instead of being more fiscally responsible, it seems these companies just waste a ton of money and pass off the costs to the consumers in the form of MTX.

I would like to believe this is an out of control marketing department trying to maintain their positions.
---

Teddytalks posted...

ohnoitschris posted...

Games with microtransactions do way better in places like China, who are relatively new to gaming compared to the West, and don't have a stigma about microtransactions being a stupid ripoff. Those games are mostly not made for you and me.

I wouldn't worry. The indie market is alive and healthy, and there are plenty of people like you and me out there that won't drop a dime on a microtransaction, but will pay good money for a full, all-in-one video game.

Investors crave endless economic profit and returns, which is not possible. If video game companies prefer money over their fanbase, which they logically should, we are a dying breed. We aren't big enough as a market to really keep these titles alive. Markets like candy crush casuals just are way to big and basically swamp us.

Think about it this way: There's a big enough demographic in video games to not just make printing physical copies of Switch games still profitable, but it's also still profitable and worthwhile to stock them in brick and mortar stores, and even for new publishers like Limited Run Games, who specialize in selling physical cartridges, to exist and make money.

I remember in 2005, being surprised that the PSP had physical games, since at that point we were hitting a point where it was feasible to download games online. 12 years later, the entire mobile and PC markets had gone all digital all the time, but the Switch still came out with games on cartridges, and turned out to be a huge success. People really like being able to just buy a game off the shelf and play it, no updates or anything required. And catastrophic crappy situations like Tony Hawk 5 shipping vastly incomplete on disc, with the entire rest of the game distributed as a giant day one patch, are still newsworthy and draw tons of outrage.

We are an aging demographic that's not the most profitable, but there's still plenty of money to be made from you and me. We're just not the target market for Activision Blizzard or Electronic Arts anymore.
---

And yet there's more great stuff to play than ever. Just play the stuff you like man. It's really not hard. You don't need to play every big game with a massive marketing campaign.
---

Balrog0 posted...

Antifar posted...

Weird how this pattern emerges in every entertainment industry

I don't think that I follow. Microtransactions seem to be very much a game specific thing to me.

Eh, shows/movies holding back content for the first release then expecting people to pay to see the full story later isn't that different tbh.

YookaLaylee posted...

The quality has never been higher though

Certainly not in many triple A titles. While the graphics are definitely better, fun factor stagnated and even declined. Less focus on mechanics, game flow and content, more on monetization, player engagement and appeasing share holders (diablo immortal). I can only argue this is true in indie titles. In main line titles, this is not the case for many of them.

YookaLaylee posted...

The quality has never been higher though

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCeEvQ68jY8" data-time="
---

Teddytalks posted...

YookaLaylee posted...

The quality has never been higher though

Certainly not in many triple A titles. While the graphics are definitely better, fun factor stagnated and even declined. Less focus on mechanics, game flow and content, more on monetization, player engagement and appeasing share holders (diablo immortal). I can only argue this is true in indie titles. In main line titles, this is not the case for many of them.

I completely disagree when there's stuff like Spider-Man, God of War, Red Dead Redemption 2, Horizon Zero Dawn, BOTW, Mario Odyssey etc. out there.

I don't even have time to play all of the AAA games I want to play because of how damn long and big they are.
---

Darmik posted...

Teddytalks posted...

YookaLaylee posted...

The quality has never been higher though

Certainly not in many triple A titles. While the graphics are definitely better, fun factor stagnated and even declined. Less focus on mechanics, game flow and content, more on monetization, player engagement and appeasing share holders (diablo immortal). I can only argue this is true in indie titles. In main line titles, this is not the case for many of them.

I completely disagree when there's stuff like Spider-Man, God of War, Red Dead Redemption 2, Horizon Zero Dawn, BOTW, Mario Odyssey etc. out there.

I don't even have time to play all of the AAA games I want to play because of how damn long and big they are.

The quantity of developers producing big titles can give the illusion of a overall higher quality of triple A titles, but per triple A franchise, we grew worse. You left out EA, Activision, Ubisoft, Bethesda, Capcom, Konami, to make this point. Nintendo price goughed their consumers with shit like the Fire emblem fates dlc, where the definitive edition was locked behind a fucking pay wall, so even then, they are growing increasingly sketchy as a publisher. Sony is ok, but is growing increasingly Draconian due to their hold on the market, and Rockstar with shark cards, while strongly committed to a strong single player experience still, has no problem focusing on multiplayer only content post release.

While there are alot of gems, there is also another of shit. I am not trying to gloom and doom, but I am trying to be realistic. Things are changing.

EA and Activision have always been spotty
Capcom have made a massive comeback in the last couple of years
Bethesda have expanded as a company and publish games like Prey and Dishonored
Konami suck sure

You can focus on all of the negative anti-consumer stuff all you want. But on the other side of the coin I've never found gaming to be more affordable. Games drop in price so damn quick thanks to sales. You can pay $10 a month to access hundreds of games if you want to. If you don't like DLC practices for a game you want to play just wait a year for the GOTY edition and you'll be paying a cheaper price anyway.

Maybe because I don't care about multiplayer stuff but I don't feel like I've been ripped off at all. I never buy microtransactions. That entire thing is a different market than me and I'm fine with that. Gaming isn't only about my tastes and preferences.
---