in app purchases wrecking the state of gaming

mngl1500

mngl1500

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I very interesting read on in app purchases wrecking the state of gaming. The language in the videos is slightly NSFW.

http://www.baekdal.com/opinion/how-inapp-purchases-has-destroyed-the-industry/

It is spot on with how Dungeon Keeper mobile is free but to mine a square can take up to 24 hours, unless you pay to speed it up.

And then an article from last before that even maps out look at all these top grossing games and look at how many of them are "free"

http://www.baekdal.com/opinion/optimizing-your-industry-to-the-point-of-suicide/
 
I'm not a big fan of in-app purchases, but they obviously work ... if consumers didn't buy them then they would have been abandoned a long time ago ;)
 
kbrickley said:
I'm not a big fan of in-app purchases, but they obviously work ... if consumers didn't buy them then they would have been abandoned a long time ago ;)
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Sadly, this is reality.

Remember, the same thing was said about DLC. Remember the Horse Armor fiasco? Now I browse other sites such as reddit, and you see people talking about the glory days of DLC. Seriously? We've gone from a time when mods, map packs, etc. would be free, and now people accept DLC as if it's always been around. The same thing will happen with in app purchases.

And why wouldn't companies accept it? It's a cash cow. People don't want to spend $60 on a game, even though when taking inflation into account, it's cheaper than it ever is. But $0.99 is only a dollar, right? Three minutes later, only another dollar, right? And so forth until you receive a $450 credit card bill on all your purchases. I wouldn't say they're scams, but in app purchases target logical deficiencies in humans. And sure, we'll complain about it today, but sooner or later it will be the norm, and then we'll be talking about the glory days of these in app purchases when something worse comes along.
 
Nytegard said:
Sadly, this is reality.

Remember, the same thing was said about DLC. Remember the Horse Armor fiasco? Now I browse other sites such as reddit, and you see people talking about the glory days of DLC. Seriously? We've gone from a time when mods, map packs, etc. would be free, and now people accept DLC as if it's always been around. The same thing will happen with in app purchases.

And why wouldn't companies accept it? It's a cash cow. People don't want to spend $60 on a game, even though when taking inflation into account, it's cheaper than it ever is. But $0.99 is only a dollar, right? Three minutes later, only another dollar, right? And so forth until you receive a $450 credit card bill on all your purchases. I wouldn't say they're scams, but in app purchases target logical deficiencies in humans. And sure, we'll complain about it today, but sooner or later it will be the norm, and then we'll be talking about the glory days of these in app purchases when something worse comes along.
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Although DLC can be abused I like the concept when it is well executed ... I thought that the DLC for Fallout 3 and Civ 5 worked well and enhanced the game ... the Oblivion and Skyrim ones were a little more iffy ... and there are some games that just abuse the whole concept

The in-app stuff is just a way to milk money out of free titles ... I didn't mind the Baldur's Gate approach for iOS since you had the option of whether to purchase the add ons and could play the game without them ... the in-app purchases for DK (and the like) where they force you to buy time rise to the levels of usury ... I do occasionally buy upgrades in Tower Defense games (that let me get to functional levels faster) but only where the game is free and only when the purchase is the same as I would have been willing to pay for the game (<$5) ... hopefully folks will start avoiding the real abusive IAPs and we will see the model go away or change to be more customer friendly
 
kbrickley said:
Although DLC can be abused I like the concept when it is well executed ... I thought that the DLC for Fallout 3 and Civ 5 worked well and enhanced the game ... the Oblivion and Skyrim ones were a little more iffy ... and there are some games that just abuse the whole concept

The in-app stuff is just a way to milk money out of free titles ... I didn't mind the Baldur's Gate approach for iOS since you had the option of whether to purchase the add ons and could play the game without them ... the in-app purchases for DK (and the like) where they force you to buy time rise to the levels of usury ... I do occasionally buy upgrades in Tower Defense games (that let me get to functional levels faster) but only where the game is free and only when the purchase is the same as I would have been willing to pay for the game (<$5) ... hopefully folks will start avoiding the real abusive IAPs and we will see the model go away or change to be more customer friendly
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Some of that DLC use to be what would be considered expansion packs. I have no problem with that. But even innocuous things such as hats for TF2 use to be something that was considered free.

As for hope that people will start avoiding, I guess I have a much more cynical view. For example, the dedicated servers of Modern Warfare 2. People complained and complained, and threatened boycott, but the day of release, many of those so called complainers went ahead and bought the game anyway. I just can't trust people to do the right thing. Regardless if one person will avoid purchasing things or not, micro-transactions are a predatory practice that will suck in many people. Sure, maybe in the future there won't be 4 hour wait times for actions, but someone will come up with just the right amount of grinding that appears normal to most players but subconsciously makes them spend money they wouldn't have bothered too on a game 20 years ago.
 
Microtransactions initially started out as an alternative to traditional pay to play method. Unfortunately, these days they have become an addition to the pay to play model. Games like Gran Turismo 6 or Forza comes with microtransactions despite having to pay full price for the game.

Wonder what will they think of next.
 
Hornet said:
Microtransactions initially started out as an alternative to traditional pay to play method. Unfortunately, these days they have become an addition to the pay to play model. Games like Gran Turismo 6 or Forza comes with microtransactions despite having to pay full price for the game.

Wonder what will they think of next.
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Well, I could be wrong but they seem to have most of the alternate ways to monetize games in play right now. In the old days (aka 80's and 90's) there were only two primary methods:

Purchase
Expansion
Merchandising​

Technology improvements have now given rise to a full range of monetization methods (some which benefit the consumer and some which are abused and do not):

Purchase - still remains the primary method for most games in the PC and Console space ... diminishing in mobile space

Subscription - was very popular due to the WoW success but proving more difficult to execute for others ... I expect to eventually see more robust Netflix style unlimited play game options eventually ... maybe from Steam

In App Purchases - starting to dominate in mobile space and gradually creeping into PCs and consoles ... the continued migration to digital stores will make this easier and more popular with publishers and certain developers ... this is the technique with the most potential for abuse

DLC - growing in popularity (with publishers and developers) for both the PC and console ... the good (replaces expansion packs, allows incremental feature additions and ongoing game support) ... the bad (monetizes things that used to be standard, easily abused) ... the ugly (can be used for features that should actually be part of the base game)

Merchandising - still a robust industry for big name games ... Bethesda uses it extensively and Rovio's Angry Birds have become another Mario with their level of merchandising ... all in all there is no harm here since this option is completely optional

Paid Alpha/Beta - although this is controversial with some I actually like this model (since it is also totally optional) ... I expect this option may eventually replace the Preorder

Crowd Funding - a variant encompassing several of the funding methods above ... also controversial but I like it since you have a choice as to whether to participate and it helps break the stranglehold that the big publishers have had on the game industry ... what is needed is more efficient tracking systems in the crowd funding stores to monitor developer success and effectiveness

System specific titles - where a developer agrees to support only one platform, usually in exchange for monetary compensation ... extremely controversial with users who are not users of the supported system ... it does tend to make for more robust titles on the system supported though​

I think those are the main methods ... not sure what other options there might be left ... hopefully the market will eventually settle on a good mix of options that are good for both the developer and the user ... we'll just have to see how this whole thing plays out
 
The service economics model needs to get out of the video game industry. With the amount of time people invest into games at the development and consumer level, they need to be looking at it like building an experience and customer relationship. Our time on this Earth is capital, and this type of business practice is disgusting and insulting to the human race. Those people who buy into this crap need to get out of the gene pool...
 
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