Current Events > Is the video game industry fucked due to microtransactions?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Except for Nintendo of course, but you're just gonna cry "b-but m'amiibo" as if they unlock anything meaningful in most Nintendo games that can't be unlocked through the game itself.
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amiibos are suddenly looking really good.
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Likely not. Check out the stock prices for EA, TTWO, and ATVI. They've been making big bucks in recent years, and clearly, are projected to make even more in the future.

This has been in the works for years. Someone turns 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 every day. Those are the people who don't have jobs. Who can play for hours and become obsessed over video games and get their parents to drop money on them.
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Capn Circus posted...

Likely not. Check out the stock prices for EA, TTWO, and ATVI. They've been making big bucks in recent years, and clearly, are projected to make even more in the future.

This has been in the works for years. Someone turns 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 every day. Those are the people who don't have jobs. Who can play for hours and become obsessed over video games and get their parents to drop money on them.

This is what all the people that are getting upset about microtransactions forget. They arent the target audience anymore. EA doesnt care if they boycott the game because Johnny got it for Christmas and will drop $200 of his parents money to unlock his favorite heroes.
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Yes in terms of quality it's completely fucked.
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Nah
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Lol it's a fucking golden age for AAA publishers. What a lot of online communities like GameFAQs and reddit fail to understand is they are a minority in the industry. For every one informed gamer rallying behind the decrying of these practices, there's 10 kids begging mom and dad to buy the next CoD or Battlefront. For each gamer that demands the DLC model like CDProjektRed's Witcher 3, there's 10 bros who don't consider gaming a major hobby and just stick to annual titles like FIFA and NBA2kwhatever.

And I have a suspicion that the microtransaction model is sustained by less than 10% of the population on a given title. These are the professionals who don't have much time to game, but plenty of disposable income that can afford to drop on a big package and just unlock everything. These are the gambling addicts who would be at a casino if not for today's era of gaming. I don't doubt some individuals drop thousands on this shit. So really, they cater to them. And the entire online gaming community could have a unified voice and it wouldn't mean dick. I really don't mean to be the cynic, but I'm not going to hold my breath over a company who is in it for the profit chooses the profit route.

A small comfort is that most criticisms of pay 2 win in my experience have been mostly cosmetics or shallow gameplay advantages. I really don't care if my opponent has 5% faster reload in a twitch shooter. The incidence of that being the causal factor in an encounter is likely very slim. So if I lose 1 encounter out of a hundred, I won't bemoan the "hit" to my KDR. And while it sucks that things like Vader are unlocked behind a massive grind versus a gambling mechanic, at the end of the day, the heroes in that game are also cosmetic. There are other heroes with similar kits that aren't locked.

I won't buy BF2 in all likelihood, but it's not because of this recent boycott. Because I know my being an "informed" gamer who usually waits for sale prices on GotY or complete editions, or otherwise never spends money on their microtransactions makes me not their target audience. They aren't hurt by my lack of dollar, unfortunately. I thought CoD: IW's microtransaction model would be a bigger deal than it turned out to be. Maybe I am just a cynic.
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Remember when DLC was the end of the gaming industry and it couldn't get any worse? Lol
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I don't mean that their sales are fucked i mean the players are fucked
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Still hoping for the game industry to crash again
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Irony posted...

Still hoping for the game industry to crash again

I'd be okay with that at this point
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Im surprised the new COD doesn't have micro transactions that affect gameplay tbh.
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As long as whales exist, AAA publishers stand to make huge profits and this doesn't seem to be changing any time soon. Bad PR may slow the process down a bit, but it's ultimately heading in one direction.
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On_The_Edge posted...

I don't mean that their sales are fucked i mean the players are fucked

Purely speaking from games that get the most advertisement, gaming is at its worst point for the consumer since the 80's.

Taking in to account the entire industry, I think gaming is still in a golden age. There is an astounding amount of variety in the types of games being produced, but they aren't at the forefront anymore, they are digital only, on handheld consoles, or indies on PC, they are just constantly eclipses by the AAA titles so you have to go digging yourself.
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