5mo ago

BioShock creator says "audiences reward" single-player games that don't have "other methods of monetization," like Baldur's Gate 3, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

www.gamesradar.com BioShock creator says "audiences reward" single-player games that don't have "other methods of monetization," like Baldur's Gate 3, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

"I'm just grateful that we're allowed to not do that because that just frees us to purely design the game for the player's experience"

BioShock creator says "audiences reward" single-player games that don't have "other methods of monetization," like Baldur's Gate 3, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

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Thing is, I've seen funbucks stuffed into various single player games over the years. The first was probably Mass Effect 3, but some of the Assassin's Creed games have it too.
But who are they for? Who buys them? They've never really felt like anything that would be useful. It's usually just some crappy cosmetics, or something you can get through normal play. It's like they've been stuffed in at the request of management, but also like nobody has ever checked up on what they actually put in, or whether anybody bought it...
- Who buys them?
  People who dont game buying a present who just go "oh deluxe version, not that much more expensive, lets treat them"
  wealthy people that just pick the priciest option
  people with completitionist tendencies
  streamers and wannabe streamers for whom the extra cost is a trivial operating expense
  children and others that dont understand the value of a dollar
  people whose primary draw to the game is the photomode
  "i like game, I want more game therefore I pay more" (yes this logic is terrible when applied to microtransactions)
  
  The type of monetisation that especially confuses me as a guy brought up on pre-internet era gaming is any kind of pay to win. You're buying a game then paying extra money so you don't have to then go through the tedious task of actually playing the game.
  
  The same thing has always confused me about CCGs. Why spend hundreds of dollars to be able to play them at all, when you can just get Dominion and know that the game is both fair and varied?
  
  I've had a few games come with a handful of items for some reason, and very quickly learned to never use them.
  Pre order now and ruin the game!
  
  I too grew up gaming in the pre internet era, and I love pay to win. My favorite is when they just let me press A and the rest of the game just unfolds and plays itself while I watch.
- The game industry was assaulted by the MBAs long ago. They have this financial concept of leaving money on the table. That if you aren't skinning your customers alive for all they have then you are losing money.
  Then there was that infamous power point slide that got leaked where, basically, the plan is to use games to bring in audiences then use gambling techniques to hook on whales then cash them for eternity. Thus "live services games" were born.
  It feels like uncreative, predatory shit because it is. It's a finance people idea, not a creative game developer idea.
  
  I think the last few years has left them struggling with the reality that landlords and supermarkets also have that concept, and when it's a choice between having a roof, food, or entertainment, then they're way down the list.
- Who buys them?
  Play Nice by Jason Schreier mentions that the "Pay to Win" style of monetization is very popular in Chinese markets.
  I'd wager that, since other markets strongly oppose that, public companies focused on profits over player sentiment needed to find a middle ground. (That dichotomy is the main focus of the last half of the book)
  We revolted when Battlefront 2 had loot boxes at the center of game progression, so companies hoping to make the most money in both markets need to make the purchasable items either purely cosmetic or only helpful in early game progression (starter packs).

86 comments