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avater, do games w Embracer CEO says it's "way too early" for the company to "start talking about" acquiring new studios
@avater@lemmy.world avatar

what do they mean by acquiring new studios? I thought they are done and I hope they go bankrupt…

FireRetardant, do games w CD Projekt CFO does "not see a place for microtransactions in single-player games"

The time has come for macrotransactions instead

mp3,
@mp3@lemmy.ca avatar

I’m all in for the return of actual game expansions.

mcforest,

Nah, only the transactions will be bigger. Amount of content won’t.

tsonfeir,
@tsonfeir@lemm.ee avatar

Just like bags of chips.

Hobbes_Dent,

Soon to be bag of chip. Now in random shapes.

metaStatic,

loot bag with 50% chance of chip

don,
@don@lemm.ee avatar

loot case with 10% chance of loot bag with 50% chance of chip

variants,

Mystery container with possibility of contents containing loot crates that may contain loot box that may contain chip for a weekly subscription

leftzero,

Paradox, then.

schmidtster,

It is kinda funny how people have no issue paying for it all together as bundle, but separate it so people can pay for things individually is silly and everyone is suddenly offended?

I would rather have a story for $10 and $1 outfits I can ignore, than to spend $30 on a story and bunch of cosmetics that don’t add to the game.

This is just marketing, nothing more. They make more money forcing you to buy everything than letting you pick what you want.

ogmios,
@ogmios@sh.itjust.works avatar

Eh… It’s more than just paying, but that a lot of the stuff which is now a standard microtransaction used to be integrated into the total experience, so you’d unlock outfits and such for finding secrets or completing challenges. That sort of content was integral to the over all experience, not just an extra to tack on as an afterthought.

schmidtster,

That’s also just an affect on the market of people wanting more choice and not wanting to be forced to pay for stuff they don’t want.

Of course it can be swung in a negative light too, because it affects developers bottom lines, and they always want the most money possible. CDPR is no different.

snooggums,
@snooggums@midwest.social avatar

The outcome of splitting the content is that there are a lot of people who want to have everything and they will end up paying far more for a la carte than for an expansion. The people who wouldn’t have bought the expansion still buy nothing, and pretty much nobody just buys a couple of things to save money.

Microtransactions is a system designed to prey on completionist whales. Barely anyone only buys a couple of things and doesn’t end up spending more than $30 over time as the content is drip fed and the new hotness comes along to replace the old hotness. Those that don’t spend anything, or just buy one thing before catching on, weren’t going to spend the $30 anyway.

It is false choice that negatively impacts the game experience.

schmidtster,

The outcome of splitting the content is that there are a lot of people who want to have everything and they will end up paying far more for a la carte than for an expansion

So if they want the content, they can support the devs so they make more.

The people who wouldn’t have bought the expansion still buy nothing, and pretty much nobody just buys a couple of things to save money.

So no lose there, but they could buy an outfit if they liked it and want to support the dev.

…… that’s actually the majority of gamers…… 2% of the player base accounts for most of the purchases, that means the other 98% is still buying stuff, just not everything. So that’s not even remotely close to reality, most people pick and choose the content, which is literally why this because a thing, because the market wanted it….

metaStatic,

just like the market wants nothing but superhero movies? This doesn't work anything like a free market. people would buy full games if they where available, devs just figured out they could drip feed the content and make significantly more money at the expense of a good product so you don't get to choose the good product because it doesn't exist. That's not the market choosing crap it's the market makers only providing crap.

schmidtster,

They still buy full games though, using old as seats to make new content for an “old” game is a great way to have more income come in. Most would probably prefer to make a new game, but that takes longer as well.

So if it’s a dlc a year at $15 for 4 years, or a game every 4 years for $60… what’s the difference in the end? Other than what you think is going on inside your head? It’s the same content, same price, same everything, you just get content yearly instead of every 4 years. Bonus for everyone since they can than use that money after the first year to maybe make the other better.

ogmios,
@ogmios@sh.itjust.works avatar

because the market wanted it

I can’t possibly roll my eyes any harder at this statement, with gaming companies practically competing to go under as fast as possible over the past decade.

schmidtster,

What…? Most people want more content more often with more options, not everyone wants a release every 4 years that’s the same content and story rehashed.

snooggums,
@snooggums@midwest.social avatar

Unless the entire game is developed by an independent studio and is entirely funded on microtransactions, buying micro transactions is just there for more company profit on top of the regular game sales by stripping content out of a full release. It isn’t supporting the development.

The market didn’t want it.

themeatbridge,

People did have issues paying for it all together, back when they were called “expansion packs.”

I don’t mind paying for more of the game. I do mind paying for fixes to a broken game. I don’t mind optional cosmetic upgrades, but I don’t like pay-to-win, even in single player (looking at you, Nintendo amiibos).

But regardless, people are going to complain, and many of their complaints will be valid.

schmidtster,

People had different issues with those, that was because online was a portion of it, and people thought devs were holding content back just to make more money. Obviously some did that, but they started painting every dev with that brush and they needed to adjust to save their bottom line from being affected.

Every change has been a reactionary effort to adjust for the market changes and people suddenly not wanting what they just wanted a few years ago, and using it to their marketing advantage. Of course not everyone is going to be happy, it’s just funny that certain devs get defended for doing what everyone else does since their marketing gets eating up.

Bonesince1997,

I think some people like to know when it ends. Microtransactions can make it seem endless. Once you’ve done that a few times it makes you want to know about as much as you can upfront.

Carighan,
@Carighan@lemmy.world avatar

You know, the way you phrase it I’d be fine. Only in your example, instead of 60 for it all, it is now 60 for 80% of the story, another 2x15 for the remainder, and 10 per Outfit.

Don_alForno,

The thing is, you actually get 30$ story and 5$ per outfit instead of a 30$ Expansion.

And cosmetics do add to the game for a big part of the market.

SuperSpecialNickname,

You used to be able to unlock cosmetic content by playing instead of paying. They’re taking advantage.

Potatos_are_not_friends,

StarCraft Brood Wars Diablo 2 Lord of Destruction

People shit on Bethesda but they’ve consistently released banger expansions. Far Harbor was incredible.

Kedly,

Even the publicly acknowledged start of Micro Transactions “Horse Armour” was couched in decent medium sized DLC and The Shivering Isles

GlitterInfection,

What do you mean by couched in this context?

I don’t think the horse armor was part of a bigger dlc.

Kedly,

Oblivion had a LOT of post release paid content, most of which was decent value per $ spent, including a full on expansion. So while horse armour was a warning sign for things to come, Oblivion ALSO showcased the good side of paid post release content

GlitterInfection,

That makes sense, thank you for explaining.

Now they just re-release the game over and over again and we buy that!

Ghostalmedia,
@Ghostalmedia@lemmy.world avatar

I believe that was called phantom liberty.

metallic_z3r0,

Or if we’re talking Witcher 3, Hearts of Stone or Blood and Wine. Both of those had an amazing amount of content, well worth it.

Breezy,

Ill be getting the Elden ring dlc at 40 dollars day one. Yeah im expecting the game to almost double in size.

Annoyed_Crabby,

Yeah that’s what remaster are for

frauddogg, do gaming w Gearbox confirms layoffs following sale by Embracer
@frauddogg@lemmygrad.ml avatar

Embrace

Extend

<-- Gearbox is somewhere near the peak of here.

Extinguish

StalinIsMaiWaifu,
@StalinIsMaiWaifu@lemmygrad.ml avatar

I think you forgot exploit

Postmortal_Pop, do games w Niantic: Pokémon Go healthy and growing as it approaches its next decade

Most recent update took away buddy features on my and my son’s phones. Between that, the lack of content, and no real reason to progress, I think I’ll be giving it up.

darkghosthunter, do gaming w Embracer CEO says it's "way too early" for the company to "start talking about" acquiring new studios

And they better sty that way for a while. More acquisitions will bring debt that will probably be gambled on, instead of trying to stabilize their portfolio.

The only ones who won with Embracer buying spree were studio owners and execs with their bonuses.

retrieval4558, do games w Niantic: Pokémon Go healthy and growing as it approaches its next decade

I played when it first came out, then again around 2018. Felt like a huge waste of potential to me. Unless there’s some legal reason, I absolutely cannot comprehend why a normal pokemon battling system wasn’t included.

Unless doing something besides just reskinning their other game (Ingress?) was too much work.

kadu,
@kadu@lemmy.world avatar

I’m not surprised that something carrying the Pokémon brand is somehow both extremely lucrative but also unwilling to dedicate the minimal effort necessary to add obvious features

the_artic_one,

I absolutely cannot comprehend why a normal pokemon battling system wasn’t included.

Because it doesn’t fit the design of the game.

Pokemon Go is meant to be played while walking around outside. This means you can’t have a lot of text because glare from the sun will make it too hard to read. The real battle system also requires more congnitive load than most people can handle while walking and takes too long which will lead to people stopping for extended periods of time at which point you’re no longer playing a pedometer game.

fckreddit, do gaming w Embracer CEO says it's "way too early" for the company to "start talking about" acquiring new studios

Embracer thinks that by buying studios, it could somehow magically make money. Embracer has no sense of the gaming market or who to sell what games? It has no sense about what projects to greenlight or not. It had already failed once, and it will fail again, most probably.

Dark_Arc, do games w Niantic: Pokémon Go healthy and growing as it approaches its next decade
@Dark_Arc@social.packetloss.gg avatar

I liked it when it was first a thing and you’d see huge crowds of people in their early twenties out in parks and things … but I don’t think I ever really liked the game itself.

MentalEdge, do gaming w Embracer CEO says it's "way too early" for the company to "start talking about" acquiring new studios
@MentalEdge@sopuli.xyz avatar

No shit.

It was way too early back when you did go on a studio buying spree, too, so maybe just stick to funding the studios you do have.

actionjbone, do gaming w Embracer CEO says it's "way too early" for the company to "start talking about" acquiring new studios

It’s not way too early to break out the guillotine for use on the Embracer CEO.

Varyag, do gaming w Embracer CEO says it's "way too early" for the company to "start talking about" acquiring new studios
@Varyag@lemm.ee avatar

FUCKING STOP. Pieces of shit gambled with several studios to get themselves bought and it blew in their faces ruining several of said studios losing many many people their jobs.

Draegur, do games w Embracer CEO says it's "way too early" for the company to "start talking about" acquiring new studios
@Draegur@lemm.ee avatar

i wish the gaming community could form a SPAC and buy Deus Ex collectively, with the sole mission to immediately release it into the public domain.

Then EVERYBODY can create Deus Ex games.

ampersandrew,
@ampersandrew@lemmy.world avatar

In the meantime, we can hope that Core Decay (formerly also an Embracer game, before the Saber split) turns out okay.

FlyingSquid, do games w CD Projekt CFO does "not see a place for microtransactions in single-player games"
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

I’m not a huge gamer anymore, at least not of newer games… aren’t microtransactions a bigger problem in multiplayer games because it gives player willing to spend money an unfair advantage over skilled players?

acosmichippo,
@acosmichippo@lemmy.world avatar

not necessarily, they can be cosmetic only.

FlyingSquid,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

Sure, not necessarily… but in practice? Again, this is not something I have personal experience, but based on what I’ve read about it, it generally is about giving someone an advantage, isn’t it?

SnugZebras,

Some of the older COD games had guns you could only get with real money, and they were overpowered. Nowadays it seems even free to play games have mostly cosmetic micro transactions.

rimjob_rainer, do games w CD Projekt CFO does "not see a place for microtransactions in single-player games"

Imo they shouldn’t do Witcher 4, you should stop when it’s best. They won’t be able to meet the expectations and only disappoint when people compare it to W3.

acosmichippo,
@acosmichippo@lemmy.world avatar

so what if it isn’t as good as w3? it doesn’t ruin w3.

toxicbubble, do games w CD Projekt CFO does "not see a place for microtransactions in single-player games"

what really bugs me are fighting games with dlc characters. i know fighting games arent as profitable, but twenty years ago you could unlock every character by actually playing the game. locking content behind paywalls are a slap to poor gamers. that’s on top of a $60 price tag

ArtVandelay,
@ArtVandelay@lemmy.world avatar

$70 is the new $60 because fuck you that’s why

JJROKCZ,

Oh stop, games have been the same price for decades, it’s not surprising they’re seeing a small price increase after so long in stagnation.

In good companies this is passed along to the actual devs making our games, which is something we should all support

kboy101222,

Yeah, not a penny of the extra $10 is being passed along

Exusia,
@Exusia@lemmy.world avatar

This has been disproven and was called out at the time of the increase. Games cost less to develop now than ever. Microtransactions and recurrent subscription transaction1s like battlepasses mean a shit game gets to live longer than it would deserve. People have careers in the field and languages common to the industry - this isn’t a “new and groundbreaking” industry - its one of the largest on the planet.

Studios are absolutely not passing any of that $10 to lower level staff. It was to see if the market would bear it, and no other reason - and corporate defenders came out of the woodwork to pretend BILLION dollar corporations need more money. If videogames were too expensive to make, they’d not be spending so much, now would they?

wahming,

Games cost less to develop now than ever.

First time I’m hearing that, got a link?

michaelmrose,

It’s interesting actually. There are both games with insane budgets that cost more that than triple A games in years past and incredible tooling and assets available for very modest amounts of money + incredibly powerful computers very little. It’s possible for some games to be made for less than ever before AND some to be made for more.

brygphilomena,

Has the distribution gone up though? If the quantity of games being sold has increased the companies are making just as much even though games are “cheaper.”

Imo. That’s the big argument in this debate that doesn’t get discussed. The reach has increased so prices could come down as more units are sold and the company would get the same amount of money.

Hyphlosion,
@Hyphlosion@donphan.social avatar

“Small” price increase? Are your toilet paper squares $10 bills or something?

PatMustard,

You’re going to be really unhappy when you discover the concept of inflation

sdcSpade,

20 years ago, they sold every Street Fighter three times with more characters in each new iteration. Microtransactions suck, but simple DLC is a less shitty than what used to be normal.

Krackalot,

What? You didn’t like buying SUPER Street Fighter II TURBO Championship Edition?

Dran_Arcana,

I actually did, because once I bought it they couldn’t shut down the dlc servers on me when they released the next one.

ripcord,
@ripcord@lemmy.world avatar

This was more a way for them to keep people putting in quarters at the arcades and selling machines to arcade ops.

It translated to some home games, but wasn’t the focus of putting out all these new versions. It made some sense at the time.

Potatos_are_not_friends,

Yep

Street Fighter II: The World Warrior - (1991)

Street Fighter II’: Champion Edition - (1992)

Street Fighter II’: Hyper Fighting - (1992)

Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers - (1993)

Super Street Fighter II Turbo - (1994)

All $40-60 games at the time.

Blackmist,

They did milk the fuck out of that, I’ll grant you.

But at the same time you couldn’t take them online and end up playing somebody who’d got the latest one and have to fight new characters you’d have no access to.

TheLowestStone,
@TheLowestStone@lemmy.world avatar

You are mistaken about the price. Street Fighter II: The World Warrior had a retail price of $69.99 at launch.

xkforce, (edited )

Fighting games started in coin operated arcade cabinets that were intentionally designed to be such a pain in the ass to beat that people would dump heaps of money into them just to keep playing. Same deal with games that were released in the days that youd rent them for a week. The difficulty was set so high that it was very unlikely that you could beat the game in that week so you would end up renting them another week or two.

The gaming industry has been filled with greedy fuck policies from the beginning and the only thing that has changed is how they are greedy fucks.

Buddahriffic,

Yeah, I noticed this with mortal Kombat on snes. Every time I played the single player campaign, I’d win one fairly easily, then I’d lose to the next guy. Then I’d use a continue and beat that guy fairly easily and lose to the next one. Repeat until I run out of continues, with the occasional upset of the pattern (extra win or loss).

FlyingSquid,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

Also true of timed arcade games like Gauntlet. Unless you were very good, you’d have to keep putting quarters in when the time ran out.

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