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.
Overwatch has far better voice acting though, the lines from this clip sounded like practice lines that should have been cut. Like someone clearly pretending to be excited instead of actually sounding excited.
It would make less sense if the games were single player and full price, but Lethal Company, Palworld, and Helldivers 2 are all at $40 or below for the base games and have a multi-player experience.
Of course people are going to jump on lower priced multi-player games with positive word of mouth quickly so they can play with their friends and get a few dozen hours or more entertainment.
Yes! Nobody has the time to play all of the great games that have come out over the years.
Not to mention most people don’t enjoy every great game either. I think Subnautica is a great game, but it just doesn’t work for me for a few reasons related to tracking where stuff is.
I tend to fall back on games that have a setting and possibly a story, but have the main gameplay available as repetitive things to do.
Fighting games
Racing games that don’t have a defined ending
Games like Battletech 2019 which has a story mode and also a never ending campaign mode.
Open world games like Skyrim and Grand Theft Auto, but mostly side quests and doing random non-story things.
My main reluctance for playing new games is learning new mechanics and story with all the interruptions of adulthood. I keep buying them and just planning on playing them later.