Why microtransactions, IAPs and LootBoxes are here to stay thread

[Dogg Thang]

The presence of “whale” players taints the experience for the rest of the userbase. If you are not paying, they don’t care about you or your game experience. If you’re not paying a lot, they still don’t care about you or your game experience. Any game that features these microstransactions, bags of gems, loot boxes and so on are fundamentally compromised for every single player whether you choose to buy them or not because of the presence of “whale” players. Because giving all players the best experience possible no longer matters. What matters is getting whales right on that line of hooked enough to stick with it yet frustrated enough to keep spending money.

[MartyG]

Absolutely and not only that, but it impacts on gaming as a whole as other publishers jump on the bandwagon.

Extending the beer metaphor, gamers are happy to get the free beer from the breweries at the expense of the alcoholics binging on more lucrative vodka and scotch, whilst not realising that ultimately this has a wider impact on the health service generally.

[Asura]

The presence of “whale” players taints the experience for the rest of the userbase. If you are not paying, they don’t care about you or your game experience. If you’re not paying a lot, they still don’t care about you or your game experience. Any game that features these microstransactions, bags of gems, loot boxes and so on are fundamentally compromised for every single player whether you choose to buy them or not because of the presence of “whale” players. Because giving all players the best experience possible no longer matters. What matters is getting whales right on that line of hooked enough to stick with it yet frustrated enough to keep spending money.

This isn't true. The game has to be fun for everyone; free players, players who've only spent a little... A large part of what makes these games work is the perception that they're doing really well.

Look at how World of Warcraft used to list player-counts when they had 12 million, but in recent years doesn't list these numbers publicly anymore. Players leaving and server merges are a cyclical process; "players leave because players are leaving".

Games like Apex are similar. Once you reach that level of popularity, people play because it's seen as such a big deal, and that, in turn, gives the purchases "worth". The axe skin in Apex is worth nothing in and of itself; it acquires value because it's rare, and it's rare because there are millions of players but only a small number have it.

To torture the analogy somewhat, in a sea full of whales, all the whales die.

Freemium game developers do, certainly, put things in their games that are pitched at "whales", but they also develop specific things for those who are dedicated (i.e. long-term players, irrespective of expenditure), new players, mid-tier players... These games only centre their activity around whales when their end date ("sunset") is on the horizon and it becomes about trying to make as much as possible before the game closes. Up until then, successful games are fun for everyone.

[Dogg Thang]

It's absolutely true. Talk to people in the data end of those types of games and find out where the focus is and why.

[Cassius_Smoke]

I think with a game like Apex, the game is free, so if they put in MTX and loot boxes for cash then i'm willing to give it a pass...
HOWEVER, if a player that has spent nothing is hopelessly outclassed by players that have then it's starting to cross the line.
Also, the price on this Axe is just stupid.

[QualityChimp]

Logged into Marvel Puzzle Quest and was greeted with an offer of extra bits, for £70.99.
I can't believe some people actually pay those kind of prices.

[MartyG]

Logged into Marvel Puzzle Quest and was greeted with an offer of extra bits, for £70.99.
I can't believe some people actually pay those kind of prices.

Pocket change: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/201...ng-video-game/

[QualityChimp]

Pocket change: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/201...ng-video-game/

'Tino, why'd you make me click on a link to the Torygraph?

Yeah, deffo some chumps out there willing to splash the real cash on virtual cash.

[Digfox]

I think with a game like Apex, the game is free, so if they put in MTX and loot boxes for cash then i'm willing to give it a pass....

I think this is a slight red herring. Whether the game is f2p, subscription or full price it is still worth looking at whether the game's design has been impacted or if the business model is fair. They could easily price the axe as a one-off purchasable in local currency and still make lots of money. However they won't because of all the aforementioned greed and desire to maximise profits. Cosmetics and being able to customise the look of the game is part of the progression model, even if everyone doesn't see it that way.

Again most games seem to be doubling down on aggressive MTX and design; time-limited events, battle passes, £30+ or expensive cosmetics, loot boxes, time limited items etc. And this game was already loaded with Battle Passes, in-game purchases and loot boxes.

Some of the memes on the Apex Legends reddit are quite funny. But the developer getting called out for his previous promises is fair criticism: https://www.reddit.com/r/apexlegends..._mirror_going/.

It feels like EA will probably adjust this and make some subtle changes to give out more free lootboxes or something, which matters little in the grand scheme of things.

[Asura]

Logged into Marvel Puzzle Quest and was greeted with an offer of extra bits, for £70.99.
I can't believe some people actually pay those kind of prices.

People don't, generally, buy big packs like that. It's similar to how there were those cars in CSR Racing on iPhone which cost a converted £thousands in their in-game currency. It's usually because there are other ways in-game to earn those things, and the idea that those items have a real-world "value" of £thousands makes them seem more valuable in-game.

A lot of purchases exist in these things they don't actually expect people to buy. It's like in those restaurants where there's a champagne bottle at the bottom of the wine list that costs £50k. They don't actually expect anyone to buy it, but it gives the impression that the wine at that place is good if they have wine that is worth a large amount of money.

Alternatively, the wine at the bottom of the list is at a daft price, that any wine expert would baulk at. They're clever, they buy a reasonable bottle of wine from the middle of the list, knowing it's a good deal, because they have a bad deal to compare it to right in front of them.Supermarkets do this stuff too.

Some people do buy the high-end purchases in mobile games, just like somebody, maybe once a decade, buys the most expensive wine. Then again some people own banks, a garage full of McLarens and a penthouse palace in Dubai. They spend more on a set of golf clubs than normal people spend on two cars. For me, £71 on currency in a mobile game seems like a dreadful waste; for someone like that, they just hit the buttons and buy purely for the convenience.

[Dogg Thang]

Picturing the “this is fine” dog.

[fishbowlhead]

At least with the mandatory odds % being published by the platform holders it will show just how crooked the odds are.

[eastyy]

Injustice 2 , marvel puzzle quest, Empires and puzzles I have played them and they all were a massive Grind

Injustice 2 has been a bit more generous with its currency but still i bought two packs for a total of 1000 gems (which can take a long time to get) and got useless stuff, marvel puzzle quest it has been a long time since i played it but they added more currencies and it got far more convoluted.

Empires and puzzles was a bit better but i noticed when i was getting a lot of the consumable resources with the most recent update they have introduced new upgrades and stuff to grind for and it uses A LOT of the resources so i suspected they realized people were getting to much stuff so designed a way so they would be used.

I have never paid any money to any of the games, but i hate it when people say " Just do not buy it" see if 10 people do not buy stuff but you have the one Whale who buys enough for the 10 people then it will not make a difference and worse if the Whales keep doing this its going to be integrated into more games.

And the fact with digital items when they have "limited" stock or a time limit to get certain items its obvious to me they are trying to play to peoples Fomo

[Family Fry]

At least with the mandatory odds % being published by the platform holders it will show just how crooked the odds are.

They will just go around it much like Blizzard did with the ole buy currency get a free loot box for China, as it will only affect transactions that are paid for to buy a randomised loot box.

GTA V casino for instance won’t be affected because it’s a gameplay mechanic which you can buy in game currency with real money to use in game, then again that’s real money that could be spent on sandwiches and McLarens of course.

[fishbowlhead]

They will just go around it much like Blizzard did with the ole buy currency get a free loot box for China, as it will only affect transactions that are paid for to buy a randomised loot box.

GTA V casino for instance won’t be affected because it’s a gameplay mechanic which you can buy in game currency with real money to use in game, then again that’s real money that could be spent on sandwiches and McLarens of course.

I guess that will depend on how strict the platform holders want to be. If they are getting a cut i'm guessing, not much if at all enforcement, however if its all in game that they don't see a cut of, they may enforce it if enough complaints flood in from customers.

Wait and see unfortunately.