Turning Players Into Payers (The Jimquisition)
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 29 ก.ย. 2024
- / jimquisition
www.thejimquisi...
sharkrobot.com/...
Activision's patented idea of utilizing matchmaking to trick players into buying DLC is an unsettling one, but if you think that's as bad as it gets, you don't know videogames.
Let's talk about Scientific Revenue, the service that demonstrates exactly what games want from you - they want to turn players into payers... and they proudly admit it.
The predatory side of gaming has only just begun to show its fangs.
__
Read Scientific Revenue's official response to my questions: www.gamasutra....
I'm so sick of your bitching and assumptions with no facts. "Only whales buy crates". You are basing that off of conversations and conjecture, you have no hard facts showing game sales and who buys crates. People dont mind loot crates as long as its not gameplay changing (hence the uproar with battlefront and shadow of war). Games are incredibly expensive to make and market, and NO its not developers pushing the graphics envelope for their sake, the consumer loves amazing graphics and will often complain "looks like ps3" when a game isn't freaking astounding. You are a "games journalist" there is nothing noble or special about your job, you talk about video games for christ sake. You are NOT in the industry, you have never programmed or made any sort of 3d art or map, and NO making youtube videos doesn't make you a "creator" or creative.
Dead space 2 selling 4 million and not being successful is proof enough on how expensive modern games are to make. Steam and retailers take a 30% cut, + a game can only be 60 bucks for so long so profits go down. I dont care spending 80-100 bucks over the course of a year on a game if I like it. Get used to it you entitled little babies who don't know how the world works or the effort involved in making games.
I'm sure your sheep audience will rush to downvote me. You want to really convince me, you need to be in the industry and present numbers, salaries, years to develop, marketing and distribution costs, and weigh that vs selling a single 60 dollar game, not your constant assumptions and bitching!
Okay, then let the industry publish the numbers. Please. I want to see them. Tell the industry, to present ALL of their numbers and dirty laundry. Then we will talk.
...What?
Okay, I can understand what you said about how AAA games can become expensive to make, with costs rocketing into the tens of millions, and I understand that companies need to be able to make that money back and be able to turn a profit. However, you also have to consider the consumers (players). There's a difference between earning money from players buying your game + expansions, and practically leeching money off of them with promises of virtual satisfaction through microtransactions/lootboxes.
THePunisher Xxx your a sheep if I've ever seen one. Wake up brother
Oh you are a treat lmao
Ooooh he pinned this, this is gonna be a bloody good one.
"Turning players into payers" just sounds like a catchphrase for a pimping service...
Oh, hey, you're here.
getvinnyvinesauceontheshowalready
DidYouKnowGaming? 2 Welcome to modern gaming!
I bet whoever came up with that catchphrase jizzed their pants when they shared it.
or 1984 scenario, you are just a piece of resource, sentenced to be exploited and then thrown aside when there is no more use of you.
+DidYouKnowGaming? 2
No, you're thinking of "Turning payers into players" common mistake.
I hope THePunisher Xxx enjoys getting exploited at every turn by the greed of today's tripple A gaming.
THePunisher Xxx Is either a sucky player that needs to buy victory or maybe he is good but likes the microtransactions to keep the competition low.
Kori Harpoon 😣😣😣😣what a fucking stupid, confused comment. So he either sucks, and needs micro transactions, meaning they give him an edge, Or he wants to keep them around to keep the competition low (the micro transactions are supposed to give the noob an advatage though) ???????? Fuck me I've heard it all now. So then what good are the micro transactions to anyone? Surely they should be propping the shit players up to compete with the good ones if anything. Jesus this is what happens when fucking cunts with bad genes have sex.
Do not attempt civil discurse with such a one sided person, it'll just be a waste of time.
WeegeeSlayer he’s probably a whale in denial about his OCD being exploited......or is a shill.
Neither would surprise me in the least.
To be fair, he probably does.
I'm in this strange place right now. On one hand, I'm sad that this is the latest thing to plague the industry. On the other hand, I find myself gleefully receiving yet another industry video vivisection by Mr. Jim Sterling son.
Edit: Apologies, I meant Jim - *fucking* - Sterling son. Where are my manners?
LooneyJuice Either way we can thank god for Jim fucking Sterling son!
I am disturbed by this trend. Gambling is _not_ legal everywhere. The reasons for outlawing it vary from place to place, but there _is_ always a great benefit to banning it - problem gamblers (addicts) will _not_ be tempted to play. Given the knowledge that "whales" exist, *isn't it UNETHICAL to **_provide_** this gateway for addiction?*
haha, ethics, don't say that in front of capitalism defenders, they shriek at the mention of morals.
Pedro Gomez Capitalism defender go for fair rules for everybody and if a service or product harms the people take it out also what happening here is corporativism, you don't need to be against capitalism to despise corporatism, actually most of the Pro-capitalism are against it.
The biggest issue with ALL of the examples, they are based on merchandise or content that has LIMITED QUANTITIES there's only so many Airplane tickets or Auctions are for a singular item, things that live on the back of supply and demand. The availability for digital content is practically limitless, which makes the idea of supply and demand pointless.
Underrated argument.
agreed it costs virtually nothing to have storage of a digital medium you only need the storage space for the original code on a server then you download a copy of the microtransaction and boom profit.
I'm sure Nintendo can conjure up a way to make digital content scarce.
Great comment.
I wish this comment got pinned since this is a major and valid point.
Upvote if you refuse to buy Battlefront 2 or Shadow of War cause of this shit. I feel lonely
im here bro
Seeing as I don't have an extraneous pool of money to spend on games, I'm saving for quality game like wolfenstein, super Mario odyssey, and other games that won't try to milk the hell out of me.
WASNT GONNA BUY THEM IN THE FIRST PLACE. i only support non scumbag companies now. Mainly been playing divinity original sin 2 and cuphead. Fucking love them.
I wont. Not that my compuiter could run them anyways.
I'm playing the REAL Battlefront 2. Also, recently made my return to Homm 4. Feels good man. I think I'm gonna play some Disciples soon.
Every Monday is just getting jim one step closer to getting black listed by every single company on the planet
Who the actual fuck care? Companys should kneel to us the customers, we pay for their products, if we dont buy their products them they deservet it
Accelerator Exactly
this is so true. I am constantly preaching this. gamers need to realize we have the power to basically dictate the market to make it what we want. there are enough of us that we can force laws to be enacted.
Yes, but then we need more and better consumer education and protection. Especially the latter. Not everybody can be bothered to dive into the game.. er.. 'scene' as much as we do. Nor should they have to to ensure they're not.. er.. messed with.
They literally tell us that we are nothing but stupid cows. They have the BALLS TO TELL THAT STRAIGHT TO OUR FACES NOW??!!
Max Wilson so stupid I will sit on my wallet.
I'm so glad this came out when it did. I started tracking my mobile purchases two weeks ago, and I'm finally seeing the damage I'm doing to myself in real-time. I finally went F2P on one title, and was doing okay on the other until an in-game event coaxed me into whaling ($100 over the course of a week). So, lesson learned on that front: in-game events are fucking scams these days.
N. L. G. Mobile games in general are absolute trash. But I’m glad to see that you have seen it first hand.
I hope you are whale-free these days and I wish upon you a happy sardine existence!
I felt bad just giving Blizzard extra money for some of their non-combat pets. I just wasn't that aware of or jaded by the microtransaction business yet at that point, nor of course by *Activision*-Blizzard themselves. Theirs has been a a very sad downfall to witness.
+Ivan Karamazov, at least WoW pets don't come in lootboxes ... yet.
This kind of microtransaction I can get behind. You even pay them with money instead of with fairy sparkle diamonds you first have to buy with money. (Screw you, Bioware points)
Been there before. Ended up spending $50 on an 'alright' mobile MMORPG that I played for a good few weeks. Actually went to my bank later that week to go for something completely unrelated, and my teller actually printed off a list of all my transactions.. It had a weird, very unrecognizable name with "google" somewhere in it. It looked fucking fishy, and it added up to the $50.. I didn't remember making 20 $2.99-$4.99 purchases over and over and over. When I looked at it on paper it was really strange. I legitimately thought someone stole my debit number and started taking small amounts so I wouldn't notice..
Mind you at this point I"m already done playing the game, I pretty much forgot about it.. So we start doing the chargeback process to try to get my money back. All goes good. Money will be back into account in 5-7 business days. I feel really good and relieved, get my new card, leave. Well I had my friend come with me to the bank that day, he just sat off to the side and listened.. After he left he says "Hey weren't those purchases from you spending on {GameIDon'tWantToPromote}?"
Literally looked at him, it dawned on me, and we just started laughing and laughing about it.. Got my money back later that week. Taught me a huge lesson that day. Fortunately I didn't actually lose any money from it, and I think I remember reinstalling the game for a minute and I still had all my shit over a month later.. Very funny. Still feel mildly bad about it, but honestly who could care less??
Life's good when you're turning players into payers
Sir Musty On prom night.
With a TV that looks like an apple.
SKELETON WARRIORS
That neogaf quip. Yowch.
whats the context? I out of the loop on this one.
Moderators resigned, whole threads of people asking for permabans, it was a chaotic mess and finally the site just went offline.
Get home from work on a monday and Fallout Shelter has a 90% off sale on MT as soon as I walk into my house. Play Fallout Shelter for 20mins and look at their offers. Don't buy them and close the game. Open TH-cam and watch this video. Now that was creepy. Like really creepy.
We need to boycott these fucking games.
Shame is that people are idiots, and don't care about being monetized. I see it every damn day.
One of my friends is a HUGE star wars fan, and claimed "Star Wars Battlefront EA" was his favorite game ever. So, I have no idea he will drop some money into these fucking predators' bank accounts.
We NEED to get legislation before this issue gets out of hand.
Minishogun 721 yeah ive got a friend that claims he spends over £300 a year on fifa ultimate team.
Minishogun 721 nintendo are putting their hand 🖐️ in the pie too, they have announced animal crossing for mobile, turned their back on the player base and give them the 🖕 and the Nintendo community as predicted have defended it till the end, I'm sick of it and want a 🍻 about now.
Up her Guut i got personally attacked for speaking out about it. 😠
Mixed opinions about Nintendo but let's be real, at this "point in time" they aren't completely bad. While Pokémon Go and Fire Emblem Mobile games follow the micro transaction stuff at least Super Mario Run has the guts to throw that away and just be a good game.
For the most part, they have no microtransactions in their games and offer free DLC for games like Splatoon 2 and Arms, while most of the time paid DLC is also good. Plus nearly all the time, their games are going to be great.
Still they have their dumb weaknesses. They don't support TH-cam or Fanmade games with overprotectiveness of their franchises (which agitates me a lot), and will trip in business mistakes. Still at least they aren't like other companies who are horrible.
Still I'm curious on the hatred of Animal Crossing for Mobile? I haven't heard much but it doesn't seem to be something to hate. Also I don't mind if you tell me some other stuff you hate about Nintendo, I'm always interested in debates since they offer interesting view points.
so you are not angry about the season pass and charging for a hard difficulty for zelda? you are not angry about amiibo being physical content, locking away content and the only way to obtain such content is to give your money to scalpers? you are not angry that nintendo took away backwards compatibility and became anti consumer? you are not angry about nintendo charging for paid online?
you obviously didn't read my reasons for my hatred for animal crossing and what it means for the series in the future? you obviously don't see the big picture regarding this.
i know what you are going to say "it's optional! you don't have to buy it! it' only cosmetic and doesn't effect the game!" predictable parrot talk every single time, save your breath if you are.
i'm the one who feels cheated wasting my money buying a switch when nintendo are taking all their main franchises to mobile anyway but you don't seem to understand that very well.
Your videos constantly remind me of how the game design courses I took (in a sorta allround game creation study) have been packed full with this shit. It's ok to teach marketing, its ok to teach how to make gameplay fun last longer, but what's not ok is to literally tell students to create "habit forming" (a.k.a. addictive) game situations using literal skinner box-style triggers and gambling methods, arguing that game developers don't make money any other way.
well, fuck. If this shit has arrived in the educational system, then a dire future is ahead of us.
Was this at least a private course? Or was it part of state-funded university curiculum?
I went to school for game design too and all I can think is thank the fucking lord I did not get into the industry, the game industry is fucking cancer.
sertaki
I think its partly state funded (I don't know how exactly it works in the Netherlands, but I only pay a small fee)
However, the study is fairly new and the specific content of the lessons depends alot on the teacher for some reason. I mean, its possible to teach about these things in a critical and reflected way, instead of presenting it as *the* way to make games and the curriculum would be the same. Some students even called the bs during the lessons *frequently*.
I'm just glad that the art and programming courses were pretty good.
I know I've reached my limit with the industry. I find myself more and more playing indie games and older games. I hardly touch any of the new AAA games unless it goes on sale for 75% off.
Same here. I generally don't touch lootcrate games myself. And I burned myself on a Preorder once too, StarForge taught me well.
I remember when you bought a game, you get the WHOLE game..
I hate greed.
If we cooperate, we can make it go away
Edit: you ruined my comment by editing yours, i hate you
*Capitalism
i'll add that
Capitalism is the best we have even though its shit.
If this could be chalked up to just human greed, this would be easy to fix.
This is systemic, the result of contradicting systems and motivations that work on an industry no matter who is at the helm.
This isn't a defense of those who use that fact to justify wanton avarice and force the rest of the industry to keep pace with their race to the bottom, but ultimately to acknowledge that structural factors are generally a bigger aspect of all this.
The more I read THePunisher Xxx's pinned quote, the less I'm sure whether it's serious or a joke. The arguments are so ranting, irrelevant , or wrong (the "game journalist" attack is all three), it feels like they intentionally wanted to make a Commentocracy worthy quote.
MattdaMutt Dude, it’s Randy Pitchford.
Dynamic pricing? Look up the feedback on Zynga's CSR Racing 2! What a dumpster fire
* turning players into payers *
...time to go back to Super Nintendo games...
Or just anything before like eight years ago.
Ps2 games are... safe.
For now.
Lone Knight there's some franchises media support on the PS4 otherwise they go the way of the dodo like Dark Souls and blood-borne The Witcher support the good companies that's what we should do.
I tried to get a mobile game yesterday. I just wanted something to play during my breaks at work. I had three standards: It's about fighting, it requires no online connection, and it's quick.
Apparently this was too much to ask, because none of those things describes candy crush or clash of clans.
Good lord, it was a pain in the ass just to find something simple.
That Scientific Revenue algorith seems pretty easy to game, though. As soon as you notice prices shifting, just stop buying until the system decides you wouldn't spend more than a cent on the purchase and then continue purchasing ONLY when it's that low.
One thing that sticks out to me is the bit about "apocalyptic rhetoric".
Nearly 20 years ago (Jesus, that is weird to actually think about) when the internet as we know it was but a mere babe in a basket, I visited gaming sites such as they were then and read mags, and there was this "hot new concept" of companies looking to present not only small, purchasable add-ons to existing games that people love and want more content to, but also be able to send out hotfixes for the *occasional* errors on games at least in the PC market, and concepts (though nowhere near execution methods as online console gaming wasn't even a thing) being kicked around for how to do things like this on consoles.
The unpopular opinion of the vocal minority was that though it sounded like a neat idea, it was potentially a slippery slope, where companies could potentially carve content out of finished games to sell them as add-ons as a shortcut to the "continued, added support" or as a counter to overambitious feature creep this concept was purported to be about, and could even get away with releasing unfinished and broken titles and release the hotfix as a major surgical procedure instead of the "if needed" bandage it was intended to be.
And what was the popular backlash to that? "Oh, don't be so cynical." "Game companies would *never* willingly piss off their audiences with that kind of behavior." and my favorite; "The game industry would never get away with that kind of blatant nonsense- customers would vote with their wallet..."
Any of that sound familiar?
Now games are, in point of fact, regularly released piecemeal. Incomplete. Games get parts cropped all the time for one excused constraint or another, just to sell it later as "bonus" material. Big budget titles by major publishers are being released broken and buggy, and day-one patches are par for the course. And much like their lustful wanting, it isn't restricted to the PC market, for console games now also "enjoy" the benefits of DLC and Patch Culture.
It took nearly two decades, but the people who could see that the path of the voyage was full of icebergs could wreck the ship were shouted down by the multitudes who wanted to take that beautiful arctic cruise and assume it was consequence free. And now, everyone is bolting steel over the holes in the hull like it's nothing, because it's so ingrained. Folks are still paying for such a privilege as well; just a couple bucks per rivet. Or you could weld the plates to the boat with different color weld flare. Its just cosmetic. So much for wallet voting.
Today's "apolcalyptic rhetoric" is tomorrow's life in the wasteland, and sometimes that end of world scenario doesn't play out from a loud and violent blitzkreig, but a slowly poisoned well.
Thank god for Cuphead, Thank God for Shovel Knight, Thank God for Hollow Knight, and Thank God for Jim Sterling.
THePunisher Xxx got roasted as fuck.
Got roasted so hard that you can't even roast him anymore or you'll tear the space-time dimension.
Fuck me, one hell of a roast.
All I can think about is how much I miss the new theme song.
Beach Bum Gamer That song is a piece of shit.
Please let the AAA games industry crash, please let the AAA games industry crash, please let the AAA games industry crash...
DarkStarAngelo I sincerely hope not, I already went through the crash in the 80's. It was very bad
As a game developer, please DON'T let it crash. Let it adapt when sales drop and be better for it. Crashing means that many good artist will lose jobs and have to look to other industries to work in which means great games don't get made.
CannabisCultureTechLife Great games already aren't being made by the AAA industry, so why would I care it it dies?
Enterprize 1701 yep, that crash ruined gaming to a reset and today with technology at its peek it would make pricing at reset much higher. Be carful what u ask for.
CannabisCultureTechLife Let's just say VFX would get alot cheaper all of a sudden xD
FYI this system can be gamed as with all the other places dynamic pricing is done, if you pretend to be poor you can get very good deals on things.
Back in my day we called it spyware
RIGHT??? This is what I very first thought. Give it any other name, it's flagrant spyware. But I suppose with data mining being legal jobs it's not even as far as being in the *grey* area of law, huh?
Pepperidge Farm remembers.
Yeah,
*laughs in TimeSink*
*laughs harder in Bonzi Buddy*
I called it in my days. AKA 1 week ago.
Remember when you bought a game....and that was it? Yea I loved those days to.
I still live in those days, i only ever buy a game that offers me the full product, and i'll never get it day 1. WoW, imagine that? Some personal responsibility.
Personally, I like when you can enhance or lengthen your experience of one of your favourite games by investing in an expansion or something... I don't mind buying extra stuff if there's value in it... The problem for me is when it's a bunch of crap, not that it exists at all.
Personally, I like when you can enhance or lengthen your experience of one of your favourite games by investing in an expansion or something... I don't mind buying extra stuff if there's value in it... The problem for me is when it's a bunch of crap, not that it exists at all.
KitsyX I don't mind buying expansions either if it's clearly not content cut from the game which unfortunately is a trend in the industry. Mafia 2 is a great example of how to do expansions properly.
I think the last time I bought full DLC or a season pass and was happy with what I bought was Fallout 3, New Vegas, and BF4. Games that were complete in their own right, but added a TON of new content with expansions. There was nothing left out of those games that was saved for the sake of DLC purchases.
That Scientfic Revenue video sounds like an ad from one of those dystopian movies where the squeaky clean facade hasn't cracked to show the dark underbelly yet.
stockicide fuck yeah, it is freaking scary
I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass... And I am all out of bubblegum...
They have a version they show players that suddenly cuts to footage of a teacup being stirred.
Considering SciRev's sales pitch is probably illegal price discrimination, not a bad comparison
GET OUT, WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?! OUT NOW
"Turning players into payers." Jeeeeeesus. They're really dragging the subtext straight into the text, aren't they?
It makes me wonder if these douchebags did not realize their little marketing video might get seen by the public.
They feel like they dont need to hide it.. When they're just doing what should be done.
Jim isn't kidding. These people literally see others as sources of money. Theyre alienated and its not for comedic effect.
Maybe we should make THEM pay?
"Turning players into payers." REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
Blair White
It’s still dehumanizing people who play video games.
8:12 So, the American airline industry is under investigation for PRICE GOUGING during the 2017 hurricane season. Meanwhile Uber got a lot of customers to uninstall the Uber app after both acting as scabs during a January 2017 taxi driver strike and temporarily allowing PRICE SURGING during that time (they later disabled the price surging, likely only after the outcry).
Meanwhile Jackass McGee from Scientific Revenue here is telling us to look to these two industries for comfort? That's like being caught sneaking around at night with a machete and saying "Hey, don't worry about it! Lots of people walk around at midnight with a machete. Just ask my buddy, Jason Voorhees!"
I wish Ferrari used Dynamic Pricing...
Darth Armis fuck Ferrari,I wish the housing market used dynamic pricing.
They probably would if they could make only a single car then be able to sell it to everybody.
inb4 you realise that its standart price will be its minimal because Dynamic Pricing aims for more money, not less
gearfriedtheswmas that's Fiat punto
Wouldn't help you much because fuel doesn't come with dynamic pricing and insurance costs *do*.
THePunisher Xxx is a classic case of "Video Game Stockholm Syndrome."
Meanwhile, the person who created that account is looking at this having a good old laugh about the whole situation.
I see 2 other possibilities. 1) An alt account of someone who works for a company like Scientific Revenue, or a game "developer" that does this stupid monetization shit. Or 2) someone trolling and laughing. Poe's Law after all.
More like "standard sub-IQ byproduct of [Insert Country Name here]"
@@StormsparkPegasus I know that this is way late but when I read it those were the first 2 things that popped into my mind and it's probably the first one
@@StormsparkPegasus I agree. seems like a case of bought "likes" just like russias internet research agency
You should be more understanding Jim, publishers are having a rough life. Look at EA, they are probably hitting a record high of only 5 billion dollars net profits this year, after a rough patch since 2015 where they didn't sunk bellow the 4 billion mark and kept a steady upward trend. My hearts and prayers are with them, poor bastards.
(Thanks for stepping up for us, the consumers
Life was very tough on them. They had a small loan of a million dollars.
They can barely afford to keep a development team, the poor babies. They keep "having" to Old Yeller them.
Poor EA was forced to close its studio Visceral Games because of financial difficulty. Its chairman, investors, and CEO only afford to buy 2 private islands this year so they need mictrotransactions to recover
um gajo perdido you tell then brother! Amen!
Where's their parade!? #EALivesMatter
Publishers seeing THePunisher Xxx's comment: IT'S HUGE! FIRE THE HARPOONS BOYS, WE CANT LET THIS ONE GET AWAY! WE'RE GONNA MAKE A FORTUNE I TELL YA!
His point seems solid until you realize games cost a lot to publish not because of the development cost, but because of the advertisement cost. Triple-A publishers lead advertising campaigns at an average cost of tens of millions of dollars per game, which is always far more than what the game actually cost to develop.
If developers would self-publish and keep the advertising to game media like gaming news sites and such, while forgoing the primetime tv spots, the overall publishing costs would drop significantly.
No his point isnt "valid" at all. if they are blowing more on marketing than on game development then Publishers are morons....and I doubt they are. They know how to turn the bucks around. They are just excuses. Server costs are lies, dev costs are lies. How the fuck did they make the money back in the past? by giving games for free? No fuck that 12 yr old halo kid. He has no fucking idea what he's talking about and I bet that mommy and daddy aoy for his ass to be wiped too. Fuck him
I wasn't really agreeing with him. Dev costs shouldn't really have risen in the past few years. For every new technology someone invents, 5 others developed in previous games are streamlined for ease of integration (like how Unreal Engine 4 handles it).
But as a matter of fact, publishers do spend way more than they should on advertising. I do take some of what I said back, though. After looking into it, in most triple-A game cases, the ratio is pretty much 1:1, but in some cases, advertising costs _are_ way higher than the actual game development costs. I think CoD Modern Warfare 2 was one of the biggest offenders of this, with a 50 million development budget, and a 200 million advertising budget. But this isn't a new thing and has been happening for a generation now. Final Fantasy VII, back in 1997, also cost around 50 million to develop, and 100 million was spent on advertising.
Prime time TV Spots, cinematic trailers, trailer showings in cinemas, ads, billboards, you name it. All of those cost a LOT. For reference, a single 30-second TV Spot during prime time hours could cost upwards of 300,000$.
And the results speak for themselves. Which game are you more familiar with, even if you've never played it? Call of Duty, or ARMA? Like you said, publishers aren't idiots. They simply put the money into what they think will get more people to buy their games, and not into actually making those games good.
I know man, sorry, anger isn't aimed at you. It pisses me off that there's people that actually think like that. On your pint about marketing though. I understand that it's important to get the word out there, but I think there comes a point when you need to cut back on that. As a consumer I really do not give a flying fuck if they had to pay 100$ to make me buy a 60$ game. If that's the case, the problem is with the marketing. I should not pay for them to spread the word. Or rather I'd be inclined to understand if they didn't assign a marketing budget 4 times the size of the game dev costs. It's ridiculous
Extremely ridiculous. But the thing is, they don't care much about their marketing funds, because microtransactions now exist to cover those costs. It doesn't matter how many people vote with their wallets. Some people will always be willing to spend enough to cover the costs of dozens of missed potential consumers. And in the case the game still fails to reach the profit margin the publisher set, they blame the developer, cutting their funding or outright dissolving their studio. And this is done when games still generate a profit of tens and hundreds of millions of dollars. It's just not enough for those greedy publishers.
Publishers are the bane of modern gaming. That's why I'm done buying games from the triple-A scene. If developers want my money, they should self-publish, just like indie and double-A developers do. Divinity: Original Sin 2 and Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice are recent prime examples of the success of such endeavors. Hopefully more developers follow suit.
That pinned comment has so many replies that it lags chrome....
And it can't support more....
Okay? I see your point and I agree but it has nothing to do with why no more replies can be supported on that comment. Its not that the comment is locked or the user is keeping replies from being posted, its that its reached the max supported amount of replies that any comment has (which is 500). There's nothing anyone can do about that.
Yeah... it blew my browser too. And I was so desperate to fart in the posters face...
It has more likes than the video itself has dislikes. It's a 3 paragraph diatribe on a website where nobody reads too. That's extremely fishy. It also has 3 subscriptions off the back of those 1.7k likes. I'm sure it's downright fraudulent.
Right? hahahaha
Worth it.
I am a nurse. And sometimes I wish that I had some of those greedy suits lying on my ward, because I would _love_ to play the game of DLC and lootboxes with them.
Hello, good Sirs, I am your friendly nurse and you've just bought a copy of *"Basic Care"!*
This includes me checking on you regularly at the beginning, the middle and the end of my shift, me sending a trainee nurse with your meds and even three meals a day!
Of course there is more! There are great things that can and will extend and enhance your hospital experience! Things like...
- "wiping your ass"
- "the nurse nurse is kind to you"
- "the nurse has time for a conversation"
- or even "the friendly nurse has time for a converstation"!
Amazing experiences like...
- "answering your questions"
- "comforting you when you are scared"
- "changing your bandages, even when they are not completely grubby"
- "changing your bedclothes more often than once a week"
- "getting painkillers when you need them"!
And all of it is accessible through just a tiny bit of grinding, called "moving your ass to the nursing station", "making me lots of compliments", "shut up when the nurse is in a bad mood", "never complain or even ask for something" or "making me gifts".
But of course we understand that as a busy executive you might not have the time for all the grind. And being the sympathetic nurses we are, we even offer a solution for that! For only 1000 Euro you can buy our *DLC - Direct Loving Care* that not only includes all of the mentioned goodies above, but also comes with an extra -skin- colored bandage that is exclusive to our DLC!
You don't feel like you want our DLC? Why not trying our *Care Boxes* that give you that extra flexibility? Each *Care Box* only costs 50 Euro and has a staggering 5% chance of giving you the treatment you actually need! And they even come in batches - get 5 Care Boxes for the price of 4 and a half!
Yes, I think I like that idea. I am seeing my meager salary getting considerably boosted in the near future! And the best thing, according to companies like €A, _both_ sides will benefit from that!
TAKE MY MONEY NOW!!?!?
Furzkampfbomber glorious
This is the greatest analogy in the history of logic
As a practical nurse, I should be charging with this same method.
I'll give them a care box where the roll a random thing. Might be an activity, actual care and me giving a shit, but with a 90% chance its just me calling it a day early and going home.
YES.
"I can already see the posts on NeoGAF and Reddit now!"
Oh, I guess I know when th-
"...Well I can already see the posts on Reddit now!"
My sides entered orbit.
"Charging people different prices is fair because everyone has different incomes". By that logic I should be able to go down to the local dealership and get a Ferrari for $1,000 while the rich guys pay 100,000.
I mean, please? Can I get that Lamborghini?
(for the record, agreeing with you here) The absolute maximum end to that is that we should just quit our jobs. That way we can take anything we want for free, since that's essentially 100% our income at that point, which means by their logic that would be paying way more than the plebs who are *only* spending 10k on the game when they make 2 million a year.
But you know, they won't actually repeat this logic when it utterly screws them over.
Where is my free Ferrari corporations?
Ever heard of price discrimination? Same amount of money's worth is different for different people. A successful business knows how to achieve max consumer surplus. And yes charging different prices for a same product is fair. Why are you surprised?
You know why companies dont blatantly do it? Because mindsets like your reply. So they use different degrees/techniques of price discrimination which is categorically the same as charging different people the same thing differently. And people are suddenly fine about them just cause.
Exactly!
THePunisher Xxx: _"I'm sure your sheep audience will rush to downvote me."_
Jim: _"Actually yes."_ **pin**
Downvotes aren't even a thing on TH-cam anymore
That comment has so many replies I can't even fucking comment on it. Shame, wanted to have fun.
yeah, shame i cant comment. simple answer is "they used to be able to do it, with a much smaller audience, and much fierce competition"
No one seemed to mention that he accused Jim of not being part of the industry, but Jim has worked as a voice actor and as a consultant, hasn't he?
Revenge Stalker I thought it was actually sarcastic
I’m waiting for Jim to read out the pinned comment on a future video it would be gold
That guy is the entire reason this bullshit exists
The cringe is strong on that one.
honestly it looks like you can't reply to that comment anymore and I was curious to know if that guy was a dev.
I've met DEVELOPERS with that mentality, it's fucking disgusting.
Wait until Thursday my friend, and I suspect your prayers will be answered. And then you will thank God for Jim Fucking Sterling Son.
I think it's hilarious that he pinned it.
Triple Paid Games
Nice pun there..but even triple probably won't be enough for these companies. They need INFINITE
First payment is the game itself, second payment is all the DLC, and third payment is the microtransactions.
I prefer calling it polyfeeism.
Sooo loot boxes arent gambling because your using real life money to buy fake money and using that to gamble. So why cant a 12 year old to go vegas and use real life money to buy chips and sit at the craps table?
Bat cup this is very late, but i think part of the rationale is that you can't cash out for real money (where the 12 year old in vegas presumably thinks that they can win cash if the casino let them buy chips). Some of the times this isnt the case and you can get cash for the in-game items, but its not the company selling you the items that is giving you cash for them.
P.S. I'm not saying that is not fucked up (or even that its not gambling). I just wanted to note where someone might make the distinction, and why the issue might be a little tricky from a technical standpoint to define it as gambling in legal terms (coming from lay opinion from someone who is explictly not a lawyer)
@@jeffkrenitsky5110 Well its pretty grayed area, since you said yourself that you can cash out, its gray because you can sell ingame items for cash, but cash is stuck on your ingame app, like Blizzard account and Steam wallet while its true that you cant use that money in real life, you can only use it to buy items from the game client for what represents real money. Still by tehnical definition gambling is:
1.the activity or practice of playing at a game of chance for money or other stakes.
2.the act or practice of risking the loss of something important by taking a chance or acting recklessly:
Opening lootboxes still gives you that gamblers high and adrenalin rush when you hope to get something good. You can get hooked on that like in any other gambling form.
@@jeffkrenitsky5110 If this is true, why isnt there a casino that pays people in goods or vouchers to dodge all the regulations against gambling?
It's more closer to a 12yo buying a lottery ticket than a going into a casino. You buy a product and hope for a prize, while the other is active betting on outcome.
The Wilson-lootbox is Still f**** up*** in either case tho
@@Dotalol123 You can use your wallet money to buy some stuff on steam and trade them for real money i have done it so many times i buy something after that i trade it the buyer sends the money to my paypal.
"Turning Players into Players"
The AAA industry in a nutshell
CHRIPLE AYYY
why fuck triple A and stick to indie games, 2017 only been on game that interest me and it was "niche" game, fuck rest any game has microtransaction i will not touch don't care if game is fun, I'm not supporting this shit
candy crush in a nutshell
Nah... the literal AAA industry
In The Mind of Kibara me get want to re read your comment m8
I remember a time when you paid full price for a game and got a full game in return.
When John Riccitiello was CEO of EA, he said almost that exact thing, but was presenting it to the audience as a *bad* thing.
wtf why?
Rembert when an expansion was an actual large addon. Like Oblivion shivering Isles?
Arrow Valley yep
The good old times
Games don't make enough money anymore? I never asked for SWBF2 to be the second highest budgeted game in history. If they can't make their game financially solvent then that is their problem. I'm not here to pick up the fucking tab because of their shit budgetary management.
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot EXACTLY!!!
Its the exact same issue all entitled rich people have.
They think they're struggling to make ends meet.. Because they overspent on luxurious events or items.. Believing that money spent. Is money earned..
Downsizing is rarely considered at the effective level with companies like this. And all it does is make them alienated to their livelihood and product.
that is exactly it, for example terraria is probably THE game i had the most fun with ever, it's just a "small" indie game, with pixelated graphics and a tiny budget compared to AAA games which can barely entertain me for 12 hours. but hey, gotta make games as expensive as possible, gotta market our games with an expensive car on the E3 stage or popular figures that most gamers don't even care about, nor know about, gotta get the 10th remake of a map everybody has already played to death, gotta have those cut scenes that add absolutely nothing to gameplay, and don't forget to make a new engine for every new release.
You know how people get when the graphics aren't "pretty enough to make your eyes bleed". What a superficial gaming culture we have.
Now excuse me while I play Dwarf Fortress.
If I knew you in real life I'd buy you a drink!
"Turning players into payers"
Nope! I'm out!
To put a little fuel into the fire: all products with flexible pricing mentioned as defense share one quality: they are limited resources. there are only so many plane seats, for example, therefore prices have to be adjusted according to supply and demand. With digital goods such as freemium currency, supply is virtually (heh) limitless, and therefore other economic laws (as in "laws of nature" but for economics, not actual legislature) apply. The bloke compares apples with seawater.
Plus, the Nash Equilibrium is a well known economical phenomenon that states that if everyone tries to recklessly get the max result, nobody will achieve the optimum and the system might even crash completely. Some have to "play suboptimally" so that the system as a whole can work.
In the end, SciRev is not only morally questionable, it is additionally, plain and simple, bad economics.
GavinHohenheim bad economics has a tendency to crash and burn horrifically, isn't that right 2008?
so, considering you seem to know more econonics than me, how long are you betting on until the market crashes? because i have 0 economics training and my guess is 5-10 years.
SciRev is the DeBeers model of software. Create an artificial scarcity and convince the masses they absolutely need your product. We don't need shitty games infected with their crap.
Spot on. All the examples in the article by Gamasutra had the limit of available supply, and thus this does not apply to virtual products where supply is virtually infinite. Good job pointing that out.
GavinHohenheim As an Economics student I love the fact that you've mentioned this
Hell you don't even need Nash Equilibrium to figure that out. That's basic math. There "was" limited money (but even still there is limited value for each dollar) and if everyone, selling games, takes more and more in the system then the value decreases which creates a massive wealth gap and then no one can buy your stuff, because the industry isn't interested in buying games, because they want to sell, but your customers don't have enough money to offset costs of selling... so you reach a stalemate where nothing can move and the industry is done.
"fuck with the orc merchant" best game of the year 2017
Possibly EA's best product this year.
They're coming...just wait.
Sylv Aine
Most meta game of 2017.
ROFLMAOOO
Hes just gonna read that pinned comment out on Commentocracy now lol.
Crazy Zaul I hope so. Could make a season out of it. Lol
He fucking better
Oh god I hope so. That whole comment could be a mini-quisition I feel
The sad thing is he's right. Majority of players don't mind microtransactions. Look at Shadow of War's numbers. Unfortunately those of us who recognize these tactics as bullshit are in the minority.
Crazy Zaul God, I hope so.
As someone who wants to become a game designer, the industry makes me want to puke.
DemonGrenade274 Go indie now when they'll be the only ones left to turn to
I'm a programmer (not a game programmer), and everyone says gaming is one of the worst industries to work in. With insane work hours, crazy deadlines, low moral, and relatively low pay.
Well to be honest alot of that depends on what company you work for. Though insane work hours and crazy deadlines hit just about all studios during crunch time, low moral and low pay are very dependent on where you end up.
While I do plan on working for an existing company (at least for the first few years to get some experience), I have a list of companies I will not work for unless I absolutely have to. EA is one of them.
Hate them all you want, but they are the ones you want to work for if you want to work with truly talented ppl. As the indie has grown as it is, the big companies still the place where most talents will end up and they are the one you want to learn from before going independent. Unless you are truly genius that can already get paid from your work, you have to work for the big companies first, not to mention they are the one trying to get more new and fresh ppl.
As for how bad they are as an industry to work for, tbh that goes for every industry. If there is ppl running it there will be avarice.
DemonGrenade274 if a TH-cam career dosent work out my plan is to become a concept artist for gaming companies (bethesda, etc) but the gaming industry needs to GET THEIR HEAD OUT OF THEIR ASS
Somehow I can't shake the feeling that Jim pinned ThePunisher Xxx's comment just so he could memorize it for his Commentocracy.
I think that would be too on the nose, I'm betting it's something else.
I'm almost certain it was to direct people to his post so fans could tear him apart.
Apperantly it was something else.
It would have been funny, though.
Whoa, wait! @Jim Sterling You should definitely use a clip from The Talos Principle or Serious Sam, they have this "easter egg" of a guy in the company wearing a suit who just constantly yells "money!" while a big pile of cash sits on his desk. It's... Perfect.
Brilliant!
Use the clip from that Tom&Jerry movie, the one with the balding banker guy saying "We've got to have...money !"
OMG i just found it, would absolutely fit into one of Jim's videos!
Machine learning? well LEARN THIS!!! I flipped off the screen, you didn't see it but it was totally badass
Daniel Staples hope your screen survived
Revolution against... THE TV!!!
Terminator: the Gaming Industry
What a child lmao
and we all stupidly thought SkyNet was going to be a military AI
Dont 4 get about the jewish space lazors
You should rename “The Jimquisition” to “Why Another Market Crash Needs to Happen, Reason Number [EPISODE NUMBER HERE].”
"Why Someone Should No Russian The EA Corporate Offices To Send A Message Reason #:"
Jack Casey except if a crash happens Mobile gaming will just take over
I wonder if Nintendo will save the industry again or Rorschach it this time
Connor Reynolds jesus chrirst i dont like micro transication but shoot up a ofice over them the fucks wrong with you kid
I don't think nintendo has it in them, at least right now, to save the Industry that they are only remotely associated with at this point. Sure, Nintendo makes games, but the Nintendo sphere of Influence is their own systems, a microcosm that behaves and feels very different than the rest of the industry, with it's own pitfalls and highlights. If a crash happens (Which I doubt), Nintendo will either be unaffected or crash at a different point in time due to how hermetic their business is.
Who watches Jimquisition at 3 AM?
Rolls over, checks phone, sees new Jimquisition
OH BOY 3 AM
Full points for reference.
Not even close. Almost 6pm. Taking a looooong shit before going to work and watching Jimquisition in my throne room.
3AM? Where do you live, Japan?
According the US West Coast Time was merely 10AM when the video uploaded. Now it's almost 6PM where I live...
Fawful0 I watched it at 3pm. Are you sleep posting? You defeated your own nonsense otherwise.
3AM? But it's 4 PM. Wtf are you on?
Remember back in the PS2 (and before) days, when gaming was so simple and convenient?
We totally took that shit for granted...
@Walther Penne Normies became the majority.
PS2 was my last non-handheld console.
For people defending the practice because games are too expensive to produce now I would like to make some statements that are mostly backed up by actual evidence.
Dead space 3 failed. Dead space 1 and 2 did not. Why? Dead space 3 made itself far more expensive, far less attractive to the original audience by abandoning horror to go more action shooter assuming there was a bigger audience for that. They were wrong. Not enough people wanted it to cover the money they spent on it. Publishers and devs should be smart about how much they spend on games. I dont think dead space 3 would have sold much better without the microtransactions. We people who shun them are still a minority. If they kept the budget smaller instead of jizzing out elaborate cinematics and set pieces, as well as keeping it horror, I expect it would have been successful.
Destiny 1, the most expensive game ever that sold only a small fraction of what it developed at launch, made its entire budget back in one day of just $60 game sales. If it actually delivered what was promised then it would have done even better. The cost of development can be covered by the potential consumers of a market and bungie/activision did that precisely because they knew bungies next game would have huge interest. They still made it a safe bet by pizza slicing the game and even then it was successful.
Freemium goods are over priced garbage even before they start to affect gameplay. Every company on the sun is trying to tell me a single costume is worth anywhere between 5-30 dollars in an age where I can get full quality games for that price? I work as an illustrator, when you're pedaling a product that has a one time cost to design and can then be distributed infitintely at no additional cost you mark the price down to tempt more people to buy it. Instead the price stays abussively high, justified flimsily by how its extra, its optional, its over priced so you can support the ailing devs. No. This narrative is false. The prices stay high because no company wants to unsettle the idea from peoples brains that these digital goods are worth this much cash. They dont stay high because few people want to buy them. Few people buy them because the prices are high. 35 million people bought overwatch because it was a good deal. Only a small fraction of those people buy loot crates regularly. I suggest thats because very few people stay hyped long enough to want to spend an entire games price on roughly 3 good costumes worth of crates. 2 of which are random. Those 3 costumes did not take more time to design than a game with numerous maps and playable characters yet they cost far, far more. Blizzard made enough money off of selling the game to keep those servers alive for years while pumping out new stuff and still rolling in cash. There is no argument for the heavy premium on their freemium. Sell the goods at a tempting price with less bullshit.
In an age where souls games and witcher 3 turn great profit off of $60 price tag and $15-20 dlc, expensive games that dont insist on pushing the limits of visual fidelity, I really hold no sympathy for these idiotic publishers who insist on spending more than is reasonable to make games where they shouldn't expect that many sales. I hold no faith in their constant mantra that heavily over priced loot crates are necessary. Its time that mid tier budgets be embraced again and if microtransactions want to stick around they better be consumer friendly and priced appropriately. If a single armor took a week or two for one dev to make after a concept artist farted it out over a couple dozen hours in a game where there's millions of potentially interested customers you can sell that shit for 50c. Anything more is shaking consumers down for their cash. If devs really need donations to stay afloat they can open a bloody patreon while they make something worth buying.
If the publisher is afraid that not enough people will buy it then they can put their less popular item into a bundle with other items, sell them collectively cheaper, and get more peoples interest. Almost like dlc. Which is why they dont. A lot of AAA games these days dont stay popular long enough to get dlc. Why? Because they're just not good enough. Hardline sure wasnt dark souls 3 or witcher 3 or horizon zero dawn. A lot of modern releases will retain a few players but most just dip so far within the first month that producing expansion type content is unattractive with so few potential buyers still paying attention. So whats a publisher to do to make more cash off of their original original investment (instead of investing safely and not throwing the bank at a new ip)? Season passes and day 1 dlc. Also microtransactions. Have as many things as possible for hyped people to buy day 1 or even before the game comes out to maximize profit.
So, if a publisher doesnt have faith that its game will make enough they frontload options to minimize loses by exploiting dunces willing to splurge on something marketing has sold them on. Publishers do this instead of being consumer friendly because it makes reliable money. If the game succeeds they have a marketplace to peddle more price-inflated shit and if it fails they've extorted cash from the faithful and minimized loses. Publishers want big and flashy to catch peoples attention and have convinced themselves thats the only way. So dont defend them. These tactics are a step in the wrong direction instead of addressing the problem inherent in spending more than they have reason to on every title. Halo? Spend the cash. Random new ip thats not that imaginative and hasnt been proven? Dont give it a huge fucking budget so that you dont need as many sales. But nope. Publishers want everything to sell as well as overwatch or cod or destiny. Reason has abandoned the big publishers.
Also, there is no evidence that shows how successful or unsuccessful a game selling less expensive microtransactions would be. This whole economy was based off of phone games which are already notoriously thieving and do get an unhealthy sum of money from a frighteningly small portion of their players in games that are far cheaper to make than these prices would make you think. Console and pcing gaming adopted the idea wholesale, didnt adjust it at all for their almost entirely willing-to-pay audience, and wants to make that same absurd rate of profit to investment. No company considering microtransactions is dropping the price because there are people willing to pay it and a few who will really splurge which is why these things are always made with nearly endless things to buy thanks to rng crates.
hope we can get this pinned would be a great counter point to the presently pinned comment. don't know if multiple comments can be pinned. also completly agree with OP
I agree with Dahn, this wall was worth the read and I plan on thinking back on this for future thoughts in this shit riddled world we are going through
Did any of the AAA publishers claim that microtransactions have to be in Games to make them sustainable anyway? I always see this argument brought up by fans and press shills but never from actual big players in the industry.
If 60$ aren't doing it for your overbudgeted piece of crap then go for the tiered approach. But make it fair and transparent. I would have no problem paying more for my video games but I want honesty and transparency in exchange for that.
Got through the first paragraph and a half. You get a like for what I was able to read.
Jim, Cassandra could prophecise events of the future, but her curse was not be be believed. So it may be more accurate than you think :P
I do believe that is exactly the point Jim is making.
I think that was exactly the point there
lunahula who's Cassandra!?
+SBN
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassandra
@SBN it's a Greek myth and now a metaphor - Apollo provided Cassandra with the gift of prophecy, but when she refused Apollo's romantic advances, he placed a curse ensuring that nobody would believe her warnings.
Hit the lever!
IGV IOS and Android Gameplay Trailers The lever being the game industry's dick
@THePunisher Xxx
What a flacid penis
RIP Silent Hills. We will never forget.
WRONG LEVEEEER !!!
+Johan Dale Why do they even _have_ that lever, anyway?
This video just got you a sub :)
Explains so much what is wrong with the gaming industry.
Indie games are the future for now.. i hope they find the revenue they need, to stay around.
Stay around and not get sucked up by the Triple Pay publishers
Pinned comment: Randy Bitchford, is that you?
18:29 love this game that you invented Jim!
Someone remix those sounds into an EDM track please. I need this.
Now we just need a mod where we kill him again and again and again and again and again...
Apparently the merchant has a very complex vocabulary consisting of "Blehh" "Bahh" "Wiihh" "Beeh" and "Blahh"
"love this game that you invented Jim!"
EA: People love doing that?
Now for purchase: Merchant Sound DLC $4.99
It's fine. It's cosmetic.
It'll have microtranactions in it sooner or later as well with Dynamic pricing calculated based on a person's Taxes.
DLC was the beginning of the end for gaming, everything went down hill after DLC was introduced, now corporations took over with their greed.
Actually there is one correction that makes a HUGE difference: game sales are a bigger cut than microtransactions for _most_ pc games. Not the other way around. Remembering this will allow us to remember rule number one - if you buy the game with the intent of not purchasing MTs, you've sent no message to the publisher. But avoiding buying a game because it has microtransactions - this sends a message to the entire industry.
SeventyFive Which is exactly why Shadow of War will not enter my hands unless it's for free.
I think you're still right... for now... but I don't think this'll last much longer the way things are going.
Did you see the report that Blizzard put out for the amount of money they made off of loot box sales, $1 Billion dollars. EA made like 65 Million from Fifa 2K17 club microtransactions. Activision made Millions as well from Black ops 3 weapon crates. They don't need to just avoid the games that have MT's from these publishers but these publishers altogether whether a game has MT's or not. I feel bad for the Devs that work for them but they should be putting their foot down on this as well.
+SeventyFive The major problem with that is that you end up hurting the developers as well, and most of the time the developers don't really have any say in the financial decisions that are undertaken by the publishers and simply have to comply while trying to make those features (like loot crates, day one DLC, special edition content, etc) as irrelevant and unimportant as possible so they don't end up driving off the consumers.
It's a shitty situation nonetheless, but if a developers is able to pull this off and makes a worthwhile game in the process, you can still support them by purchasing the game *and* sending a message to the publishers by not buying any of the features that you don't like.
Here's the problem mate. The games industry seems to take a perverse delight in interpreting that data their own way. If a game isn't successful because the fans didn't like a favored pricing mechanic or some such, they'll insist that the problem is a lack of interest in the IP, whatever that happens to be. And indeed, from their point of view, its true.
Obviously they need to stop making games for that IP, and find a different one that is so interesting that people will put up with this kind of bullshit. So there's really no winning. They'll just keep doing the things they do. Because with few exceptions, they don't actually care about what we think.
Calling it now: “Turning Players into Payers” will be a new meme.
Life's good, when you're turning players into a tv that looks like an anime fan on prom night.
Artemiy Solopov Replace “anime fan” with “SKELETON WARRIOR” and we’re golden.
Anon E. Mousse to cringy not to be.
Anon E. Mousse no it won't. Memes just start being memes. If you can predict what will become a meme than it won't be.
Abdel Hassan You can on this show. Look how many people called the orc merchant becoming a running gag.
Heres a thing that really stands out in my memory because dev talks about finance are typically the most depressing thing ever, i get a constant sense of despiration from them constantly...
Anywho:
i was at a small game dev conference last year and a dev from Fireproof Games was giving a talk. 2mins in to his planned speech he snapped and went on a rant about how devs shouldnt care about meta data and should really focus on making the games they want to see. Ignore the alledged market demands of being F2P, if you make a good game you can make money on a single payment game (using their The Room as an example). Everyone cheered, it was very refreshing to hear this alternative (even though its older) to an imagined demand for free to play. The microsoft rep who was on after really struggled to win the crowd back :P
Rad McCool That's what we want to hear yes, but it is not the truth. You can do that. You can win the lottery.
There just needs to be a balance. From the dev side, yes costs of development are rising and they need to combat it. But I discussed in The Sixty Dollar Myth exactly what the problem is. The needle swung to the extreme end.
I think the larger studios are (and have been) pushing _really_ hard for a Hollywood style business model, they are both unsustainable systems which used to enjoy a monopoly on distribution but the web era is forcing them out of their comfort zone and causing scummy practices.
Half the complaints people make about Marvel films and the CoD series are interchangeable. It's the same mindset and may be the same investors involved
I think this is the crux of the issue. And ultimately a significant portion of the blame lies on the core of gamers. In some ways we were happy to accept this world because for many it didnt affect us. We didnt need to pay more because some other person was droping 40 dollars for a hat (or some such nonsense). Thing is, seriously sit and ask yourself what the community would do if a developer just honestly said, hey, this next big budget single player game, its going to cost $90. In that you get all the content, no chopped up dlc, no microtransactions, but the sticker cost is $90 or 100 or whatever it needs to be. Do you really think the community is ready to look at that with a rational mind?
George M Back in 2011 I'd have bought Skyrim for 100$. Not every game is Skyrim though.
I stopped playing mobile games in 2012. They went from a harmless, cheap experience, to just utter crud that milks you for pennies. If I'm out, and want to play a video game. I bring my 3DS. Nintendo still seems to adopt the good old policies.
The day microtransactions went too far was the day Solitaire introduced its monthly plan.
UltraDirectorJester damn really...
Tht does take the cake
It costs $5.00 extra for the satisfying card avalanche victory animation.
Than they should first start with using the actuall Solitaire rules for the game itself....now Minesweeper micro transactions....
UltraDirectorJester "Stuck? Draw an extra card for just $1!"
I don't know. Fable 3 wanting to charge me $0.99 to make my pantaloons black was really asinine.
How about we all get together and troll the publishers?
Like if we had 1 or 2 million people, we could all pre-order a particular publisher's games and all the content, and then cancel the day before it launches. Hehehehehe
Ryan Somur I'd go with that!
I wish. It's times like this that I wish I could control humanity.
That is genius. I'm down for the cause
"... we all get together..."
Plan fails at the first step.
Comment sections of Jimquisition videos are, ironically, almost like a focus group of their own.
We are actually a minority. The majority of gamers, casual and hardcore alike, never open their mouths and simply buy the new Assassin's Creed, or Call of Duty, or Batman Whatever, so they can play the game they wanted. Some will buy the DLC, others will not, but virtually none of them will ever open their mouths about the politics of the industry.
I have a friend who fits this description to a T.
If you sat him down and explained all the AAA fuckery, he would agree with most, if not all of it. But if you don't, it will never cross his mind, because he just wants to pick up and play a game. It doesn't concern him what goes on behind the scenes the way it does for games media and its followers - us.
We need to weaponize this and use it. Shit I can preorder at 6 different locations within 5 minutes of my house. I'm willing to put down 12 preorders for $5 each at different locations. I doubt I could do it all at one store. Gamestop freaks out if you cancel one pre order let alone 12. It would be best to spread the out at different locations.
THePunisher Xxx - A couple of things:
The development and success of Hellblade pretty much negates 90% of your argument about compensating the expense of making a video game in modern day.
Also coming from a guy who has worked in the industry, the tools and software used in making those games has become much cheaper and made much more easily accessible in recent times. Some publishers have ridiculous expectations, like EA not thinking in the long term when they think Dead Space 2 selling 4 million copies as not successful, that's really successful for a game in that genre.
The biggest problem in the industry today is the control and pressures that publishers put on developers, EA being the worst offenders. They set themselves up to fail by only investing in producing 100 million dollar games and not looking where they can push the envelope elsewhere; so in case they don't re-coup that 100 million they jam micro-transactions and loot-boxes into the game, even going to the point of changing the game design entirely so they can force that crap in.
Look at how successful companies like Rockstar, CD Proj Red are when they are left to create a game without publisher pressure. But sadly most publishers aren't interested in the quality of the games/gaming experience but only how much cash they can milk from it.
Also, you say ''You are not in the industry' to Jim, but hasn't Jim done some voice-over work for video games? I'm pretty sure that constitutes working in the games industry in some form.
You are putting a lot of hope in Developers that have given us more than enough signs that we are just another paycheck, the moment you accept this darkness is the moment you can see the light.
All this money you are spending? Enough to buy your daughter or your sister that cute or cheap diamond necklace.
Enough to fill the whole fucking fridge with snacks.
The developers are not paid by the game's profit. They couldn't care less about micro transactions other than the fact that it is mandated from above and EA will NOT SELL THEIR GAME if they don't shoehorn it in.
Developers are paid to make the game through contract. And if they can't fulfil that contract, the publisher doesn't care. Either they ship the game anyway, the way it is, or they get a few months to iron it out with NO PAY or reduced pay. But regardless of the game being a flop or making all the money in the world (by quality or forcing micro transactions through their costumer's noses), the developers will get the same pay check... usually FAR bellow the earning of equivalent professionals in ANY other industry.
Let's also account the fact that Undertale, on the budget of a box of crayons, became _mega-popular_ and elevated its creator into the status of a millionaire. And this was all without flashy presentation, and hyper-realistic details all the way down to the last fucking polygon on goat-mom's ass; it did so on being a genuine and powerful product in its own right that got people invested. *And all of that without manipulating the fucking customers out of pennies.*
RichardRichard Snotface
Id just like to say that Rockstar shouldnt be held up as a virtuous game dev.
Other than that, I 100% agree.
Jim is an expert on the industry. Just because he isn't a part of the problem and actively defending corporations and trying to rip people off doesn't mean he isn't a part of the industry.
I liked that pinned comment.
That guy would make a very good mark for a snake oil salesman.
Their comparisons to other dynamic pricing are so transparently bullshit. Uber (and yeah, another less than ideal company to compare oneself to, like pharmaceuticals) justify dynamic pricing because peak times increase demand and therefore there is a potential lack of supply, which is finite. Charging different amounts for the same video game content is entirely irrespective of supply - there is infinite supply, and there is no justification for charging each customer what they think they will splash out, rather than what the content is actually worth, based on its cost to manufacture and market. Sickening - though sadly not surprising.
exactly. And theres a difference between observing market trends to have occasional sales and just doling out crack at the price of whatevers in the customer's pocket
Dynamic pricing.
What they want you to think: They're making microtransactions cheaper for people who can't afford them.
What's actually happening: They're making microtransactions more expensive for people who can afford them.
What is actually happening: They're making microtransactions affordable to everyone. Now you have no excuse.
$100 is affordable to some people, should they pay that for a new skin?
Does that mean I can sell you a 1 dollar bill for 2 dollars because you can afford it?
And therein lies the moral issue
Who says you have to be able to afford it? Thanks to the wonders of Dynamic Pricing, all players can enjoy the privilege of being tricked into buying loot [container of choice]s until they are destitute and starving.
For everyone who is wondering, what a Cassandra is:
Cassandra is a seer / oracle, that warned the Trojans to not take Gifts from the Greeks.
And we all know what happened to Troja
Beware of Trojans they're complete smeg heads.
One thing Jim forgets in the video is that, in the end, Cassandra was raped and killed by Ajax... I wish him well...TT
@@TheeLiteClub- I'd hate to be raped by an abrasive cleaning agent, ouch.
Thank you, I'll be here all night!
More precisely, she was cursed to be able to see the future, but also that nobody would believe her prohpecies
That was Laocoon who warned against Greeks bearing gifts, not Cassandra. Cassandra had tricked the god Apollo into giving her the gift of prophecy. He couldn't change it but got his revenge anyway by making it so that nobody would ever believe her prophecies.
Let’s be honest, Science Research is full of bullshit when they pull the “different incomes” card.
If there was a poor gamer that had a gambling complex and a rich gamer that spent money once in a while, we know exactly which one they’d sell to.
the answer is ALL of em, cuz theyre greedy cunts who would even take money from a blind baby
Their explanation is actually just a smaller scale use of the "what the market can bear" pricing idea that different international markets have been dealing with since the rise of digital distribution... and not just with games.
It's always been bullshit, it's just been distilled again. I wonder what the next episode will be?
Although I feel I must point out an ugly truth here... it *does* work. Gambling addiction isn't just some natural genetic thing that some unfortunate souls drew a short straw on. It's trained into people, and it's been trained into some kids who get their allowance on a credit card that's been plugged into a touchscreen device for literally their entire living memory.
This is only going to get uglier.
"Gambling addiction isn't just some natural genetic thing that some unfortunate souls drew a short straw on. It's trained into people'
I wasn't taught gambling in any way but it doesn't make it less attractive to me. If anything it was the opposite, actually.
I'm a gambler by nature and only able to control myself fairly well most of the time where I almost certainly wouldn't otherwise because my family was dirt poor growing up meaning there was nothing to gamble with. I got used to not being able to do it, in other words. Well, for the most part.
And even then that mightn't have mattered if I wasn't so stuck on sticking to my principles. If it wasn't for the principle of the matter I'd probably buy the fuck out of things like lootboxes because I literally can't think of a greater thrill than gambling.
I don't think you understand how gambling works very well in a biological sense.
Especially in this modern kind of gambling.
Risk in general is a thrill because of how your brain works. When it pays off it's a fucking chemical rush in your brain.
In the past this would've been useful to reward yourself for simply choosing right and surviving but we're far passed that now. There's no real risk to be seen (you aren't going to die if you get the wrong card, or the wrong outfit from a lootbox) so it's ONLY reward.
It's a natural tendency that has been preyed on and for some perhaps exacerbated, but the preying doesn't make it not a natural tendency. In fact, there would be no point in preying on it if the tendency didn't exist to begin with. You're an idiot.
Tessa Bain While i agree with you, i kinda think that was his point, like he said gambling isn't JUST, it's more than that (may be wrong as i can't read his mind) but inherently we were all born with it, as it stimulates our reward centres, in many ways it's no different than a heroin shot, or the rush of a crush/love, so yeah the only thing saving most of people from blowing all their money on it, is either the fact they have no money to blow in the first place, or have really good self restrain...
The "different incomes" thing is a red herring (as much as "inflation" is) - if they were really worried about that and lost sales due to people not being able to afford things, AND they really wanted to directly go after used-games-sales, then they would build a lowering-sale-price model into the system. If 3-6 months after launch (depending on when sales dip) you could get the game for $20, then people with mess money could just wait for the sale(s). For MP games or games with a MP mode, where waiting is more difficult, you do map packs like the old days, but you charge for them at first, and then give them away. Yes, you have periods of fragmentation, but then everyone is brought back to together - those that need it ASAP pay for it, those that cannot, can wait for reduced prices or wait for the maps to be free for all.
OF course, its not about lost sales based on price or the used market, it's that no matter how much you made, it needs to be more. It HAS to be 50mm for dev, 50-100mm for marketing, and no less than 1B in revenue (or at least 300% profit) or "it's a failure". OW - Greed
Wether or not this business model works or is popular it doesn't change the moral aspect of this model. Sure it's all legal but that doesn't mean it's not scummy
Yeah, It's like people forgot that slavery was popular. But i like to think that people more like, "i have no moral standards nor the ability to make thoughts. My only resource is to do what others do".
I think this is called "Psychology of the mass"
+Half Blind Productions
I think that this is one of the more interesting aspects of business that walks a careful line very close to the edge of legality. What this is mainly known as is third-degree price discrimination, which is a legal practice by businesses for surprisingly common things, such as price differences between adults, children, and the elderly in ticket sales. It could be also known as a discriminating monopoly, given how there is a monopoly control of a product/service exclusive to the company.
Where it gets tricky is if the price change is motivated by a "protected class" discrimination. Strangely, I don't know of any case whereby an age discrimination, such as for ticket sales, was used for a case against such practice; I guess age-related price discrimination is so common that no one is complaining about it? Perhaps it's because it serves as a boon, or simply because the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 is the only age-related civil rights law and it doesn't cover age discrimination in business practices? According to the Elder-law section at the "Lawyers" commercial domain site, it seems to be the latter.
Interestingly, age is utilized in advertising and marketing demographics, and so far is entirely legal to be used for price discrimination and/or discriminating monopolies. It is highly unlikely that a more specific situation will arise whereby a major game developer will utilize price discrimination against a protected class, largely because I believe that they're mainly focused on consumer tracking data regarding purchase history and spending habits instead of true civil rights discrimination. Essentially, modern capitalism is a very callous field of consumer manipulation that has largely maintained legal absolution by keeping their scummy practices to data-mining along consumerism lines instead of civil lines. No civil liberties have been violated, and no civil rights have been discriminated against (so far).
So, unfortunately, these scummy business practices are fair game. I don't know if any consumer protection laws would be able to squash these practices, given the lack of legal precedence, but I'd certainly appreciate it if they did. Given how the topic in question involves a monopoly of a tax-dodging international game company, I doubt it contributes economically to US commerce and trade, and I doubt it has a positive impact on the income of artists and programmers (paid for their work, not based on the company's profit margins).
Ultimately, it is just another money-making business model that nobody likes, such as the Matrix Scheme of season passes: buy this "access pass" with our game, eventually we'll give you something else down the line! (followed by three cosmetic DLCs not worth the extra $40 tacked-on price).
I'm not even convinced it IS legal. It runs afoul of the principle of Illegal Price Discrimination (you cannot charge customers more if they do not make the service they order more costly). For reference, this is why restaurants charge parties of 6 or more, more money in their bill; it actually DOES cost the restaurant more money to seat and serve big groups. SciRev, by contrast, is offering to charge two otherwise identical customers different prices simply because one has more money in his bank account
+TRAINunit9
The more important factor is price elasticity of demand, since discriminatory monopolies require a difference in price elasticity of demand between consumers or different markets. You can calculate it as the percent difference in quantity of demand divided by the percent difference in price. However, this only applies to demand that is elastic. A change in demand is based on quantity and price, but since these are digital goods that have an infinite quantity (i.e. it never runs out of supply), the change in price has no effect on the change in quantity, so the price elasticity of demand is zero, also known as perfectly inelastic.
Because this service is perfectly inelastic, it is actually easier to legally practice price discrimination because the monopoly does not have to worry about price elasticity of demand. However, all of this could be upturned if the service/product being sold under price discrimination was capable of being resold by the customer to other consumers. In this case, there are digital barriers to keep customers from making arbitrage profits by selling among themselves (you cannot resell DLC, etc.).
+TARINunit9
Another thing to note for discriminatory monopolies is that the charging of different prices is not associated to the cost to provide the product or service. It is entirely legal to charge different prices for what amounts to the same product without any differences in cost to produce, since the restrictions are largely focused on consumer demand, as well as re-sale issues.
Also, while it sounds entirely scummy to segregate customers based on wealth, and it is scummy, it is also legal. There is no civil rights law or consumer protection law that protects people on the basis of financial class.
It's almost hilarious how bad the pinned comment is. Basically every single thing THePunisher Xxx talks about has ALREADY been a FEATURE on a different Jimquisition. Either THePunisher Xxx didn't do ANY research and this is his VERY first Jimquisition OR he's just hoping that the majority of people who read his comment either haven't seen many Jimquisitions themselves or are as big into eating corporate ass as he is.
And don't get me wrong. I am not, for a second, trying to imply that ThePunisher Xxx is a paid corporate mouthpiece or works for gaming in any way. In fact it's pretty obvious he is nothing more than a customer. But that's the real issue. He's JUST a customer and yet he's STILL going to bat 100% for the very people who view him as nothing more than a walking wallet to bleed dry until it can give no more. He loves his corporate masters so much that he's willing to open his financial veins for them and he's just completely mystified as to why others aren't equally willing.
In short, he's a living embodiment of everything that's wrong with the consumer side of gaming. He's the reason for all the bad things in gaming today. He's the reason that these AAA corporations know they can get away with adding microtransaction gambling loot boxes on top of their preorder penalties on top of their tiered games model on top of their games as a service on top of their season passes, etc, etc, etc. He may not ACTUALLY be a whale (because, in my experience, most whales are actually pretty self aware of what they are and at least a little ashamed about it), but he's the kind of gamer who thinks he is and is somehow proud of his implied status as a literal human-shaped wallet.
Thankfully, Jim is, as ever, right about his industry predictions. There are only so many THePunisher Xxx's in the world. And the rate at which new ones are being made is FAR outpaced by the rate that old ones get tired of being nothing but a wallet with legs to the industry and leave forever. Eventually this whole system we have today with loot boxes and season passes and all the other garbage that infests the industry WILL end up consuming itself and there WILL be another big video game crash. Thankfully, because of the indie scene, there will still be great games to play. Sadly, it's gana mean a TON of people lose their jobs, a TON of big name studios gone forever, etc. And, "sadly" (not really), it's gana mean that people like THePunisher Xxx are gana have to go elsewhere to get their daily flogging from their corporate overlords.
Grant Gehr Your comment should be featured too, to show that there are still people who bring hope to this wretched landscape of "triple A games" and inhuman practices. Thanks for existing and using at least 46,2% of your brain.
"inhumane" Are you fucking kidding me? This is video games we're talking about
The reason things are as shitty as they are is because of low impulse control retards who don't have the self control to live without the instant gratification of video games making up for the failures in their life.
Vote with your wallet for once rather than screaming.
So you don't consider exploiting children and people with addictive personalities through virtual gambling inhuman? You have to insult them and target them as the cause for the state of the industry, when it clearly is the desires for more money that push the companies into shoving all these disgusting practices down everyone's throats? You're pretty sad mate. It's kind of ironic that you talk about searching for "instant gratification" to make up for the "failures in life", I bet you're getting some of that sweet gratification yourself by posting that idiotic comment, aren't you?
Balthor "WAAH, I HAVE A GAMBLING PROBLEM BUT ITS NOT MY FAULT!! THE WORLD HAS TO BEND TO MY PROBLEMS WAAH".
this is what your advocating. People need to take some fucking responsibility for their problems and stop blaming society, corps, and others. The addict has NO ONE to blame but himself.
Yeah sure, just dodge the question and put all the blame on the addict. Completely gloss over the fact that society directly and indirectly pushes and "rewards" that attitude and allows gambling to go rampant and monitored by corporations. Don't even consider for a moment that the bigger problem is that the weakness of the addict is being exploited. You are such a smart, diplomatic man, truly you have bested me by spewing nonsense.
The entire "Let's all fuck with the orc merchant" part made me laugh so hard I woke up the entire house. I hope you're proud of youself, Jim
I think this is part of the reason the switch is so popular. I wouldn't touch any mobile games now, but I have no problem paying full price for games on the move that aren't wallet extraction units.
"Wallet Extraction Units" (WEU). I like that.
The Wii U console really isn't that bad, except for Super Mario Odyssey all the top selling Switch titles are already excisting Wii U games wich u can buy for the Wii U for 20,- as were the exact same games cost 50-60.- bucks on the Switch. People often complain about how limited the amount of games for the Wii U are but these games actualy carry solid quality in contrast to the Wii games. Nintendo tried going back to their roots, putting effort and love into their games and they were punished for it. For some mysterious reason Switch sales have already surpassed the Wii U profits by a multitude even tough at this point hardly anything significant has changed. And then there is the 'but we have more thin air in development then ever' excuse, the same bullshit excuse Activision and other triple A companies spew in your face constantly. I'm just not buying it anymore in both the literal and figurative sense of the words.
I strongly believe it's the former Wii console generation that strongly exploited the Nintendo brand reputation, that made significant amounts of short term money for Nintendo that caused the later downfall of the Wii U (altough the commercials were hideous aswel ofcourse). If you compare the Gamecube hardware (wich was in the grand line superrior) to the Wii hardware. The only real significant difference between the Wii U hardware and Switch hardware being the NVIDIA chip wich basicly enables steam games to be played on the switch (whoopdiedoo!). And ofcourse, hardware does not define how enjoyable a game can be, but I think we can all agree the Wii console game quality, talking about the conceptual content of the Wii games, was far below Nintendo quality standards. On top of that there is little the Switch can do the Wii U can't do, unless you value the option of playing steam games on a console.
And ofcourse there are nuances, but those hardly add up to justify the end result. For the first time in my life I can play all the Zelda games on a single console, the HD (hardcopy) versions I could order for 20,- each and the older console Zelda games at discount during a Zelda anniversary, I'm basicly set for life. Knowing I'm being pressured into buying an expensive console that adds gameboy function and steam games just so I can play games that could've pretty much effortlessly been released on Wii U aswel just doesn't sit well with me. I'll gladly just wait this one out until Nintendo releases a real console again and then perhaps I'll pick up some 'Switch titles' at discount aswel by that time.
I consider myself a lifetime Nintendo fanboy, I have collected all the Nintendo consoles, except for the abomination they call the 'Wii' and I don't plan on buying the Switch either for similair reasons, altough I do consider the Switch a somewhat lesser evil for the The Super Mario Odyssey game alone already, wich could've been released for the Wii U aswel. And don't get me wrong, I do hope a billion more dimwits buy the Switch and get to experience the Wii U experience, for all I care it's what they deserve. And perhaps this wil enable quality content once again in the future. There is simply too much of a demand to get fucked over on the market, that's just how it is.
If they had named the console the N256 instead of naming it Wii U, naming it after the abomination that is the Wii console, that alone would've made a world of difference.
"Nothing stands between you and monetization."
Nothing except... you know, good conscience and morals.
Ascended Life Form haha you idiot what the fuck are talking ab-
Some ppl dont have the patience to be good and moral.
So micro transactions today are like walking into a bar after paying the cover charge. You go to the bar and order a drink. The wait time is 30min... Unless for pay $2.99 to "expedite" your order. Then you get your beer and it's half head. So you want to ask the waitress but she was outsourced to India. So then you want to order some wings (don't forget to expedite that order for $2.99) and you are informed you will get a random assortment of wings, some mild/hot/no flavor. You can spend an additional $8.99 to make another order to get a better chance of the wing flavour you want... Or you can spend $24.99 for the Hot Wings season pass to get at least 70% hot wings per order for 6 months. You can also spend another $4.99 to customize the bar stool you are sitting on, but the customization fades when you head to the bathroom... Unless you spend $12.99 for the Reserved Seating DLC.
Jesse Miller This is the most underrated comment in TH-cam history. Bravo 👏.
This comment is sadly accurate.
Wow this is accurate as fuck. Reading this saddened me deeper because one of my favorite things to do is eat wings at a sports bar after a long day of blue collared work.
And in that setting, there'll be a man sitting at the far corner stool, scarfing down about 20 plates of wings. It reminds me of my favorite analogy, where a doctor tells a patient they have a deadly brain tumor, and the patient just goes "Nah, I'll be fine as long as I ignore it! I don't have to spend money on that tumor; if I'm patient enough, it no longer becomes a problem!"
I think you guys can notice what that's referencing there.
Jim: "I can already see the posts on Neogaf and Reddit now... I mean, I can already see the posts on Reddit now!"
Me: **slow clap**
Viredae chuckled at that one too. Subtle!
Funny thing is NeoGaf is up again at the moment of this posting (!0:20 PM EST).
The fuck is Neogaf?
A pedophile den.
SJW's tend to blow the whistle on pedo dens, that's why they fight for Social JUSTICE.
Clue is in the label.
Tends to be the perpetrators and apologists that get a chubby for the SJW's spoiling the fun for crooks.
Don't hate the players, hate the game. ;)
So any other bipolar people (or anyone with similar mental illnesses or disabilities) really skeeved out by this? I'm type 2 and medicated well enough that my hypomania isn't too bad, but the idea that algorithms could learn the typical cycling patterns of people like me is creepy and manipulative, moreso than the already skeevy manipulation of neurotypical or players with unipolar/major depression.
It's even worse to think about potential future applications that might specifically target the mentally ill or developmentally disabled by looking at social media or other activities on phones for signs of mania, psychosis, or other signs of impulsivity and vulnerability. I think what scares me even more than that is I think deep brain stimulation and similar implant devices are the future... and, well, the idea that games could read the input/output of a device that manages my brain's own vulnerabilities and use it to sell me things is particularly dystopian.
Anyways, to Jim and anyone else who studies this kind of AAA shitbaggery, keep an eye out. I might sound paranoid, but these publishers for sure aren't above manipulating the mentally ill.
Me, and yeah this stuff is in the realm of draconian to me. Actually it's so disturbing I don't even know the word to describe it.
"Look, don't get angry just because I bought that $100 token that uninstalls your game and forces you to buy a new copy. Just buy a new copy! Or pay $200 for that token that keeps my token from working on your game... for one month. It's all optional, you know- you don't HAVE to p(l)ay."
Lol, the day when "AAA" makes their microtransactions become ransomware...
Is "Turning Players Into Payers" the new "Here's a TV that looks like an apple."?
Here's a TV turning players into an anime fan at prom night!
Life's good when you turn a player into a TV that looks like an apple on prom night.
Here's a Payer that looks like a Player.
You know I don’t think I was around for the origin of “here’s a tv that looks like an apple”. Can someone share the story/joke behind that one?
Here's a player turning a TV that looks like an apple into an anime fan on payer night!
I'm a gamer for life. And i hope that the video game industry goes bankrupt REALLY quickly. :D the faster the better.
but who is going to rivieve it like nintendo did once?
Well when all the gamers are gone they will probably turn payers into players >.
bankruptcy is more serious than you think
powerthunfisch des donners I would prefer if EA, Ubisoft and the like recived so much backlash from their shitty practices that became too scared to try any shit remotely resembling It ever again
Jesus Mendoza, too bad that will never happen. There are so many people out there that don't follow what's happening in the industry, and just think this is the way it's going to be now.
EA stock crashes,
Fallout 76 crashes...
Suddenly I feel more alive.
It's funny how gaming debates change over the years. Remember when cheat codes in games like GTA San Andreas were called "too seductive to ignore and undermined the game." Now we have the "totally 100% optional" microtransactions all up in our shit.
How the times change, and these "Optional cheat passes" aren't even permanent. There is always a better "Cheat code".
Want to lower the cost of game-creation? Stop feature-creep, stop bloating games, stop wasting equal or more on advertising than the actual production-costs, aim for certain audiences, do what your studio is good and proficient at. A studio that is almost entirely focued on MP shouldn't do SP games etc.
I suspect the opposite is more common for the latter tbh. Singleplayer game devs mainly having to shift gears into the multiplayer game craze as of late.
I also wouldnt mind pay more than 60€ for a game, if I had the feeling it was worth it. But for a product to sell at a higher price, you would actually have to put in effort to amke it a good game. Making a shitty game and cramming in loot boxes is way easier and you run less a risk of not selling enough copies due to bad reviews. The big publishers have become cowardly and complacent. They do not inovate, but rather paddle the same bs over and over and savely make a profit.
Lowering profit is the very antithesis of what they are about. As long as they can scam people into paying for shit they think they like then no one loses.
This comment easily shoots holes through that apologist rant by THePunisher Xxx
THePunisher Xxx is a moron.
Games are actually much cheaper to make then it used to.(better/cheaper game engines)
The problem lies mostly in advertising and greed.
The publishes are too greedy.
The gaming industry is seen by them as a way to sell their online casino to minors.
yes it is lucrative but also immoral and they don't care.
So a company that makes a successful 3 year development game and makes good profits has to watch in astonishment at how EA makes 10 times their profit in a single year by producing shit/no effort content.
So it is quite obvious what is happening, every publisher is jumping on the bandwagon.
It has nothing to do with games being expensive at all, in fact none of those companies wants to show their books to prove how expensive it is.
Disappointing that orc merchant is oddly satisfying.
Now imagine a pc mod that makes the store a physical space and you can go there to kill him and destroy the store or dominate him and make him give you free packs for life
+Dylan Smith Its called Cheat Engine!
Jim's reaction to disappointing the merchant was even better. He was having such a blast lol
Once the PSN store figures out I only buy games at 80% discount price, I will go on a buying streak to end all buying streaks.
This comment brilliantly shows how anti-consumer this crap is. Well done!
spencer I mean to be fair this would be a case of a consumer being aware of the horrible program behind it and playing the corrupt system to their advantage.
If the CEO is so confident in his 'rational' argument why did he need to feed an evasive puff piece to another site instead of directly answering your questions?
And if his practice is entirely ethical and he thinks no one has a problem with it, why did he not just freely share who he's working with outside mobile gaming? Is he worried about public reaction to his methods?
And most importantly; if he's got nothing to hide and has nothing but good, fair 'best practices' in mind, why did he throw this tantrum at the first confrontation and act like such a fucking piece of shit over basic concerns?
You are awesome and correct. You win the internet for today.
Honestly, it makes me happy that the CEO did this. It proves that corporate leaders are utterly terrified of Jim and the people that agree with him, and are willing to do anything to stop his talking.
Customers only enjoy being taken advantage of if they don't know it's happening. If they're blissfully ignorant, then they're happy, the company is happy, everyone's happy. But then someone like Jim Sterling comes along and actually has the gall to *tell* people they're being taken advantage of, which is a direct attack on their business and directly makes the customers dissatisfied with something which would have otherwise kept them perfectly happy had they remained ignorant. They had a good thing going and people like Jim Sterling who come along and ruin it are the problem.
This is literally how the CEO and people like him see the world.
Nikki L What? In The large scheme of things Jim does not matter in the slightest. It was more convenient to publish his bullshit on the website so that anyone with the same questions can find answers, however stupid they may be, in one place. That way they don't have to make it so that only people who watch Jim's video will hear their arguments, which as a result will cause more to "see the light"
I found it strange as well. Since they were selling a service they had an excuse to defer responsibility to those utilizing their service. The service itself isn't evil, but it is easily abused.
The main reason I can think of for ignoring making a statement about the 'abuse case' is that it would alienate a significant portion of their customers meaning that the abuse of their system is likely part of their business model. :/
Hey Jim - Love your show, great episode.
I recently had a panic attack from an interaction with my meds - I thought I was going to die. I saw white light creeping in at the edges of my vision, and could hear a choir of angels calling me forth to a serene rest.
And there, lo, I saw the face of that which is called I AM. The DEIURGE.
That is to say, God.
And there - in its glory, its unnameable and thoroughly terrifying presence...I managed to say one thing. Just one:
"Jim Sterling says to tell you 'thanks'."
TELL HIM HE'S WELCOME.
And then, on my bathroom floor, I came to.
Thought you should know. That, unlike these other so-called fans, I literally thanked God for you.
I want to thank you for making these videos. You made me realize I have a terrible addiction to these loot crates systems and stuff because to me is not about getting "that one skin" for me is about getting EVERYTHING. To the point that I was paying about $150 on games like Overwatch every two months. I'm sickened with how much money I've spent over the years on cosmetic items. Money I could've spent on more responsible things or even like actual games instead of falling victim to the freemium.
Now that my eyes are open I'll definitely look into getting some help with my addiction :X
Danilo Reyes I wish you all the best.
Bravo, good luck to you.
Thank you!
If this comment isn't an indication of just how disgusting the entire practise is I don't know what could be.
All the best to you, dude! I hope you manage to shake off the addiction in time.
150 every 2 months? Damn... that's a lot of Witcher 3's.
dynamic pricing is fucked up.
how so? if you know that half of your target audience can afford a base price of 9.99 and the other cant. wouldn't you want to isolate that half that couldn't, figure out their commonalities and find a way to charge that group less? therefore, getting more sales.
matt webdev 😲 THINK OF THE CHILDREN!!! OR not.
charging more from people who earn more or spend more money is the fucked up part. i don't believe that the price only goes down, i believe that the base price becomes the average in a dynamic pricing system. so something that usually costs only $5 costs $8 for you and $2 for your friend. combine that with the micro transaction encouraging system where it matches you against better players who also own micro transactions to show you how good you could be if you spend some money and we have pure corruption. you can't even be on a level playing field even if you buy the same thing the other person has since one of you will have spent less money for their pay2win crap.
I dont think its working that way. Its dynamic pricing ,meaning Im paying 1 dollar for a product and you are paying 10 dollars for the same product/service. Thats pretty much price discrimination.
It could raise the price for people with addictive personalities more likely to purchase loot boxes.