DLC, F2P, P2W, Lootboxes, gambling and doom of the industry

[evilcat]

I feel that this issue deserve own topic, so it will not polute news topic. Unfortunetly the problem will not go away on its own. Unless EU just tag loot boxes as gambling, all laws applied (not likely).

I think the problem really kicks on when you combine the 3:

• it is random
• paid with money
• is essencial for gameplay

There are some industry doom factors:

• Full price game but with half content
• all DLC are just cheap assets with high pricetag
• altered gameplay to force dlc
• dlc does not transfer to important content post release.

It will probably be not that bad, since even if most profitable genre is online shooter with lootboxes, there will always be margin games with different model. Or just Nintendo living in different timeline.

 

I dont mind Overwatch, since lootboxes are cosmetics and it is rather new content.

I kinda mind Heartstone, since without packs games gets grindy. And without that sweet legendary you cant do much.

I like Heroes of the Storm since it is F2P, and there is alot content free. Heroes collection matter for ranking, but less for casual. Also they definetly add more content.

I like Warframe, since its f2p and amount of free gameplay is insane. This one has microtransaction but randomness is only in loot. There is steady stream of new content. Game could get grindy, but when it does you probably played your share.

Path of Exile, f2p, decent trial experience with some step difficulty change. Brings new content, and microtransactions are cosmetics and utility. Overall enjoyable (if you like genre).

Paradox Interactive strategy games, these are interesting business model, since you buiy a box, and then every 6th months there is an expansion, arguable overpriced however base game is quite good on itself.

 

There is probably more to say.

Edited November 20, 2017 by evilcat

[Tale]

I don't forsee anyone else trying to make lootboxes a core non-optional system in a retail game, not after the blowback Battlefront 2 had. This was essentially throttled in the nursery and sometimes bad practices stay dead, like online passes.

 

But we should beware of zombies. They bite.

[Hurlshort]

 

But seriously, these online shooters have been getting away with launching with little content for years. They basically run on the sports game model. Thankfully I don't see other genre's finding the same success with this model.

[Wormerine]

This “lootbox” micro transactions never work for me. I stopped playing Heartstone as I always felt I am catching up to other players and wasn’t able to catch up without spending money. I would rather pay set price and get access to all the content than have to grind/pay every few months to stay on top of things. That said I don’t have a problem with that as it is Free to Play. It’s just not a model I see myself returning to anytime soon.

 

I have no problem with Overwatch model, though for purely selfish reasons: this model abuses players who care about cosmetics. Content I care about is given out for no additional charge. Still I feel rate at which you acquire lootboxes is enjoyable and it doesn’t overshadow gameplay. While getting EVERYTHING is expensive, so far I managed to get every skin I liked without playing beyond I feel like playing. While I don’t believe Blizzard needs lootboxes to be in the game I don’t believe it hurts the experience.

 

It did open gateways for other publishers with less integrity, however. Any interest I might have in Shadow of War, Battlefront2, New Need for Speed disappeared after seeing what they did with lootboxes.

 

I am sick of buying incomplete games and with games designed to milk as much money throughout their lifespan it seems they might never be complete, always making you feel like you need the new, overpriced stuff.

[Katphood]

Hmmmm,

 

Pillars of Eternity 2 or Battlefield 1?

 

Divinity: Original Sin 2 or Battlefront 2?

 

Nier: Automata or the latest COD?

 

Yakuza 0 or Shadow of War?

 

Super Mario Odyssey or AC: Origins?

 

For me the choices are pretty easy, I exactly know which one to avoid: multiplayer games and/or games with micro transactions usually take a large portion of your time(if not your wallet) while not giving you any sort of satisfaction or sense of accomplishment for your wasted time(pretty ironic, eh?) so I tend to avoid them. I already have a pretty strong backlog which I am working on and no filler is going to ever disrupt the flow of me finishing great single-player games one after another unless I want to go back to Bad Company 2 or Red Orchestra 2 for a short period of time.

[ShadySands]

The only lootbox strategy I ever liked was Lord of the Rings Online but that has changed with the latest expansion. All the lootboxes (lootboxen?) are rarish drops and deed rewards and the keys to open them are slightly more rare drops and deed rewards but you can also buy them in the store for fairly cheap. The new highest level Mordor boxes are still rarish drops but the keys are only available in the store. None of the keys or boxes are bound so you can trade them but I still don't like that the new keys are only mtx.

[SonicMage117]

I think dlc is good for both consumers and the industry. Launch exclusive access to dlc is never a bad thing, it's an incentive to push more sales and also reward the early birds.

 

When dlc is done in the vain of The Witcher 3, it can do no wrong. You have a dlc which is 40+ hours for $19.99 that's bigger than any expansion pack/expansion disc from games in the yesteryears. Dlc can be oddly inpressive when done right.

 

And the thing is, dlc is never forced upon the product ir comsumer to get 100% of the experience. There seems to be a myth of "We are getting an unfinished game from the start when publishers shell out dlc" which has never really been the case.

 

It is indeed an interesting topic

[213374U]

The only lootbox strategy I ever liked was Lord of the Rings Online but that has changed with the latest expansion. All the lootboxes (lootboxen?) are rarish drops and deed rewards and the keys to open them are slightly more rare drops and deed rewards but you can also buy them in the store for fairly cheap. The new highest level Mordor boxes are still rarish drops but the keys are only available in the store. None of the keys or boxes are bound so you can trade them but I still don't like that the new keys are only mtx.

 

IIRC Star Trek Online used a similar setup. Pretty unobtrusive.

 

I don't know about this "doom of the industry", but the recurrent consumer spending model is devised to secure not just bigger profits, but an even bigger share of the market for those companies, and so is bad news for medium-sized and smaller devs.

[IndiraLightfoot]

I feel that this issue deserve own topic, so it will not polute news topic. Unfortunetly the problem will not go away on its own. Unless EU just tag loot boxes as gambling, all laws applied (not likely).

I think the problem really kicks on when you combine the 3:

• it is random
• paid with money
• is essencial for gameplay

There are some industry doom factors:

• Full price game but with half content
• all DLC are just cheap assets with high pricetag
• altered gameplay to force dlc
• dlc does not transfer to important content post release.

It will probably be not that bad, since even if most profitable genre is online shooter with lootboxes, there will always be margin games with different model. Or just Nintendo living in different timeline.

 

I dont mind Overwatch, since lootboxes are cosmetics and it is rather new content.

I kinda mind Heartstone, since without packs games gets grindy. And without that sweet legendary you cant do much.

I like Heroes of the Storm since it is F2P, and there is alot content free. Heroes collection matter for ranking, but less for casual. Also they definetly add more content.

I like Warframe, since its f2p and amount of free gameplay is insane. This one has microtransaction but randomness is only in loot. There is steady stream of new content. Game could get grindy, but when it does you probably played your share.

Path of Exile, f2p, decent trail experience with some step difficulty change. Brings new content, and microtransactions are cosmetics and utility. Overall enjoyable (if you like genre).

 

There is probably more to say.

Yeah, I agree with you. All of those examples are fine by me, but Dice's SW Battlefront 2 is not - they've crossed the line buy locking desirable characters behind walls in the game - either brought down by grinding or microtransactions.

[injurai]

I tend to just avoid games that I feel ruin the merit of games in the first place. I'd love to play a tactical Star Wars assault game with a large Galactic Conquest mode and themed levels based on film plots.

 

But since that's not really what they are offering, I'll just find another ball to play with. Enough people seem to think similarly that there isn't really a shortage of the types of games I want to be playing. Especially now that I'm older I tend to be working through a backlog instead of always jumping from one new release to the next.

 

Classic PC games and 1st party consoles games basically get me by.