Trevor Walker said: Well, here we are again. Every time I think I’ve said all I have to say about this topic, another studio falls into the same cycle. Monetization in video games seems to be getting more and more out of hand. If you’ve played any AAA title in the last 6 years, you’ve surely seen it. Battle passes, exclusive skins, and sometimes pay to win features have spread throughout the gaming industry like a plague, and we need a cure. Badly. I never thought I’d see the day, but the first game that comes to mind is one that holds a special place in my heart.
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You need a cure. Here it is:
1. Don’t buy the game.
2. Don’t just not buy the game, announce it!
Announce on every social media/chat/discourse/streaming … platform available & imaginable that you will not buy the game that is coming out & state the reason that we all know. Then advise others to do the same.
Once you’ve announced it, announce it again for the next game by the same dev that you will not buy their future product either, because of their past dealings with consumers.
3. See 1.
I don't sub to anything digital, games, movies, TV shows, etc. I just take what I want for PC for the unbeatable price of $0.00 🤣 But I sometimes buy the occasional game, but as for the others I mentioned yeah ok, haha paying for a streaming service to watch shows, movies, etc man GTFO lol
I know many people who don’t buy MTs or support gaas. But unfortunately there are just as many people that I know who do and they don’t care about it. Companies won’t stop doing it until the vast majority don’t buy anything. Some GaaS do it better than others but most are looking to make as much MT money as they can get away with and there’s too many who don’t mind it at all
Reviewers can prioritize monetization schemes in their reviews and give companies low scores based on severity.
This is one of the reasons why I've been focusing more on older games from PS3 & X360 all the way back to the NES.
Rarely can a modern big budget game garner my attention, because its just the same stale concept over and over again. Open world, busy work, grinding, where your job is literally to be a trash collector (constantly picking up endless resources off the ground), the entire industry has been copying Ubi-junk, and I'm just not interested.
Add in the fact that games are clearly releasing in beta form (sometimes very early beta form!), then there's randomized gear you have to pick up and upgrade, then all those boring skill trees to fill in, which is the laziest form of fake game progression imaginable.
Then there's the nasty business model of paying an extra $20 just to play an unfinished game 3 days early. Disgusting behavior, and anyone who supports those companies are actively making our industry worse.
The game industry has never been perfect, but its also never been this bad either.