General Nintendo sales/business discussion topic (previously: The Wii U Thread)

[Solkia]

Dissy, I generally get where you're coming from, but nothing justifies Microtransactions. Nothing.

 

They add nothing of value to the industry. They're even detrimental in some aspects. Fuck, you can bullshit your way through Tales of Xillia because you can buy level ups and gald. 

 

Sorry, but I like actually playing my game, no matter how arbitrary it gets. Giving me the option to bullshit it for a small fee destroys the entire purpose of playing it.

 

Also fuck Day-one DLC. If the content was developed post-release, sure, I'll buy it. But if you made that shit in the same dev time as the main game, I paid my $60 for that content, and I fucking want it.

 

And, again, Tales of Xillia. I can not BELIEVE I actually had to pay 3 dollars for a goddamn skin that Abyss and Symphonia give you from side quests.

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

If they'd be as out of character to even make such console games micro-transaction infected, then I could see even them doing that to gain a profit.

Bottomline, microtransactions are fudging pointless for console games, let alone platformers. It'll be an astonishing day when companies are willing to risk big-budget games running the likely risk of making only a fraction's worth, because someone doesn't want to have to pay these pointless fees to actually proceed.

 

And I'd rather not have such an absolute pace-breaker to my game to execute a monetary command that I don't even want to do in the first place.

[Mauro Fonseca]

No.

 

Sadly, there are ideas that could in an ideal utopic plane work but won't. They just won't because making them work in a way that helps the customer is harder than bleeding them dry.

 

You say "but what would be wrong with having just more options on how I buy my game?", I say "because the options will be made the standard with increasing methods to force you to choose them, from increasing the price of the bulk purchase to constant ads and exclusive content."

 

See the nineties comic-book industry. "But what's wrong with variant covers?" Nothing, except when the publishers start forcing the stories to reset constantly for the coveted "#1" denomination and spend all their money in variants forcing them to tailor the content to LCB's.

[Gabz Girl]

Dissy, I generally get where you're coming from, but nothing justifies Microtransactions. Nothing.

They add nothing of value to the industry. They're even detrimental in some aspects. Fuck, you can bullshit your way through Tales of Xillia because you can buy level ups and gald.

Sorry, but I like actually playing my game, no matter how arbitrary it gets. Giving me the option to bullshit it for a small fee destroys the entire purpose of playing it.

Also fuck Day-one DLC. If the content was developed post-release, sure, I'll buy it. But if you made that shit in the same dev time as the main game, I paid my $60 for that content, and I fucking want it.

And, again, Tales of Xillia. I can not BELIEVE I actually had to pay 3 dollars for a goddamn skin that Abyss and Symphonia give you from side quests.

This this THIS. Sometimes microtransactions can get in the way of enjoying a game. I hate games where messages pop up the whole time basically telling you to "buy this to make your weapon better! Buy this buy that NOW!" and I'm like gtfo I'm trying to play my game here! Btw did you know that almost all the games available on Xbone have micro transactions? Is this really what the future of gaming is going to be like? Because I hate it!

Another thing I absolutely despise, which Nintendo luckily hasn't done yet, is DLC content which is absolutely imperative to the main game but not free. Mass Effect 3 and Assassins Creed Revelations are two such examples and it's so annoying how you have to pay extra for something that could be important to the main storyline!

[Kaabiitorori]

Dissy, I generally get where you're coming from, but nothing justifies Microtransactions. Nothing.

 

They add nothing of value to the industry. They're even detrimental in some aspects. Fuck, you can bullshit your way through Tales of Xillia because you can buy level ups and gald. 

 

Sorry, but I like actually playing my game, no matter how arbitrary it gets. Giving me the option to bullshit it for a small fee destroys the entire purpose of playing it.

 

Also fuck Day-one DLC. If the content was developed post-release, sure, I'll buy it. But if you made that shit in the same dev time as the main game, I paid my $60 for that content, and I fucking want it.

 

And, again, Tales of Xillia. I can not BELIEVE I actually had to pay 3 dollars for a goddamn skin that Abyss and Symphonia give you from side quests.

 

The fact certain consumers allowed such practices by supporting them with their money is the reason why microtransactions, onllne passes, day-one and on-disc DLC amongst other bull shit pulled by major developers and publishers exist.

 

Being straightforward with my answer, I want my games in full, thank you very much.

[Solkia]

DLC was an innovative idea with one huge fundamental flaw: It makes customer exploitation pathetically easy.

 

In an ideal industry, DLC would only be for after-development content, and wouldn't be inane bullshit like Christmas Sexy Santa costumes for 3 bucks (seriously fuck Bamco).

 

Unfortunately the industry is just that: an industry. On the companies side it's more about making money than making games. With the proliferation of internet connections on consoles, companies are able to get away with a lot more bullshit than they used to.

[Candescence]

Excuse me while I facepalm. Because some people still don't get it.

 

If you think anyone here is somehow advocating ideas like "pay to progress easier," news flash, nobody is. The idea is simple - it's just being able to pay for your game in smaller chunks alongside the option of buying the whole thing up-front, with the added bonus of being able to play a small portion of the beginning of the game for free like a demo. Ultimately, the total price is exactly the same as you would normally pay, except you might get a slight discount for paying for the whole thing up-front.

 

 

Also, I find this "microtransactions are inherently bad" nonsense to be laughable. Yes, they can be abused and have been abused. So can a lot of good things, that doesn't mean they're inherently bad. That's pretty much the slippery slope fallacy in a nutshell.

[Autosaver]

"The idea is simple..."

 

Stop for onnnnnnnnnnnnne second

 

Do you think the industry will ever adopt that model? Clearly the model of charging out the ass and abusing customers is more profitable.

[Candescence]

You're assuming that consumers would actually let companies get away with it consistently. Thing is, people tend to raise a pretty big stink about companies abusing business models. Everyone tore EA a new one over Dungeon Keeper Mobile, to the point where even mainstream publications picked up on it.

 

And besides, the piecemeal model would probably be much more difficult to abuse, because it's much more difficult to do it in a subtle manner. Capcom had the chance to abuse it with Ghost Trick and Ace Attorney, but they didn't. To do it would involve either hiding the actual full price or overpricing, and nobody could possibly get away with that, especially with a market that doesn't tolerate high prices for digital games.

[Solkia]

 

 

If you think anyone here is somehow advocating ideas like "pay to progress easier," news flash, nobody is.\

 

???

 

Then I guess the idea of paying for the medals in Sonic unleashed that was brought up earlier was just the wind?

 

 

When we're talking about microtransactions, we're talking about absolutely pointless exclusions like Jill Valentine in MvC3, or the fact that you can bullshit the iOS Mega Man X by buying the easy to obtain powerups with real money, or buying 20 level gains ion Tales of Graces f when you can do that shit by yourself. We're talking about the inane money-siphoning ruse companies spew out of their big fat corporate ass under the guise of "DLC".

 

fuck, modern gaming makes me so heated.

 

EDIT: and yes they DO get away with it. If they weren't getting away with it this shit would have stopped 8 years ago.

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

You're assuming that consumers would actually let companies get away with it consistently. Thing is, people tend to raise a pretty big stink about companies abusing business models.

Hence why companies wouldn't even want to do this in the first place, because this would be bound to make them less money from their big-budget games.

[Candescence]

???

 

Then I guess the idea of paying for the medals in Sonic unleashed that was brought up earlier was just the wind?

It was actually a comparison point that people misread. Discoid was merely pointing out that a game requesting that you pay for the next portion once you've completed a portion you've already paid for isn't any more flow breaking than Unleashed's medal collecting, or any other arbitrary in-game obstacle that restricts progress.

 

 

 

When we're talking about microtransactions, we're talking about absolutely pointless exclusions like Jill Valentine in MvC3, or the fact that you can bullshit the iOS Mega Man X by buying the easy to obtain powerups with real money, or buying 20 level gains ion Tales of Graces f when you can do that shit by yourself. We're talking about the inane money-siphoning ruse companies spew out of their big fat corporate ass under the guise of "DLC".

 

fuck, modern gaming makes me so heated.

 

EDIT: and yes they DO get away with it. If they weren't getting away with it this shit would have stopped 8 years ago.

And I'm not saying that any of that isn't bad.

 

But on the other hand, there are far more reasonable stuff, like cheap, entirely cosmetic items and/or sidegrades in F2P games that can already be acquired by in-game means and don't provide any sort of advantage. As much as people joke about hats in TF2 and DOTA2, Valve are pretty much among the absolute top standard of developers who actually go out of their way to provide as much value to paying customers as possible without being unfair to unpaying customers. And that got them a license to print money.

 

 

Hence why companies wouldn't even want to do this in the first place, because this would be bound to make them less money from their big-budget games.

Believe it or not, customers actually reward companies who actually treat them with respect and try to provide as much value as possible. Like Valve.

 

Big-budget games are already digging the AAA industry's grave slowly but surely at this rate, anyway. The piecemeal model won't exactly accelerate that.

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

So you're saying that as a reward, people would continue to pay the full amount in the end? Then what the hey-diddle-diddle would be the point of microtransactions anyway!?

[Gabz Girl]

I hope this AAA bullshit stops soon. To me, it basically means any game that doesn't have a budget of $100 million or end credits that are 20 minutes long are not worthy of this so-called title. Triple A is always the best sort of game! Even though most of these games are mediocre anyway or didn't even sell enough millions of units to meet expectations. >_>

 

Microtransactions, day one DLC, Season Passes and AAA have almost ruined this generation of gaming for me, and I'm pleased that Nintendo and some other developers haven't done this bullcrap.

[Willsy]

On the subject of microtransactions in full games, I think it's a silly idea. Microtransactions should be kept to F2P games, and shouldn't be used at all in full games. DLC with additional after development content is fine, but making it mandatory to pay extra for the full package is ridiculous.

[Marcello]

So you're saying that as a reward, people would continue to pay the full amount in the end? Then what the hey-diddle-diddle would be the point of microtransactions anyway!?

Then you can stop paying when you want. If you only want to play until World 3, then you pay about 10$ and are done. If you want to go all the way through, you pay for each subsequent world.

 

It's just a choice of how you spend your money.

 

 

On the subject of microtransactions in full games, I think it's a silly idea. Microtransactions should be kept to F2P games, and shouldn't be used at all in full games. DLC with additional after development content is fine, but making it mandatory to pay extra for the full package is ridiculous.

 

Discoid's point is that there would be a F2P version and full one. In the F2P version you get World 1 for a free and pay a certain amount for each World after that. For the full version you pay the full price upfront.

[Willsy]

Oh, that isn't a bad idea actually. Not sure Nintendo would do that though.

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

Then you can stop paying when you want. If you only want to play until World 3, then you pay about 10$ and are done. If you want to go all the way through, you pay for each subsequent world.

 

It's just a choice of how you spend your money.

 

 

And you really think companies would be willing to risk not making a game's entire worth of money?

[Marcello]

Yes, I do. The less the people pay, the less content they get.

 

And like I said, there'd still be a full version.

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

Yes, I do. The less the people pay, the less content they get.

 

And like I said, there'd still be a full version.

And it's still rather pointless. And please do tell me why companies would be willing to cast aside the current method when what's not broke doesn't need to be fixed.

[Junko]

I hope this AAA bullshit stops soon. To me, it basically means any game that doesn't have a budget of $100 million or end credits that are 20 minutes long are not worthy of this so-called title. Triple A is always the best sort of game! Even though most of these games are mediocre anyway or didn't even sell enough millions of units to meet expectations. >_>

 

Microtransactions, day one DLC, Season Passes and AAA have almost ruined this generation of gaming for me, and I'm pleased that Nintendo and some other developers haven't done this bullcrap.

Woah, wait. What's wrong with Season Passes?

[Marcello]

And it's still rather pointless. And please do tell me why companies would be willing to cast aside the current method when what's not broke doesn't need to be fixed.

Please actually read my posts. Where did I say anything about casting the traditional way of purchasing aside?

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

Please actually read my posts. Where did I anything about casting the traditional way of purchasing aside?

The tradition if only paying up full price and not making games unnecessarily divided up by "pay X to proceed".

[Wraith]

Woah, wait. What's wrong with Season Passes?

 

You're paying for content that in most cases hasn't been made yet and may not even be finished depending on what happens. 

[Marcello]

The tradition if only paying up full price and not making games unnecessarily divided up by "pay X to proceed".

 

It's not casting anything away. It's adding an extra way of paying for things. Choices are good and can broaden your potential sales.