Sticking it to the greedy publishers.

[biron_w]

As we all know games publishers are getting greedier all the time. All the crap surrounding loot boxes - How they're exploiting them now, how they're in every game, how they're now using them to make games pay-to-win, how they're making games unbalanced because of them - is getting annoying.

So I've made a Decision: If any game has loot boxes in them when they launch I'm not going to buy it new. I'll get it second hand. Because publishers aren't happy with SOME of my money as they want ALL of my money, they're going to get NONE of my money.

 

[biron_w]

Games like Overwatch are fine where it's only cosmetic items, but I do avoid any pay to win games.

Cosmetic is sort-of-OK but they're just getting worse with what they put in them. COD has weapons in them, Battlefront 2 is essentially pay-to-win as they have ridiculous things in them, the new Forza even locked in them features that were in previous games.

My main issue is that publishers seem to be designing games around Loot Boxes rather than just having them as small extra thing that earn whilst playing.

 

[biron_w]

Just look how many publisher folded this year, Lionhead who made Fable has gone, the people who made Deadspace has gone, GTA are pretty much the exception out of the few.

Both of those are developers. And the publishers that own them are still going strong and still trying to milk us for every penny.
Visceral were shut down because they were working on a single player game and EA don't see those sort of games as being able to make enough money for them.

The Last Guardian, and I think Titanfall 2 was also a flop.

TitanFall 2 was released at totally the wrong time; the week between Battlefield and COD. A mistake an EA executive even admitted.

 

[biron_w]

Still the fact remains that it flopped.

Which was absolutely not the developers fault. EA wrongly thought it would hurt sales of COD. But it had no chance competing against COD and BF.

I don't get this defending publishers and their sh*tty practices. I have no problem with loot crates or micro transactions if they're done RIGHT. But the way loot crates are going it is entirely the wrong way. Putting weapons, boosts or anything that affects the balance of a game behind an RNG system is just wrong. If they kept them cosmetic it would be fine but that's clearly not happening and it will only get worse if people keep supporting publishers when they do things like this. It is purely down to greed and doesn't benefit gamers in the slightest; it benefits publishers and their shareholders.

TitanFall 2 got things right. All new maps, weapons and Titans were free. All micro transactions were things where you knew exactly what you're buying. I can support that and I did in TFL2.

 

[biron_w]

I "defend" them because they are going to get their money either way.

1 - They put the price of all the games at £90
2 - They keep the games at £50 and have add-ons

What do you prefer?

They didn't put ****** lootboxes in their games with game balance altering items in them. I thought that was pretty clear? If they were cosmetic only I'd be fine with them.

 

[biron_w]

I know but the reality is that this is happening

But it doesn't HAVE to happen. If people stood up to them then they'd rethink. Looks at online passes: players hated them so they stopped doing them. Loot crates haven't been put into games to keep the retail price DOWN, they've been added to put their profits UP. They know full well there are people that will spend £100s just to get one item. It's exploitation. They're not in there for our benefit.

 

[biron_w]

You haven’t answered.

I didn't answer because at no point has anybody ever said that these loot boxes are here so we can keep paying the same RRP for a game. I've also never seen any evidence supporting this either.

And as I've said before it's not loot boxes as such that I have an issue with. It's the way that they're going that bothers me. I also don't mind micro transactions but I want to know what I'm buying.

 

[biron_w]

Micro-transactions aren't there to assist publishers with additional revenue to create better games. They are there to make additional revenue so that said publishers can have a mega pay day. That's how capitalism and the profit motive works.

Exactly. There is a (what I believe to be false) belief that MT's are in games to keep the price down. But they aren't. There in games simply to boost profits.

And while the cost has gone up, it's publishers that have decided to make games cost so much. Who actually asked for, say, open world games too be as ridiculously big as they are now? And it's not just development that we pay for; Destiny has a $1/2 billion budget. I didn't ask for a budget that big. Activision decided on such a ridiculous budget. And gamers are suffering because of stupid budgets like that.

 

[biron_w]

No issues with loot boxes as long as they dont give unfair advantages and make a game P2W.

Which is kinda my whole point. I've no problem with them in principle but publishers are putting more and more things in them. For years COD has been putting weapons in them (and I admit I was stupid enough to spend money on them in BO3) and now we have the likes of EA putting P2W things in them in Battlefront 2. THAT'S my issue with them. They're going to start taking more and more things OUT of the game that you used to be able to get from levelling up, or doing challenges, and starting putting those things IN the loot boxes.

 

[biron_w]

No we don't

https://www.ea.com/en-gb/games/starwars/battlefront/battlefront-2/news/progression-oct-2017

these Star Cards will primarily be available through crafting, with the exception of special Epic Star Cards available through pre-order, deluxe, and starter packs.

Seems you completely missed that part. "primarily" being the part that stands out. That means if they don't get enough money from them then they'll soon be adding things to cards that can only be bought. Remember Black Ops 3 and the "primarily cosmetic only" line we got? Look how that turned out; weapons were soon added to Supply Drops.
I have absolutely zero trust in any publisher with these things anymore.

 

[biron_w]

Yes I saw that too. Which is why microtransactions are not going away for a long while yet.

I'm OK with DLC if it's done right. I think I am done with season passes and maybe even games with planned season passes. Especially since it's becoming more common for companies to strip content out to sell it to you later, rather than giving you new additional content to an already complete game.

I'm OK with DLC. I'm also OK with micro transactions. I'm just not OK with loot boxes and the way the industry is going with them.

 

[biron_w]

The Belgian government says loot boxes are gambling and will seek to have them removed in Europe.
http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/...al&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Hopefully this is the beginning of the end for these things.

 

[biron_w]

EA says that turning off micro transactions in BF2 will not affect earnings
http://www.pcgamer.com/ea-tells-inv...s-microtransactions-will-not-affect-earnings/

So, basically, loot boxes aren't there to offset the cost of games. They are simply there to make money.