EA Asserts Customers Enjoy Microtransactions

[Marshall Honorof]

EA Asserts Customers Enjoy Microtransactions

EA wants to ensure that every one of its games has microtransaction options.

The phrase "majority rules" gets thrown around a lot in democratic societies, but it turns out that the same principle applies to commerce. While many gamer forumites decry the advent of the microtransaction, nothing can staunch the flow of new titles that support it - at least not from Electronic Arts. Microtransactions have been so successful for the large publisher that it wants to include them in every upcoming game. The logic behind the decision is that consumers both want and like this system.

"We are building into all of our games the ability to pay for things along the way; to get to a higher level, to buy a new characters; to buy a truck or gun or whatever it might be," says Blake Jorgensen, EA's CFO. "And consumers are enjoying and embracing that way of business." Consumers have spoken with their wallets regarding microtransactions, but EA has also taken steps to ensure that its own coffers won't take a hit. Whereas credit card transactions were formerly handled by third parties, EA has brought those systems in-house, increasing each purchase's profitability.

For those of you who like microtransactions, this is, of course, good news. Jorgensen's statement certainly sounds as though every EA game will have this option going forward. Otherwise, the purchases are still totally optional, but one wonders what kind of long-term effects this will have on the industry. If a $60 boxed copy plus smaller purchases ad infinitum becomes the new de facto business model, developers could start tweaking game design to accommodate it. The next console generation is going to be an interesting one, either way.

Source: GameSpot [http://www.gamespot.com/news/ea-consumers-enjoying-and-embracing-microtransactions-6404525]

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[tehwalrus]

Micro transactions or 60$ launch price EA - it's one or the other. I'm glad all the talent left Bioware so I won't be missing to on any games when I boycott EA

 

[Something Amyss]

"People will pay for it" does not equal "people like it."

And personally, as long as they're optional, I don't give a damn.

Just stop playing the poor starving game company card if you're going to do this.

 

[Riobux]

Consumers have spoken with their wallets regarding microtransactions

Because there's a way to vote against microtransactions with your wallets.

 

[bandit0802]

Further proof that EA doesn't have a clue what gamers are going through in this economy.

I'm glad all the talent left Bioware so I won't be missing to on any games when I boycott EA

BioWare needs to get away from this company. It's ruining their stuff. I'll be paying attention to what the talent that left does. I hope they make a whole new development company.

 

[dangoball]

Well maybe, just maybe, they'll get of that 60 usd mark for new games. But who am I kidding, of course they won't.

 

[Zealous]

Spoiler: I don't really know where I was going with this rant. If anyone feels like popping a few brain cells trying to figure out what my original point was, knock yourself out.

And here I though companies were charging a large enough amount with a 60$ purchase at launch (not to mention online passes at 10-15$ to corner the used games market). Oh yeah, all that lacklustre DLC we're overpaying for? Yeah. Not to mention day 1 and on-disk DLC too.

Turns out I was wrong though, a game needs to have people massively overpaying for things they can already get in the game to be fairly priced.

I hate this, people can say that it doesn't affect me and that it's just an optional thing all they want but your actions affect more that just you. If devs/producers see people buying tons of DLC, they will make more DLC. If some idiots want to buy in game items for a chunk of their paycheck instead of just playing the game normally, then companies like EA will take notice and change their games to revolve around micro transactions (like what's happening here).

I for one don't want to live in a world where micro transactions are standard fare in the majority of AAA games, but I feel like this whole rant is a bit pointless on The Escapist. I highly doubt anyone on this site will actually say "Yay, micro transactions! Those are awesome and should be in more games." I'd imagine most of the people who used the micro transactions were (please don't kill me for using this word) casuals. People who picked it up because they thought the box art looked cool. Then they dump five or ten bucks into the store and get some cool stuff.

I can't really blame them for that though, it's not their fault they don't know anything about EA's business practices, they only buy the occasional game and if they don't participate in any kind of gaming community then they can't know the ramifications of their actions in regards to everyone else that plays video games.

 

[lancar]

As always, EA's attitude disgusts me.
I'm just glad they're not releasing anything of worth anymore. It makes ignoring their releases easier.

 

[R.Nevermore]

A dark road to travel. Microtransactions are a good thing if done properly, but EA has a history of messing up simple things. Some rules for microtransactions:
1: No pay-for-power. This is rule number one. A player who doesn't use his wallet in game should never feel like he's hopelessly outgunned by someone who does. If something can boost your power, it must be unlock able in ways other than with money. Team fortress did it perfectly. If you want to rush for the new gun, buy it. If you don't have money, work towards crafting it.
2: if you plan to make money from this system you must lower the price of the game. Don't be greedy! 60 bucks plus a microtransaction is greedy and will alienate those on a limited budget. People are also much more willing to spend money on your marketplace if they didn't spend money on the game.

 

[Johnson McGee]

As a person who hates his hobbies, I'm glad EA is taking this stance. For example, when I want to play hockey, I just pay someone to skate around for me, after all, I'm much too busy to score goals myself. I'm glad I'm now able to take the same approach to video games!

 

[an annoyed writer]

Ugh. Look, there's nothing wrong with microtransactions, but there is something VERY wrong about hoe EA handles them. It has led to very poor design decisions in multiple products of theirs.

For example: now I like Mass Effect, but one part I can't stand is the multiplayer. "But what the hell is wrong with it Val?" you might ask. "It's Gears of War's Horde Mode, but with Mass Effect's combat! It's a great concept!", and I'd agree, it is a fantastic concept. The problem is how it's executed: in Gears, you don't have a progression system with weapons and skills, meaning everyone enters with the same potential of capabilities, making true skill and teamwork the key factors of gameplay. With Mass Effect, they put in a system that kneecaps you the moment you get in, making the game ridiculously difficult, even on easy mode, and on top of that makes getting the necessary weapon upgrades very difficult, as well as random, minimizing your chances of getting the loadout that would most naturally work for you. It makes a system where pay-to-win is incentivized.

Another blunder here in this regard comes in the form of a little game on IOS systems called Mass Effect: Infiltrator. I got this on my Ipod a while back because I wanted more Mass Effect, and a little time-waster for my slow nights at work would really be fun. However, it is kneecapped with the same problems as Mass Effect 3's multiplayer mode: an artificially stemmed progression system that incentivizes the microtransactions. I never finished the game, which was a shame, since in Mass Effect tradition it did have an interesting story.

The way they handled that system killed my interest in their products. And they ARE products, not services. I paid $80 for a package of data that's supposed to do this, this, and this, and it didn't deliver. The way EA sees it, you might as well be paying for bug fixes that fix bugs that were created just so you'd pay extra to make them go away.

 

[Hawkeye21]

Due to the lack of evidence to the contrary and based on how Mr. Jorgensen never expressed anything against it, I think it is safe to assume that Mr. Jorgensen enjoys and embraces swift and hard kicks to the nuts. I feel like somebody must oblige him as soon as possible.

 

[Teoes]

How much does a solid kick to the testicles cost these days? Assuming I'm a UK taxpayer.

 

[Maxtro]

So what kind of microtransactions is Dragon Age 3 going to have?

Is there going to be item crafting in the game and you buy components? Or will it be as simple as buying gold?

 

[omicron1]

And of course what EA fails to realize is that the micro transaction model makes 90% of its money from 10% of its audience. If this goes too far, then... Well... Eventually the only customers EA will have left are that 10% of their original audience.

 

[Lhianon]

i'd like to introduce EA to the concept of fiscal responsibility; if you are not able to pay your staff from the revenue made from a 60? game (which is more than 60$, but that is beside the point) then you should not expect us to pay for upgrades/weapons/flowers/lolipops/....... just so you can make a quick buck, instead you should focus on delivering a quality product that people like to buy for full price.

i am not oposed to microtransactions in free-to-play-games like league of legends or planetside 2 where you can unlock everything you need through playing the game but can also buy the same stuff if you have more money but less time on your hands, but asking for full price and microtransactions is just greedy in a bad way.

 

[Falterfire]

For example: now I like Mass Effect, but one part I can't stand is the multiplayer. "But what the hell is wrong with it Val?" you might ask. "It's Gears of War's Horde Mode, but with Mass Effect's combat! It's a great concept!", and I'd agree, it is a fantastic concept. The problem is how it's executed: in Gears, you don't have a progression system with weapons and skills, meaning everyone enters with the same potential of capabilities, making true skill and teamwork the key factors of gameplay. With Mass Effect, they put in a system that kneecaps you the moment you get in, making the game ridiculously difficult, even on easy mode, and on top of that makes getting the necessary weapon upgrades very difficult, as well as random, minimizing your chances of getting the loadout that would most naturally work for you. It makes a system where pay-to-win is incentivized.

See, this one to me is the worst of microtransactions, not because of pay-to-win, but because there's no way to buy what you want. I would happily have given some money to buy specific classes if I could, but I can't and so instead of spending some money and lots of time I spend some time and no money.