EA: Consumers 'enjoying and embracing' microtransactions
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It was actually something along the lines "This game has made the most people talk about it". I'll try and find the ad in question - it was some poster or banner or something.BloatedGuppy said:
EDIT: found it
So it's "fan reaction", actually.
Before EA, BioWare supported NWN for around 5 years or more, with patches, fixes and content updates. You're not getting "support" 1 year later, they're trying to get more money from you 1 year later.Dendio said:
Well I didn't have to look far for someone to state the sad truth already. We all hate microtransactions as a general concensus, but so long as there's lazy gamers out there who'd rather buy their way to victory in a game's campaign rather than earn their way to the end, microtransactions will continue to be a thing. If no one bought them, they wouldn't have caught on and would have been a failed practice.OpticalJunction said:
I partially blame Japanese gamers for this seeing as how, to my understanding, the microtransaction deal got most of its traction from mobile games in Japan. The success stories being so great that laws had to be made to regulate just how much can be spent on "micro"transactions at a time had to be made. How are the Big Developers supposed to ignore data like that?
Basically it's the practice of taking in negative feedback and spinning it to try and make the people that gave you said negative feedback (i.e. the gamer community) think that it's actually a good thing.DoPo said:It was actually something along the lines "This game has made the most people talk about it". I'll try and find the ad in question - it was some poster or banner or something.BloatedGuppy said:
EDIT: found it
So it's "fan reaction", actually.
Technically speaking, ME3's ending DID provoke a larger fan response than any game in history...they just failed to mention that said response was the fans wanting to riot in the streets and burn down every building associated with EA and Bioware.
Or maybe they thought the 400 cupcakes - "Each one is a different color but they all taste the same" - was meant to show how much we loved them.
Not everyone that plays the game is anti-EA, anti-mircotransactions, anti-everything that isn't free. Only a small portion of the game community even comes to gaming sites.
I don't know about DS3 but I can tell you that people bought the unlock packs for BF3 and Bad Company 2 (thats why every sniper on Bad Company 2 now seems to be level 4 and have the M95 with a spotter scope...)Auron said:
http://investor.ea.com/stockquote.cfmOpticalJunction said:
Actually, EA's stock took a tumble in 2007 and hasn't really recovered since then. You can get some shares for $17 each currently. Also, EA doesn't pay a dividend so the share holder's aren't going to see any of the profits from micro-transactions.
So if EA's micro-transactions really bugs you, buy a share of stock and go to the share holder's meeting in July and demand your right to the floor. If people are willing to go yell at the EA board of directors and tell them to knock it off they may just learn.
Heh. That's pretty clever spin, actually. Someone in marketing deserves a raise.DoPo said:
Sims store was fine in theory. In practice, the pricing model was positively iniquitous. For the price of a couple of end tables and a hair cut, I could buy a 6 month old AAA game in a Steam sale. And the core game was a bit bare bones, with a LOT of stuff walled off into the store. It's one of the more predatory micro-transaction models on the market, really.Mimsofthedawg said:
Valve releasing cosmetic hats for TF2 via microtransactions: Oh, those lovely rascals. Please, take all my money!
EA releasing cosmetic items(Sims3)/mystery packs(ME3) via microtransactions: OMFG EA IS THE DEVIL! BOYCOT! BURN THEM DOWN! RAAAAGE!
Ah well, it's the Escapist.
As long as they aren't selling advantages that cannot be obtained by ingame means, I will have no problems with microtransactions.
EA releasing cosmetic items(Sims3)/mystery packs(ME3) via microtransactions: OMFG EA IS THE DEVIL! BOYCOT! BURN THEM DOWN! RAAAAGE!
Ah well, it's the Escapist.
As long as they aren't selling advantages that cannot be obtained by ingame means, I will have no problems with microtransactions.
You can get almost all of the TF2 items for free. It's much more about trading than it is buying. TF2 itself is also free, I might add.Tayh said:
And newsflash, Valve has built up goodwill because they've fucking built it up, EA haven't. This is not a difficult concept to comprehend.
Same thing applies to ME3. Mystery packs can all be bought via ingame currency.Woodsey said:
And as for Sims 3, there is already a large, EA-approved community which offers a far broader selection of minimods and items for Sims 3 for free.
That doesn't change the fact that, despite both companies doing the same business practises, one company is worshipped while another is reviled.Woodsey said:
You'll have to excuse me if I don't sympathise with a group of people who knowingly and willingly choose to be subjected to DRM, third-party observation and control, and only love their Master all the more for it.
But again TF2 is free, where as EA decides to charge $60 for ME 3(a game which had considerably less effort put into it than TF2) and then has the nerve to add microtransactions on top of it.Tayh said:
Except Valve has never taken over and ruined perfectly good Devs and then shat in the faces of its fans has it?
My opinion on Mircotransactions is very different from this board, but I think it's reasonable. Before we enter that I just want to mention is only goes for Micros and not for Season Passses, or on disc DLC. (Separate DLC is different, but thats another story)
Microtransactins in my opinion, should not effect how anyone plays the game. It offers people who want to 1) rush through for the story 2) play just for achievements 3) People who are just bad at the game, to get through without having to retry the same 3 rooms over and over dying all the time.
We as gamers should not be choosing and deciding how people play their games. If they decide to buy a resource pack for 2 bucks that helps them pass a section in the game they are going to be happy. The Mircos in ME3 and DS3 (not sure about others, please mention them if i'm not right here) offer you ways to get those resource packs without using actual money. For Dead Space 3 it has rations which you get from scavenger bots. So not only did I have the ability to get resource packs WITHOUT using my actual credit card, I can do it fairly easily. This is the proper way to do it.
I get why people are upset, because they are looking at this like EA is fucking them over. Which EA is known to do, and I won't defend them as a publisher. For these games though the Microtransactions are giving gamers options, and I don't see how that is bad.
Microtransactins in my opinion, should not effect how anyone plays the game. It offers people who want to 1) rush through for the story 2) play just for achievements 3) People who are just bad at the game, to get through without having to retry the same 3 rooms over and over dying all the time.
We as gamers should not be choosing and deciding how people play their games. If they decide to buy a resource pack for 2 bucks that helps them pass a section in the game they are going to be happy. The Mircos in ME3 and DS3 (not sure about others, please mention them if i'm not right here) offer you ways to get those resource packs without using actual money. For Dead Space 3 it has rations which you get from scavenger bots. So not only did I have the ability to get resource packs WITHOUT using my actual credit card, I can do it fairly easily. This is the proper way to do it.
I get why people are upset, because they are looking at this like EA is fucking them over. Which EA is known to do, and I won't defend them as a publisher. For these games though the Microtransactions are giving gamers options, and I don't see how that is bad.
The ME3 microtransactions were fine as they were optional and if you spent a bit of time playing the multiplayer, you'd get the credits to buy the packs regardless. Using actual money was just a shortcut for those that didn't want to spend time doing that which I find a bit odd but each to their own.
The micros in the Sims sounds like a dick-ish move if they're blocking off a chunk of the game and refusing to let you use it UNLESS you part with actual money, on top of the price of the game.
And as for the Valve/TF2 argument, there's no comparison. TF2 itself is free, and the hats are optional extras that you don't have to buy. Bit different from taking out parts of the game.
The micros in the Sims sounds like a dick-ish move if they're blocking off a chunk of the game and refusing to let you use it UNLESS you part with actual money, on top of the price of the game.
And as for the Valve/TF2 argument, there's no comparison. TF2 itself is free, and the hats are optional extras that you don't have to buy. Bit different from taking out parts of the game.