GTA V's Microtransactions - "The Gift That Keeps on Giving," Says CEO

[lacktheknack]

Sounds like Rock star are planning to be the new King, with all that that entails

Benefiting from microtransactions that people won't stop buying is going to turn Rockstar into copywrite trolls with no quality control?

This is why I don't listen to gamers anymore. This is why gamers cannot have nice things. Gamers are getting every last damn thing they deserve.

 

[Racecarlock]

Is he talking about the feature where you can spend real money to buy in-game money... which you can then lose when people steal it off your corpse, or if you stop playing for too long?

He is, and it scares me. I have loved GTA since vice city and I like bully scholarship edition too. But this kind of attitude, you know he's not going to treat the devs well. With lines like that, it can only mean he wants more of that kind of thing. And it scares me.

That's the kind of shit that leads to dungeon keeper mobile.

GTA has certainly become the epitomy of hypocrisy. Constantly shoving criticism of capitalism in our face, while in the meantime selling millions and persuing very shady business practices.

Still holding out for a Bully 2 though. *fingers crossed*

Ooh, hypocrisy, franklin. It's one of civilization's greatest virtues.

 

[Racecarlock]

Hey Rockstar Games. Evacuate now. Just evacuate. Just run. Go, quickly, while you still have a soul!

They have a soul? Where are they hiding it?

I'm just saying, it's been like 7 months since launch and there are still things they were promoting GTA on that aren't in the game. One of them, heists, was kind of a big selling point of the game. And the best we have is that they finally said "sometime in spring" on that one.

GTA V still has pretty good money value for what you get in the single player for me. Also, I've been a GTA fan since I first played vice city, and you could tell through that game and III and even san andreas that they loved what they were doing. IV a bit less so, and V outright has a gamer who smokes pot and acts entitled everywhere to the point where he has a tattoo that says entitled on it. And the rest of LA seems to be constructed from TMZ snippets, and the trailer park seems to be constructed of "You might be a redneck" jokes.

And yet messing around is still fun. That, partially, is where I got the whole "Soul" thing.

 

[Someone Depressing]

I'll see how much I can get for GTA V on eBay. I'm done with it anyway.

But seriously, this is so stupid. Rockstar was one of the few AAA companies that you could trust not to pool this shit; at least, until a few hours ago.

 

[shrekfan246]

Why are people getting so upset about a CEO who is happy that he is making money (which, given the current state of the industry, is an achievement in it's own right), should he NOT be happy that his company is achieving what it sets out to do?

Wording matters. Especially when Grand Theft Auto was one of the few remaining examples of a massively overblown game budget still managing to make its money back without fleecing the customers dry with pointless DLC and microtransactions (admittedly because it supposedly made its money back before it was even released, but whatever).

If anything blame the idiots who spend real money to buy fake money, they are showing devs that we're okay with micro-transactions. Whining into a forum doesn't change anything, voting with your wallet does.

I didn't buy Grand Theft Auto V. Even if I had, I wouldn't have even used the online, let alone bought microtransactions.

I'm still perfectly entitled to be upset by the fact that a company is now coming out and praising the use of microtransactions as a way of them getting even more money from their customers. The last thing the industry needs in its current state is to swing back to the idea that microtransactions are the perfect business model to move toward, especially because so few publishers do it in the same way that Grand Theft Auto V apparently did.

It is not a sustainable business model to bleed your customers dry of everything they have in the short term to make as much money as you can at the expense of long-term profits. That's how developers end up shut down after making successful game after successful game, that's how publishers like THQ end up going bankrupt despite having multiple very compelling and popular IP under their control. It's short-sighted and arrogant of companies to believe that they can endlessly "take, take, take" from the consumer while providing the barest essentials of entertainment in return.

 

[Something Amyss]

but every couple of months they also add new stuff and missions for free. We had to pay $20 a pop for that with GTA4 dlc.

Stuff they advertised. Stuff they said was going to be free. In fact, given that the "new missions" were an advertised feature, they've been a bit of a disappointment. Remember, they sold the game by saying "we don't have much content now, but we're going to be constantly adding more."

Again, you may call it praise worthy, I call it the bare minimum of keeping one of their marketing promises. One of.

GTA V still has pretty good money value for what you get in the single player for me.

And that's fine, but it has nothing to do with the MTs, and it doesn't change the fact that they marketed not just a multiplayer game, but a multiplayer game the equal of the single player. It was so big they marketed it separately, in fact. And it's not in any way unreasonable to expect all of the content advertised and whatnot.

I got good time out of SP. MP seems to be indicative of the creeping soullessness, though. "We're doing exactly what we said we would when we marketed the game (minus some stuff we're totally working on! Really, this time!). Can we have a cookie now?"

I'm also not sure I like the pre-order strategy of "buy this edition and get more power for your special abilities, greatly changing the approach to the game. But that's pretty minor.

This stuff may seem harsh, but I really did buy this game in no small part on the multiplayer. And part of why I feel let down is because Rockstar aren't usually the ones pulling this crap. It's hurt their brand in my eyes, and honestly I doubt they'd have anywhere near as many people making excuses if they were EA.

 

[SilverStuddedSquirre]

Why are people getting so upset about a CEO who is happy that he is making money (which, given the current state of the industry, is an achievement in it's own right), should he NOT be happy that his company is achieving what it sets out to do?

If anything blame the idiots who spend real money to buy fake money, they are showing devs that we're okay with micro-transactions. Whining into a forum doesn't change anything, voting with your wallet does.

The problem with this is that for every ONE vote i do not cast by purchasing a game, the "Whales" stuff thge ballots by spending many times the purchase price, and effectively vote man many times. We can all see this is true simply by the fact that a term like "whale" even exists.

The entire reason F2P and MT are bad, is that by design, they skew the data in favor of their model. Basically three assholes who spend enough money can negate several hundred Non-purchasers, so that on merit of $$$ brought in, the title is successful.

 

[Something Amyss]

Why are people getting so upset about a CEO who is happy that he is making money (which, given the current state of the industry, is an achievement in it's own right), should he NOT be happy that his company is achieving what it sets out to do?

If he was celebrating that GTA V was so amazingly successful in itself, nobody would bat an eyelash. So it's not that he's making money or his company is making money. Can we drop the specious pretenses?

Benefiting from microtransactions that people won't stop buying is going to turn Rockstar into copywrite trolls with no quality control?

Maybe they meant Elvis? Fat, bloated, and unable to defend themselves with Karate?

Rockstar was one of the few AAA companies that you could trust not to pool this shit; at least, until a few hours ago.

Months. This was always a part of GTA V. The only thing he's doing now is spiking the ball.

It is not a sustainable business model to bleed your customers dry of everything they have in the short term to make as much money as you can at the expense of long-term profits. That's how developers end up shut down after making successful game after successful game, that's how publishers like THQ end up going bankrupt despite having multiple very compelling and popular IP under their control. It's short-sighted and arrogant of companies to believe that they can endlessly "take, take, take" from the consumer while providing the barest essentials of entertainment in return.

Errr...No. THQ went under because they were idiots who thought uDraw was going to be the next Wii or Guitar Hero and made like 90000000000000000000 units, sold five, and was left with an overstock and a massive deficit. They speculated on hardware and were wrong by a large margin. Not just wrong, but, really wrong. Ray Comfort wrong. Their software practices had little to do with it. Even their licensed kids games had little to do with it, except specifically the uDraw ones.

If not for uDraw, they would likely be alive and trying to figure out how to sell us stuff in Saints Row V that was part of the game in previous versions.

Come to think of it, THQ was very much like Elvis.

 

[lacktheknack]

Benefiting from microtransactions that people won't stop buying is going to turn Rockstar into copywrite trolls with no quality control?

Maybe they meant Elvis? Fat, bloated, and unable to defend themselves with Karate?

Well... that seems accurate enough, I imagine.

 

[shrekfan246]

Errr...No. THQ went under because they were idiots who thought uDraw was going to be the next Wii or Guitar Hero and made like 90000000000000000000 units, sold five, and was left with an overstock and a massive deficit. They speculated on hardware and were wrong by a large margin. Not just wrong, but, really wrong. Ray Comfort wrong. Their software practices had little to do with it. Even their licensed kids games had little to do with it, except specifically the uDraw ones.

If not for uDraw, they would likely be alive and trying to figure out how to sell us stuff in Saints Row V that was part of the game in previous versions.

Come to think of it, THQ was very much like Elvis.

THQ specifically made a few other drastic mistakes, yeah, but I wouldn't say they were exactly in a sparkling position before that whole fiasco. All the way back to 2008 they were having massive financial problems which resulted in them closing down studios, selling off studios, trying to cut costs in the hundreds of millions, and reshuffling what they had remaining.

Anyway, I only brought them up specifically because they were the first publisher that came to mind and because of their last-ditch attempts to draw in the money with things like DLC for Saints Row: The Third. They're not the best example of "overuse of microtransactions or something similar backfiring", they were just the first example of "bad business practices and decisions backfiring" which I thought of.

 

[Bad Jim]

Why are people getting so upset about a CEO who is happy that he is making money (which, given the current state of the industry, is an achievement in it's own right), should he NOT be happy that his company is achieving what it sets out to do?

If anything blame the idiots who spend real money to buy fake money, they are showing devs that we're okay with micro-transactions. Whining into a forum doesn't change anything, voting with your wallet does.

The problem with this is that for every ONE vote i do not cast by purchasing a game, the "Whales" stuff the ballots by spending many times the purchase price, and effectively vote many, many times. We can all see this is true simply by the fact that a term like "whale" even exists.

The entire reason F2P and MT are bad, is that by design, they skew the data in favor of their model. Basically three assholes who spend enough money can negate several hundred Non-purchasers, so that on merit of $$$ brought in, the title is successful.

Worse than that, the profit from scummy microtransactions is clearly visible, while the lost sales of the game and future games, due to the game being made worse, are much harder to quantify. Did I avoid it because of microtransactions, or did I simply not want another GTA game?

 

[thewatergamer]

Yeah the gift that keeps on giving... money to your wallet

Aside from the fact that the game isn't on PC, I still am hesitant to buy GTA V on account of all the microtransactions...

That said though, the game has been patched with free content so I am a little bit more forgiving

However...

You are walking a very thin line here Rockstar, and people like me will be keeping a very close eye on how you monetize future installments

Aside from that statements like this just piss me off, since it shows how little some people in the gaming industry care about their customers

When the game comes out on PC ill probably buy it assuming its a good port and a reasonable price

but again I will be very cautious when it comes to future GTA games as this could turn into a rampant problem with future titles if they feel they can get away with it

 

[tangoprime]

I think this is SERIOUSLY overblown, and mostly by people who apparently didn't play it enough to understand. There aren't paid DLCs, and there's only ONE item available for microtransaction, within the GTA Online component only, and that's cash. You can buy cash packs, that go right into your bank (so they can't be stolen) with real money. You don't need to, you can make plenty of money doing other activities, AND they've been recently upping the payouts AND allowing you to just select to Host the higher payout contact missions to your hearts content without having to draw them randomly.

Yes, they're pricey and stupid, and if you buy them you should feel bad, but they're not pay to win, you still have to unlock things the old fashioned way, there are no DLC/microtransaction items that are exclusive to people who bought them (aside from collector's item goodies, but that's different), just a way to pay real money instead of time for in-game money. It's there to hope to cash in on someone's impatience trying to save up to buy a Helicopter or something instead of earning the money a few hundred grand per play session.

If it's working for them, and they keep putting out all the FREE DLC that they have been over the last few months (Beach Bum Pack, Valentine's Day Massacre Pack, Business Update, High Life expansion, etc.) full of new cars, guns, clothes, and jobs for free- keep up the good work R*.

 

[GonzoGamer]

but every couple of months they also add new stuff and missions for free. We had to pay $20 a pop for that with GTA4 dlc.

Stuff they advertised. Stuff they said was going to be free. In fact, given that the "new missions" were an advertised feature, they've been a bit of a disappointment. Remember, they sold the game by saying "we don't have much content now, but we're going to be constantly adding more."

Again, you may call it praise worthy, I call it the bare minimum of keeping one of their marketing promises. One of.

GTA V still has pretty good money value for what you get in the single player for me.

And that's fine, but it has nothing to do with the MTs, and it doesn't change the fact that they marketed not just a multiplayer game, but a multiplayer game the equal of the single player. It was so big they marketed it separately, in fact. And it's not in any way unreasonable to expect all of the content advertised and whatnot.

I got good time out of SP. MP seems to be indicative of the creeping soullessness, though. "We're doing exactly what we said we would when we marketed the game (minus some stuff we're totally working on! Really, this time!). Can we have a cookie now?"

I'm also not sure I like the pre-order strategy of "buy this edition and get more power for your special abilities, greatly changing the approach to the game. But that's pretty minor.

This stuff may seem harsh, but I really did buy this game in no small part on the multiplayer. And part of why I feel let down is because Rockstar aren't usually the ones pulling this crap. It's hurt their brand in my eyes, and honestly I doubt they'd have anywhere near as many people making excuses if they were EA.

If EA ever released a $60 that kept me playing for half a year, I would give them as much leeway on microtransactions: selling a resource that is already plentiful in the game.
I don't mind when pre-orders have various in game items, it's when they section off gameplay content for pre-orders; LA Noir was the worst with that. It seemed so desperate that game went from a must buy to must rent for me, and I'm glad I only rented that pretentious special effects show.

As for what was promised, I don't remember them saying they would be constantly rolling out free ... everything. I do remember vague promises of en "ever expanding" experience or something in the trailer but aside from the Heists and the content creator, I wasn't expecting much more for free. I was expecting about as much as we got with RDR.

That said, I agree that the TT-CEO should hold off from the smug "look at our fat wad" press conferences if only because they will encourage lesser publishers to push worse microtransactions on lesser games. But also because it makes him look like a prick.

 

[weirdee]

best interest in the short term

the moment their handful of big spenders goes away, the model collapses

 

[FalloutJack]

Villains, stop being EVIL, or face the karma tornado of The Tick!

(Actually, it's more like Rockstar suddenly noticing people getting pissed off and the gift no longer giving.)

Captcha: good day

 

[Quellist]

Sounds like Rock star are planning to be the new King, with all that that entails

Benefiting from microtransactions that people won't stop buying is going to turn Rockstar into copywrite trolls with no quality control?

This is why I don't listen to gamers anymore. This is why gamers cannot have nice things. Gamers are getting every last damn thing they deserve.

I was exaggerating for effect....

You like micro transactions? Fine, I don't...I see them as the first step toward full price games being released with half their content locked behind a paywall

 

[SporkySpork]

Ahahahaha, Strauss Zelnick, what a card you are. Openly gloating to people about how successful is the abominable business practice of having microtransactions in a paid game. Fuck you and your family right in the eyesocket.

In the 2 minutes it took you to type out that extremist comment, did the fact that you're hating a guy and (for some reason) his family over virtual dollars that are un-intrusively placed in a game that forces you to level up before you can buy the shit that matters (guns) ever cross your mind? Oh, you conveniently left out the fact that there have been free updates since launch, plus free money due to the issues on day one, but that wouldn't have supported you statement anyway, huh?

I'm no fan of microtransactions, but I draw the line at taking the practice so personally, since I can just, y'know, not use them. The guy is stating a fact, and you and 90% of the users are acting like the guy's somehow bragging about suckering people in with shady business practices, when in truth that's far from the case.

*Siiiiiiighs*

Gamers....

 

[Isalan]

"It's the gift that keeps on giving!"

Except from the consumers perspective, in which case its actually "The developer that keeps on taking!"

Haven't played GTA:V yet, waiting for the PC release, but I can't see me getting into the multiplayer anyway. A game full of people acting like me when playing a GTA game? How does anyone get anything done with all the tanks, explosions, jets, snipers and mental people in cars?