Something doesn't add up about the console industry

[Fonejackerjon]

Look, I know I have a reputation about hating consoles but can someone explain to me what is going on with game publishers.

The Ps4 is selling extremely well 10 million units already kudos Sony, I'm sure the Xbox is doing ok not quite as well but probably ok so why are game publishers pushing and pushing and pushing to such extreme measures??

Day 1 DLC, Season passes, micro-transactions those are the acts of a desperate industry on its last legs, those are the desperate actions of a consoles industry on the verge of dying, but they are not, so why in gods name are publishers resorting to such extreme measures to basically almost put the console industry out of business.

Its almost like they want a console crash but why? they know this shit isn't sustainable so why do they keep doing it? when consoles are selling so well, please someone tell me. I know console owners will take alot of shit and keep taking it but I'm sure they wont for much longer.

I have said it before and I'll say it again $60 plus DLC plus micro-transactions does not make sense in 2014 when you can get so much free entertainment online, no the mobile industry wont kill the consoles industry the console industry's backwards thinking will kill the console industry but it seems so unnecessary when console sales are booming what the hell are they so afraid off?

 

[Maximum Bert]

Because they have gotten away with it in the past and are still pushing to see how far they can take it. Im one of those who was against DLC in the beginning and now a lot of what I didnt want has come to pass but people will still defend it as if they think its giving them value for money and not the opposite. Thats not to say all DLC is bad sometime devs use it to actually give value to a game rather than just add back in cut content just not usually.

People are still buying a shed load of DLC and it allows devs/publishers to artificially increase the price of the game or rather get more money usually for very little effort (or none). They dont want a console crash but a lot of the big publishers in particular have money as their number one goal and care about putting out a value for money product much much less. Just look at Activision and the Guitar Hero franchise for how far this can go and how it ultimately collapsed and took down others with it (largely through no fault of their own).

At the moment it makes sense business wise to do what they do but morally is more questionable and ultimately dosent enter into the picture for business especially big business. If it goes to far I think there will be a backlash the Xbox One is another example of something that took to much while giving to little in return but until then its here to stay.

I dont think it will crash the console industry though it will just promote a change of track maybe no DLC will become a big selling point they charge a bit more for the game and thats it, who knows how they will spin it next.

 

[communist gamer]

money makes the world go round and the DLC and micro payments market is a great way to spend a lot of money without seeing the money drain intill its too late. People buy it, most gamers criticize the decision but on the other hand you have thousands of suckers who will cum in their pants when they see a new gun in CoD or a new campaign that lasts 50 minutes in a game they really like and go buy it. The problem is not present in the PC gaming scean because developers have learned that if you pull enough bullshit people will just start to pirate the game and not pay for it, although the problem is still there it is on a much smaller scale ( steam also helps. Most gamers wont mind paying a extra euro of dollar to get extra stuff in a collectors bundle, especially when its on sale and costs less then the game itself). Consoles have this problem because they have too many twats that buy DLCs that give them nothing and publishers start felling that they can get away with anything

 

[Rozalia1]

DLC, Season passes, micro-transactions are all present on PC so how exactly is this a specific console issue? By all means attack those practices if you like, but to present the situation as exclusive to consoles is simply dishonest.
Do not say the PC market isn't heading in that direction either as I don't remember paradox (for example) being so DLC heavy but I suppose that is only one company... but than I always hear of that company that makes Tropico being DLC happy...you get the point.
Remember that we are talking business so a PC platform based company is in no way less "greedy" than a console based one.

 

[TrevHead]

Most public companies won't say no to short term gains even if it's damages them in the long term instead following a boom and bust cycle while those on top get golden parachutes and move onto the next big thing.

It's also worth pointing out that gaming is in a transitional phase atm, this might be the last console gen before gaming converges into whatever form it'll take, and both MS and Sony are readying themselves to move on (MS plans failed, while Sony's have yet to roll out theirs). With this future looming over the industry, some companies might be in milk it till it dies mode, but even if they aren't I don't expect the likes of EA, Activ etc to cut back on milking anyway.

 

[Fonejackerjon]

Most public companies won't say no to short term gains even if it's damages them in the long term instead following a boom and bust cycle while those on top get golden parachutes and move onto the next big thing.

It's also worth pointing out that gaming is in a transitional phase atm, this might be the last console gen before gaming converges into whatever form it'll take, and both MS and Sony are readying themselves to move on (MS plans failed, while Sony's have yet to roll out theirs). With this future looming over the industry, some companies might be in milk it till it dies mode, but even if they aren't I don't expect the likes of EA, Activ etc to cut back on milking anyway.

Great points, but what will it transition into? companies are flailing around trying to figure out what to prepare for. You know I have a 13 year old cousin that would rather watch play throughs of games on youtube than buy them? as weird as that might sound it seems to be a growing trend, hence why twitch is so popular you can literally see the entire contents of a game online beginning to end without paying for it the only difference is its not interactive but this trend seems to be growing.

 

[AdagioBoognish]

DLC, Season passes, micro-transactions are all present on PC so how exactly is this a specific console issue? By all means attack those practices if you like, but to present the situation as exclusive to consoles is simply dishonest.
Do not say the PC market isn't heading in that direction either as I don't remember paradox (for example) being so DLC heavy but I suppose that is only one company... but than I always hear of that company that makes Tropico being DLC happy...you get the point.
Remember that we are talking business so a PC platform based company is in no way less "greedy" than a console based one.

You're right, it's definitely not a problem exclusive to consoles. There's a boat load of dlc for tropico and the Sims, along with overpriced dlc in games like diablo 3. Dlc works wonders, in some cases doubling the amount of money a company can make off a single consumer, so there's no way the tactic would be limited to one side of the industry. If anything consoles had to catch up to pc, by including ways to purchase preorders, dlc, and season passes through the Xbox and ps4 store, making spending money as easy as its always been for PC gamers.

 

[Fonejackerjon]

DLC, Season passes, micro-transactions are all present on PC so how exactly is this a specific console issue? By all means attack those practices if you like, but to present the situation as exclusive to consoles is simply dishonest.
Do not say the PC market isn't heading in that direction either as I don't remember paradox (for example) being so DLC heavy but I suppose that is only one company... but than I always hear of that company that makes Tropico being DLC happy...you get the point.
Remember that we are talking business so a PC platform based company is in no way less "greedy" than a console based one.

You're right, it's definitely not a problem exclusive to consoles. There's a boat load of dlc for tropico and the Sims, along with overpriced dlc in games like diablo 3. Dlc works wonders, in some cases doubling the amount of money a company can make off a single consumer, so there's no way the tactic would be limited to one side of the industry. If anything consoles had to catch up to pc, by including ways to purchase preorders, dlc, and season passes through the Xbox and ps4 store, making spending money as easy as its always been for PC gamers.

Ok, so when do you think console and PC gamers are going to say 'enough is enough' or, as I suspected core gsmers are getting to stupid to do this?

 

[communist gamer]

DLC, Season passes, micro-transactions are all present on PC so how exactly is this a specific console issue? By all means attack those practices if you like, but to present the situation as exclusive to consoles is simply dishonest.
Do not say the PC market isn't heading in that direction either as I don't remember paradox (for example) being so DLC heavy but I suppose that is only one company... but than I always hear of that company that makes Tropico being DLC happy...you get the point.
Remember that we are talking business so a PC platform based company is in no way less "greedy" than a console based one.

while it is true that the problem is present, it's not so big that people mind it. Most PC games you will play don?t have any DLCs, or have 1-2 that expand somehow the game. More over, you regularly buy bundles on STEAM that are cheep as butt. So ya the problem is there but it's not a bloated staking corps in the middle of the room problem, its the noise neighbours dog that you have gotten used to problem

 

[AdagioBoognish]

DLC, Season passes, micro-transactions are all present on PC so how exactly is this a specific console issue? By all means attack those practices if you like, but to present the situation as exclusive to consoles is simply dishonest.
Do not say the PC market isn't heading in that direction either as I don't remember paradox (for example) being so DLC heavy but I suppose that is only one company... but than I always hear of that company that makes Tropico being DLC happy...you get the point.
Remember that we are talking business so a PC platform based company is in no way less "greedy" than a console based one.

You're right, it's definitely not a problem exclusive to consoles. There's a boat load of dlc for tropico and the Sims, along with overpriced dlc in games like diablo 3. Dlc works wonders, in some cases doubling the amount of money a company can make off a single consumer, so there's no way the tactic would be limited to one side of the industry. If anything consoles had to catch up to pc, by including ways to purchase preorders, dlc, and season passes through the Xbox and ps4 store, making spending money as easy as its always been for PC gamers.

Ok, so when do you think console and PC gamers are going to say 'enough is enough' or, as I suspected core gsmers are getting to stupid to do this?

I'm thinking pretty soon. Ive been a fan of most dlc and have purchased season passes twice before, but the last year has left me feeling spurned and I will be very selective from here on out. I have hope that these practices will turn off a lot of gamers and that the key demographic, gamers in there 20s with disposable income, will get tired of spending more for less.

 

[Rozalia1]

You're right, it's definitely not a problem exclusive to consoles. There's a boat load of dlc for tropico and the Sims, along with overpriced dlc in games like diablo 3. Dlc works wonders, in some cases doubling the amount of money a company can make off a single consumer, so there's no way the tactic would be limited to one side of the industry. If anything consoles had to catch up to pc, by including ways to purchase preorders, dlc, and season passes through the Xbox and ps4 store, making spending money as easy as its always been for PC gamers.

Its very easy to see why its done and it isn't just the big bad publishers everyone always rave about that do it. Small studios do it too and the profits for them will help them greatly allowing them to continue, and even make more ambitious projects.
I myself choose what I'll buy or not, I'm not going to preach around the internet to never buy something to promote a market shift when its ultimately up to the consumer themselves.

while it is true that the problem is present, it's not so big that people mind it. Most PC games you will play don?t have any DLCs, or have 1-2 that expand somehow the game. More over, you regularly buy bundles on STEAM that are cheep as butt. So ya the problem is there but it's not a bloated staking corps in the middle of the room problem, its the noise neighbours dog that you have gotten used to problem

First you have no statistics and you're giving me anecdotes. Where is this proof that DLC doesn't sell on PC? That season passes don't sell? That micro transactions aren't a serious thing when the PC has a glut of free to play games, and near all the games that have micro transactions on consoles too (A few exceptions in this like Tekken Revolution, Soul Calibar Lost Swords). You think I haven't seen PC gamers defend Paradox's hoard of DLC (day 1 included) for several years now?

And I bought PS3 SR3 dlc they were asking £15 for, for £3 your point. This conception that anyone who owns a console suddenly buys not only every piece of DLC, but does so always at full price is ever so tiring.

Great points, but what will it transition into? companies are flailing around trying to figure out what to prepare for. You know I have a 13 year old cousin that would rather watch play throughs of games on youtube than buy them? as weird as that might sound it seems to be a growing trend, hence why twitch is so popular you can literally see the entire contents of a game online beginning to end without paying for it the only difference is its not interactive but this trend seems to be growing.

I assume when he referred to Microsoft he meant their always online DRM + TVTVTV focus. Sony everything points to streaming.

Snip

They bleed too much money is the problem, were they to stop that rot than DLC wouldn't be about surviving it'd be about profiting massively. Though this everyone is dying thing is overblown as big publishers make plenty of bank, and the smaller companies also enjoy nice DLC takes.

Your statement about kids is odd, I suppose all statements about kids are odd really. Doing a quick search a 2011 article states just 18 percent of gamers are under 18 meaning it is the older folk that will have their own money that are the people who'll be buying the majority of games.
Kids not being able to buy a game with pocket money is not only incorrect due to used games (though yes that doesn't help the developers), but its also irrelevant as the large majority of the money is going to come from the above 18s.

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

First you have no statistics and you're giving me anecdotes. Where is this proof that DLC doesn't sell on PC? That season passes don't sell? That micro transactions aren't a serious thing when the PC has a glut of free to play games, and near all the games that have micro transactions on consoles too (A few exceptions in this like Tekken Revolution, Soul Calibar Lost Swords). You think I haven't seen PC gamers defend Paradox's hoard of DLC (day 1 included) for several years now?

And I bought PS3 SR3 dlc they were asking £15 for, for £3 your point. This conception that anyone who owns a console suddenly buys not only every piece of DLC, but does so always at full price is ever so tiring.

The thing is though, I would say that DLC and a lot of issues console gaming have are more on the fault of PC-centric devs who introduced such practices to consoles. For example, we had never even bothered with patching games until last generation due to consoles not being hooked up to the net when PCs in fact were. This actually led to a lot of laziness on part of developers who could just blow through development and pass the bare minimum of quality standards with the justification of being able to fix it later. It's also why we started seeing more games try to push graphical power instead of gameplay breadth or depth. We now have an entire generation of devs who basically demand consoles become more and more like PCs, unaware of the fact that that's never what consoles were supposed to be. It's created a mess of an industry that has no idea what it's doing anymore.

 

[Something Amyss]

Day 1 DLC, Season passes, micro-transactions those are the acts of a desperate industry on its last legs, those are the desperate actions of a consoles industry on the verge of dying, but they are not, so why in gods name are publishers resorting to such extreme measures to basically almost put the console industry out of business.

What does this have to do with consoles? Is there some PC Gaming Master Race card I'm yet to receive in the post that makes the day 1 DLC disappear and gives me season pass content free?

Other than that, there's a fairly simple solution: companies are expected to make money. Not only are they expected to make money, they are expected to make lots of money. All of the money, if possible. What's more, they are expected to make more money than last year. Companies look for ways to increase revenue and decrease costs.

Many of the "evils" in gaming today come from this model. Games are too short? Keeping costs down. Games are "casualised?" Broader markets are necessary to make more money. Too many shooters or [insert genre here]? Experimenting is costly and risky. Microtransactions? Pretty much pure cash, it's hard not to see where it fits in. Season pass? An up front injection of cash for content yet to be delivered.

 

[KazeAizen]

Most public companies won't say no to short term gains even if it's damages them in the long term instead following a boom and bust cycle while those on top get golden parachutes and move onto the next big thing.

It's also worth pointing out that gaming is in a transitional phase atm, this might be the last console gen before gaming converges into whatever form it'll take, and both MS and Sony are readying themselves to move on (MS plans failed, while Sony's have yet to roll out theirs). With this future looming over the industry, some companies might be in milk it till it dies mode, but even if they aren't I don't expect the likes of EA, Activ etc to cut back on milking anyway.

Meanwhile Nintendo seems to be content to chug along and do pretty much what its been doing for the last 30 years and minding its own business making quality games...which most people are chalking up to gimmicky for some reason.

 

[nomotog_v1legacy]

Look, I know I have a reputation about hating consoles but can someone explain to me what is going on with game publishers.

The Ps4 is selling extremely well 10 million units already kudos Sony, I'm sure the Xbox is doing ok not quite as well but probably ok so why are game publishers pushing and pushing and pushing to such extreme measures??

Day 1 DLC, Season passes, micro-transactions those are the acts of a desperate industry on its last legs, those are the desperate actions of a consoles industry on the verge of dying, but they are not, so why in gods name are publishers resorting to such extreme measures to basically almost put the console industry out of business.

Its almost like they want a console crash but why? they know this shit isn't sustainable so why do they keep doing it? when consoles are selling so well, please someone tell me. I know console owners will take alot of shit and keep taking it but I'm sure they wont for much longer.

I have said it before and I'll say it again $60 plus DLC plus micro-transactions does not make sense in 2014 when you can get so much free entertainment online, no the mobile industry wont kill the consoles industry the console industry's backwards thinking will kill the console industry but it seems so unnecessary when console sales are booming what the hell are they so afraid off?

Oh it's kind of simple. People Don't pay full price and then buy all the DLC. Well some times you do, but not always. You wait and buy used, you rent, you borrow from a friend. Also it's not like you don't get DLC and micro-transactions on PC. You get that everywhere now.

 

[Stavros Dimou]

Because if you say to people "I sell a piece of my snort for 5$" and someone DOES pay you 5$ to get a piece of your snort, you are going to be selling your snort anyway,no matter if it sounds stupid or not,or if you really need it or not.

 

[Atmos Duality]

they are increasingly pricing themselves out of contention as an entertainment option amongst their core audience and beyond and are increasing effectively turning their product into effectively a luxury one rather than an entertainment mass media which people regularly buy.

if you want a prediction imo what you're going to see is the big monoliths fall back to only internally producing "safe staples" while the bulk of "contemporary" industry output become dominated by "semi-independent" and "independent" sub production...this would be almost completely in line with what happened to the TV, movies and music industry.

That's the idea.
In theory, every creative medium rotates through this (or even more generally, every industry cycles through growth, stagnation, collapse, consolidation->repeat).

Though I will point out that this meant that those same media industries inevitably regressed back into monolith-control once they recovered. And that has proven absolutely true, given the dominance of record labels in music, network conglomerates in TV, and Hollywood in film.

Sure, there are numerous smaller firms in those, but they are virtually powerless and lack presence outside of niche markets.

(Actually following the money, you could trace a lot of those monoliths back to a small but powerful collection of holding companies. Gaming is the only major media industry whose biggest players AREN'T currently tied to those, though just like comics, it's only a matter of time before that relationship changes methinks. A AAA-Crash would provide the perfect conditions needed to make such acquisitions appealing and viable.)