If you asked video gamers what their “bane” was in terms of games themselves, they’d probably list a few things out rather quickly. One of them is the numerous updates and patches that continually bog down their titles and make it harder to play from the start. Another thing is developers “wasting their time” by releasing games that aren’t truly “ready for launch” or aren’t as polished as they should be at release. Finally, and arguably most importantly, are microtransactions and in-game purchases. These were non-existent at one point in the gaming space, and now, they’re basically everywhere, with no signs of slowing down.
In the United States alone, things with loot boxes and other microtransactions got so bad that Congress got involved to try and ensure that kids weren’t being tricked into gambling…which they basically were. The hate for these kinds of purchases is well known, and yet, a new survey that was detailed by GameIndustry.biz noted that in the US, 82% of players made in-game purchases via “freemium” titles.
That’s a staggering amount, and many would point to this being why developers are trying to do more “live service” style titles, as they do bring in money, regardless of what gamers feel about buying things outside of the main game purchase. Ironically, that’s the “perk” of the “freemium” model. You get the game for free, and then you pay for the “smaller stuff” to help make the game more customizable and robust.
It’s easy to think of games that encourage people to embrace microtransactions, too. For example, Fortnite is arguably the king of this, as there are Battle Passes, Season Passes, and just getting the skins that you want so you can take on everyone, such as John Wick, Metallica, Ariana Grande, and so on and so forth.
The danger, though, is thinking that just because 82% of Americans do these in-game purchases that it’s okay for these types of games to be made in bulk. One of the biggest threats to the gaming industry currently is groups like Warner Bros Discovery, EA and more are focusing solely on making live service titles full of these in-game purchases versus titles that have more substance at launch, like single-player adventures.
It shows that developers and publishers are more interested in making “fast cash” than making “meaningful content.” There’s no way that every live service title will make loads of cash off of in-game purchases, and yet, they’re still trying to crank them out as fast as possible.
