Which is how F2P games and their predatory nature takes off. As in, the entire reason the idea of battle passes took off in the first place, to milk people who got foot in the doored into paying again and again.
Part of the way these industries work is that they always take lessons taught to them from consumers, and then run them into the extremes. If you say "its okay this time because I benefit" then they will make sure the next time they do, and then keep going until the consumer gets minimal benefit at all.
Sure you'll win today and get a free/cheap game, but that decisions still has repurcussions on the industry going forward. And they will never make choices that are pro-consumer as those will always run contrary to their legal requirements to their Board of Directors' bullshit. And every little company who bucks that trend will get gobbled up by those massive Corporations soon enough.
Meh, 10-20 years ago you had to buy a MMORPG, the expansions AND a monthly subscription. These days you basically only have the monthly subscription and even that's optional.
For example I play Genshin Impact. I pay 5-15$ a month for the monthly passes. Back in my Everquest 2 days I had to pay 15$ per month and 30-40$ per expansion (and that's before adjusting for inflation).
And that's how we end up here. Shrugging "mehs" as we justify it to ourselves.
10-20 years ago you had to buy a MMORPG, the expansions AND a monthly subscription.
20 years ago I bought Guild Wars. It didn't have a sub then and still doesn't. I bought it once and got a full game I could play online forever, and each expansion until the final was treated as a full separate game you could buy and play on its own. Heck I can still play it just fine and its got a solid population even now.
MMOs are also a unique beast designed to be obsessed over with their skinner box nature, knowing that FOMO power will both increase your chances of spending money on their cash shops with minimal dev time needed to keep them updating and running.
Which is how F2P games and their predatory nature takes off. As in, the entire reason the idea of battle passes took off in the first place, to milk people who got foot in the doored into paying again and again.
Part of the way these industries work is that they always take lessons taught to them from consumers, and then run them into the extremes. If you say "its okay this time because I benefit" then they will make sure the next time they do, and then keep going until the consumer gets minimal benefit at all.
Sure you'll win today and get a free/cheap game, but that decisions still has repurcussions on the industry going forward. And they will never make choices that are pro-consumer as those will always run contrary to their legal requirements to their Board of Directors' bullshit. And every little company who bucks that trend will get gobbled up by those massive Corporations soon enough.
Meh, 10-20 years ago you had to buy a MMORPG, the expansions AND a monthly subscription. These days you basically only have the monthly subscription and even that's optional.
For example I play Genshin Impact. I pay 5-15$ a month for the monthly passes. Back in my Everquest 2 days I had to pay 15$ per month and 30-40$ per expansion (and that's before adjusting for inflation).
And that's how we end up here. Shrugging "mehs" as we justify it to ourselves.
20 years ago I bought Guild Wars. It didn't have a sub then and still doesn't. I bought it once and got a full game I could play online forever, and each expansion until the final was treated as a full separate game you could buy and play on its own. Heck I can still play it just fine and its got a solid population even now.
MMOs are also a unique beast designed to be obsessed over with their skinner box nature, knowing that FOMO power will both increase your chances of spending money on their cash shops with minimal dev time needed to keep them updating and running.