tl;dw version:
1) AAA publishers make enough money to free their games from unnecessary microtransactions and guarantee their workers fair pay and other benefits;
2) Let's not pretend they need our defense from criticism;
3) Developer unions need to come asap;
4) It's not about need, it's about greed;
5) This is the case regardless of the game in question, be it Battlefront II, Assassin's Creed Odyssey or Devil May Cry V.
I like Jim but I think he goes a bit over the top with these objections to micro-transactions.
On people defending publishers, I don't really care because if people are fans of a particular companies products then that's fine by me if they want to defend that company from criticism. It should be fine to say you love Ubisoft games and don't mind microtransactions because the money made from them can be invested in future games.
HOWEVER, I love Assassins Creed origins and Odyssey (so far) BUT the fact that they have an actual segment in their store called "time savers" is kind of fucked up. Fucking, TIME SAVERS! That's just such a bad look for me. Like "you could finish our game quicker if you pay us more". WTF? It implies that even the developer themselves see elements of their game as "busy work" and they can incentivise consumers to skip all that for a fee. If that's a part of their design philosophy then, as a huge fan of Ubisoft products, it's concerning to me.
I do not think it's about greed. I think a huge company tends to have huge investment commitments associated with it and they have to reward those investors or investment could dry up. Yes, they want to make more and more money. It's the entertainment industry. I don't know what can be added to that.
I don't think I can say to these companies "entertain me with bigger and better things" but then give them the stink eye when they are raking in the cash.
Yes, developers need to unionize. Can't argue there. Won't argue there. I'd like to know how much devs are being paid though because the way Jim sells it you'd think they were working for a pittance.
On microtransactions themselves, there seems to be a lot of different things that come under this banner. I've always felt MTs are not good value for money. If they are just for cosmetic items in game then fine. If it's for extra side content DLC following other characters and not related to the main story then that's OK too.
"Time savers". That's a bad look. DLC that is prologues or epilogues to the main story? That's a bad look.
The stuff EA puts in it's ultimate team section in FIFA is ludicrous though. Fuckin, 2.50 to get Ronaldo for 5 matches, piss off.
Does Jim Sterling REALLY care that much about people who are prone to gambling addiction etc? I mean, it seems to me like if he got this stuff out of video games he would not then try to follow through and outlaw casinos etc, right? Which means, really, what he should be asking for is regulation and then accepting this is part of video games now. This idea that the companies are predatory etc seems a little over the top. Jim is over the top though so maybe that's just his way of expressing things.
What would people's take on those Pannini football sticker books be? Is that just gambling for kids?
I think games like Magic the Gathering are based around a similar "microtransaction" model?
