Are you kidding me? The thought of free content is shocking to you?
The "digital currency" scares me because unless I read this wrong, this could eliminate even fake gambling games. Or just any game that has a currency. RPGs where you can't even make a purchase. They need to define "Digital currency"
Why do you think loot boxes are the only source of revenue? Think outside the box so to speak.
It's not for free though, it a predatory revenue stream/generator that targets so called "whales".
*Yawn* There's no reason for games to have such bloated budgets that the likes of lootboxes are required to make a profit.
Casinos are not a creative industry though. They aren't releasing any kind of consumer good or fiction for mass consumption.
Yeah because $60 gets you a full game most of the time and not a butchered mess asking for several season passes on top. Publishers report record highs every year but sure they are hurting and they need the poor weedle lootboxes to cover their costs.
Artifact is not. Then again, I doubt any children are playing Artifact right now.
Yeah, thats possible.
Haha, yeah, sorry, huge typo from me :) I saw the mistake when the other guy quoted me, and i edited my post right before you replied. I ment to say "werent", not "were" =)
You might want to read up about slot machines and their evolution of using fictional properties such as Addams family in order to drive engagement. Hell look at Konami and the cannibalisation of their video game properties for pachinko machines.
Valve will adapt just fine, they don't just do loot boxes (though they did basically pioneer them, though you can't actually open them for free without trading for keys).
Arcade gaming is more like a weird form of renting rather than analogous to gambling. It also helps that the amount paid per-credit is fairly low to begin with.
Just in my experience... when you bought a game in the 90's or early 00's, you got what shipped in the box. That's it. Eventually publishers offered patches with bug fixes, maybe balance changes. But you really got nothing in the way of new content. For the large part, that game is the same today as it was when you bought it. Some games offered expansion packs, but were paying for those.
I dont think anyone is fighting for people to become gambling addicts, in the same way that people who want for example alcohol to be sold arent fighting for people to become alcoholics. Addicition is unfortunately a problem, and its worth disucssing that issue for sure, but its not like everyone becomes addicted by these type of things. I think its worth keeping that in mind as well. Its fully possible to play games with loot boxes and not be addicted by it. Personally, i cant remember ever paying for a loot box, and i've played a lot of games with it. I'm also currently playing a mobile game (been playing it for over a year) thats also kinda heavy on the loot box system, but i havnt spent any money on it. I have thought about it to be honest, but in the end, i simply cant justify the prices that they charge for it, but i still enjoy the game. ITs fair enough if people dont like loot box system as a feature though, of course.
Youre joking right? Everyone here realizes that not a single one of these companies gives a shit about any of us right? The goal is to make money just like every other form of entertainment. Nothing is free and nobody should expect it to be
Then Blizzard will have to use a different business model, likely one more geared to making people actually pay for cosmetic items. People who got stuff for free will throw a tantrum, but having to actually pay for cosmetic content is the price I'm willing to pay for free maps and playable characters.
It's precisely because of whale abuse cases that you can have those things without spending a dime, microtransaction revenue comes mostly from a small percentage of high payers.
