YongYea: Ubisoft Defends Loot Boxes in Dismissive Response to Backlash, Points Finger at Gamers

[Alucardx23]

I completely disagree on this one. Ubisoft is giving us a 100+ hour game and he's complaining about not having access to a single option for free? The real questions he should be considering is if he's dissatisfied with the content that you get for US$60. Does the XP booster somehow break the game if it's not there? Or is it something you don't even notice if no one tells you the option is there? He also fails to address how removing the additional paid content/options would affect the game itself. Developers invest millions on games like this because they expect to make a profit, not just from the US$60 entry cost, but from the additional content that is purchased by several gamers. What he's practically saying is that he wants for the game budget to be lowered, so the developer can reduce the risk of only selling a US$60 game with no additional options for sale. That inevitably means a shorter or less polished game. You cannot simply ignore how game development costs are increasing, while at the same time the standard US$60 dollar price remains the same. So choose your poison, either we get a simpler game that generates profit at US$60 or you get a better production with the option for some gamers to purchase additional content. This is not a Black and White discussion where you can just say, additional payed content/options = bad. As long as they provide an enjoyable base experience for US$60 and don't add pay to win mechanics, I will choose to have a game where the developer invest more money so I can have a better experience.

inXile: AA development costs have went from $5-$6 million in 2012 to $15-$20 million today
https://www.resetera.com/threads/in...million-in-2012-to-15-20-million-today.81960/

 

[Deleted member 135]

Microtransactions as a whole, especially those in singleplayer only titles and those that use virtual currency, are manipulative, exploitative, and predatory. Ubisoft is one of the worst offenders up there with EA and Activision.


Also anyone who posts that shill "gamersriseup" meme is just trolling and shitposting with the only intention to derail and delegitimize consumer advocacy and downplay corporate malfeasance.

 

[Ushay]

I'm with you on this one Alucardx23 .. as usual I continue to disagree with Yongs reasoning, feels like he's generating followers on 'hot' articles as opposed to the actual issues in gaming.

 

[ByWatterson]

Predatory game that hates players on the short list for GOTY.

Yooookay.

 

[Lego Killer Moth]

Gamers weren't just killed, THEY WERE MURDERED

 

[admiraltaftbar]

Microtransactions as a whole, especially those in singleplayer only titles and those that use virtual currency, are manipulative, exploitative, and predatory. Ubisoft is one of the worst offenders up there with EA and Activision.

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You forgot Valve. Might even be the worst with it's crazy item economies.

 

[Boy Wander]

Look at the profits of big publishers and this stupid "need microtransactions to maintain profitability" line of reasoning is exposed for what it is. Unadulterated bollocks.

 

[TheChungusAmongUs]

Isn't this week old news?

 

[definedMF]

Yong has lost so much respect grom me, he's doing the good old riled up and fed up gamer YouTuber shtick. It's insane how far his content has dtopodr in quality.

 

[Inuhanyou]

I completely disagree on this one. Ubisoft is giving us a 100+ hour game and he's complaining about not having access to a single option for free?

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It must be nice when you can completely intentionally misinterpret what someone is saying.

People are so quick to outrage about outrage culture they don't stop to understand the basic point: that predatory practices are not natural and do not contribute at all to the success of the product. and the money is invested not back into game development, but into the very top.

The backlash to consumer advocacy from...what i can only assume are corporate apologists have no leg to stand on.

 

[Paul]

$60 games should not contain microtransactions. If they do, they deserve criticism.

 

[Asriel]

You cannot simply ignore how game development costs are increasing

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Have you been to Resetera recently? That's all they're willing to do. And no, micros transactions as whole are not predatory.

 

[molnizzle]

Microtransactions as a whole, especially those in singleplayer only titles and those that use virtual currency, are manipulative, exploitative, and predatory. Ubisoft is one of the worst offenders up there with EA and Activision.

Also anyone who posts that shill "gamersriseup" meme is just trolling and shitposting with the only intention to derail and delegitimize consumer advocacy and downplay corporate malfeasance.

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No lies detected.

Fuck Ubisoft.

 

[Danthrax]

They do not need micro transactions and lootboxes to stay profitable. See: EA telling investors that profits will be just fine after Disney forced them to remove lootboxes from Battlefront 2

Watch a Jim Sterling video once in a while, OP

 

[Izzard]

Microtransactions as a whole, especially those in singleplayer only titles and those that use virtual currency, are manipulative, exploitative, and predatory. Ubisoft is one of the worst offenders up there with EA and Activision.


Also anyone who posts that shill "gamersriseup" meme is just trolling and shitposting with the only intention to derail and delegitimize consumer advocacy and downplay corporate malfeasance.

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Micro transactions where you know what you're buying are fine.

 

[Inuhanyou]

Micro transactions where you know what you're buying are fine.

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Too bad loot boxes are becoming normalized to the point where people are now defending them, because of stockholm syndrome?

 

[Lant_War]

Yong is on CleanPrince levels of trash content at this point.

 

[Niceguydan8]

Look at the profits of big publishers and this stupid "need microtransactions to maintain profitability" line of reasoning is exposed for what it is. Unadulterated bollocks.

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I have seen this sentiment a lot but i haven't seen many examples of the line of reasoning that you are talking about.

 

[Deleted member 2172]

"Points finger at gamers" lmfao am I reading the dailymail all of a sudden?

 

[Voodoopeople]

$60 games should not contain microtransactions. If they do, they deserve criticism.

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That's because most AAA should be $80 games by now.

 

[ezekial45]

What a shocker, this dude didn't learn anything from that chat he had with Schreier.

 

[A Syrian Communist]

AC Odyssey can still be a great game in spite of the publisher sanctioned in-game monetization. The actual artists can have still done an incredible job in spite of the mechanics the money people told them to put in the game. Conflating those two things is what makes people get defensive about their favorite games and it's honestly frustrating when the "controversy" is focused on a single isolated issue.

Gambling mechanics are inherently predatory and no matter how ignorable they are for you there's still going to be the people who are more affected by their presence. For what it's worth I personally really enjoyed Origins when I played it earlier this year until I felt I hit a wall in the story that could only be passed by doing side quests I didn't want to do or spend money. Enthusiasm for the game dropped and I never finished it. Didn't buy Odyssey because I've heard it has a similar setup. If lootboxes and other microtransactions really weren't a problem there wouldn't be such a heated debate about them in the first place.

 

[Inuhanyou]

"Points finger at gamers" lmfao am I reading the dailymail all of a sudden?

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Did you watch the video before kneejerking at the title?

He is talking about the fact that ubisoft are now actively promoting the lie that predatory practices just stop once people stop buying them. Or that as a society we should simply wait for everyone to en masse stop buying products before corporations stop being greedy assholes

 

[Derrick01]

Can we stop pretending MTX are in games because of development costs? Everyone's making record profits this generation. They're doing it because it's exploitative on a psychological level and it's proven to work.

 

[Puffy]

And some resetera users wanted them to have the star wars license. Lmao

 

[Izzard]

Too bad loot boxes are becoming normalized to the point where people are now defending them, because of stockholm syndrome?

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I wouldn't know about lootboxes. I don't agree with them due to not knowing what's in them.

 

[Deleted member 135]

Micro transactions where you know what you're buying are fine.

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If they sold them directly on the platform store for a set amount of real dollars there would be more legitimacy to the point. As it stands, items being sold through a virtual currency, it is predatory. The currencies themselves are always sold at odd integers (1100 for $10) and item prices are always also at odd integers so you always have either just not enough or always have a little left over so you either need to buy more than you need (which then leaves you with leftover) or the leftover sits there wasting your money and manipulating you at a subconscious level to buy more to spend your virtual currency.

 

[TheChungusAmongUs]

AC Odyssey can still be a great game in spite of the publisher sanctioned in-game monetization. The actual artists can have still done an incredible job in spite of the mechanics the money people told them to put in the game. Conflating those two things is what makes people get defensive about their favorite games and it's honestly frustrating when the "controversy" is focused on a single isolated issue.

Gambling mechanics are inherently predatory and no matter how ignorable they are for you there's still going to be the people who are more affected by their presence. For what it's worth I personally really enjoyed Origins when I played it earlier this year until I felt I hit a wall in the story that could only be passed by doing side quests I didn't want to do or spend money. Enthusiasm for the game dropped and I never finished it. Didn't buy Odyssey because I've heard it has a similar setup. If lootboxes and other microtransactions really weren't a problem there wouldn't be such a heated debate about them in the first place.

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Odyssey has no loot boxes.

 

[hydrophilic attack]

Microtransactions as a whole, especially those in singleplayer only titles and those that use virtual currency, are manipulative, exploitative, and predatory. Ubisoft is one of the worst offenders up there with EA and Activision.


Also anyone who posts that shill "gamersriseup" meme is just trolling and shitposting with the only intention to derail and delegitimize consumer advocacy and downplay corporate malfeasance.

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yeah it's always nice to see people conflating criticism of microtransactions with gamergate, thereby strengthening gamergate types by making them look like they are the only ones caring about business practices

case in point:

Gamers weren't just killed, THEY WERE MURDERED

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[chaobreaker]

So much for Jason Schreier trying to reach across the aisle with this dude. Still peddling the same "They insulted gamers! GAMERS!" bullshit for clicks.

 

[Nooblet]

Without microtransactions Siege would've died instead of being the phenomenon it is right now. Without microtransactions AC Origins game sized DLC would've cost twice as much rather than costing $10 and $20 respectively. Ubi is one of the best implementer of mtx in the industry with how unobtrusive their mtx is. He'll in Odyssey the mtx is hidden away underneath 2 layers of menus and you can go by whole game without ever seeing as much as an ad.

You cannot sustain cheap/free post release development simply through "crazy profit margins". That's just bollocks.

 

[Dr. Mario]

The real questions he should be considering is if he's dissatisfied with the content that you get for US$60.

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Well yes, why else would you buy an XP booster?

Does the XP booster somehow break the game if it's not there? Or is it something you don't even notice if no one tells you the option is there?

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If nobody would notice it, they should not include it.

He also fails to address how removing the additional paid content/options would affect the game itself. Developers invest millions on games like this because they expect to make a profit, not just from the US$60 entry cost, but from the additional content that is purchased by several gamers. What he's practically saying is that he wants for the game budget to be lowered, so the developer can reduce the risk of only selling a US$60 game with no additional options for sale.

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Strawman, he doesn't say anything about expansion packs.

That inevitably means a shorter or less polished game. You cannot simply ignore how game development costs are increasing, while at the same time the standard US$60 dollar price remains the same.

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The market size also increased.

So choose your poison, either we get a simpler game that generates profit at US$60

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Okay deal.

Whew, solved.

 

[Deleted member 1726]

Due to the cost of these points packs they really need to stop calling them microtransactions. Because they aren't.

That's because most AAA should be $80 games by now.

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Most AAA games are $90/$100+ for the complete game.

 

[Stealth X Hawk]

This shit again? Games cost money to make. Extra content costs money. And some people would rather pay to get through a game faster. Maybe they don't have time to spend hours grinding

 

[Deleted member 42686]

Microtransactions as a whole, especially those in singleplayer only titles and those that use virtual currency, are manipulative, exploitative, and predatory. Ubisoft is one of the worst offenders up there with EA and Activision.


Also anyone who posts that shill "gamersriseup" meme is just trolling and shitposting with the only intention to derail and delegitimize consumer advocacy and downplay corporate malfeasance.

Click to shrink...

Couldn't agree more. To think now the blame its for the ones who buy games.

Too bad loot boxes are becoming normalized to the point where people are now defending them, because of stockholm syndrome?

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True, unfortunatelly it's not exclusive to loot boxes. Criticism is also the target of those people who tend to generalize and call everyone angry old gamers.

 

[MetalBoi]

Looks like I'll be getting AC O and all future Ubisoft games used from now on.

 

[A Syrian Communist]

Odyssey has no loot boxes.

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Does it not use the same system as Origins? I know it has the XP boosters and assumed the previous system was carried over. Either way my bad on the misunderstanding

 

[Asriel]

Can we stop pretending MTX are in games because of development costs? Everyone's making record profits this generation. They're doing it because it's exploitative on a psychological level and it's proven to work.

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Nope. Not a blanket statement at all.

 

[deathkiller]

Micro transactions where you know what you're buying are fine.

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If it is gameplay related it might not be obvious unless you know a lot about the game.

 

[jem]

That sounded like a pretty reasonable response from Ubisoft to be honest.

Gave up on the video when his response was "Oh fucking hell where do I begin". Standard over the top outrage.

 

[Kiekura]

So OP didn't even watch that video. How about next time you make thread, you watch the video.

There is like 30 sec talk about exp booster and rest is about loot boxes in trials and generally in gaming industry. He has a good point there.

If you wanna see good microtransactions, watch Warframe

 

[Dr. Mario]

This shit again? Games cost money to make. Extra content costs money. And some people would rather pay to get through a game faster. Maybe they don't have time to spend hours grinding

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Nobody *wants* to pay for less content. What bullshit is this.

 

[-Amon-]

Always remember that Ubisoft Ea etc etc are always watching ahead.

Their best interest is to make the players believe that micro transactions, loot boxes, gambling with real money in games is perfectly normal.

And it will be in the near future.

 

[Inuhanyou]

This shit again? Games cost money to make.

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You can make money without predatory practices that prey on whales, a minority of the userbase, and actively ruin the balance of the game for everyone else by jumping through hoops.

I feel like this excuse can be used in any industry to justify the most heinous shit, and its very disgusting to see it here.

You are not a corporation's friend, you don't need to pretend to vouch for their health, especially when what we're talking about how nothing to do with the health of said publisher. It is what they want you to think to protect their bottom line. You have no obligation to protect an excessive capitalist structure

 

[Procheno]

Too bad loot boxes are becoming normalized to the point where people are now defending them, because of stockholm syndrome?

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Loot boxes, microtransactions, day one DLC.

All normalized because gamers are frogs in hot water and have the attention span of gold fish

 

[Stardestroyer]

Look at the profits of big publishers and this stupid "need microtransactions to maintain profitability" line of reasoning is exposed for what it is. Unadulterated bollocks.

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At no point did any for profit company pretend to be against profit.

Profitability isn't the only thing companies need, they need growth in profits . That's how and partially why stock values go up.

So no, it really isn't exposed. Companies on the stock market exist for continued growth forever.

 

[CrazyHal]

Can we stop pretending MTX are in games because of development costs? Everyone's making record profits this generation. They're doing it because it's exploitative on a psychological level and it's proven to work.

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Exactly. It's true that development cost is higher then ever in the AAA space but AAA games also make more money then ever before. Absurd amounts of money and that's without counting the mtx side of things.

 

[MetalBoi]

Microtransactions as a whole, especially those in singleplayer only titles and those that use virtual currency, are manipulative, exploitative, and predatory. Ubisoft is one of the worst offenders up there with EA and Activision.


Also anyone who posts that shill "gamersriseup" meme is just trolling and shitposting with the only intention to derail and delegitimize consumer advocacy and downplay corporate malfeasance.

Click to shrink...

Straight truth. Couldn't agree more.

 

[Derrick01]

Nope. Not a blanket statement at all.

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The big 3 console makers, EA, Ubi, and Activision/Blizz are all making record profits this gen. I'm not as sure about Take Two but I assume between the NBA 2k games and RDR 2 and GTA V/Online they're doing a-ok too.

 

[Deleted member 2172]

Did you watch the video before kneejerking at the title?

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I watched this video before I entered this thread. I found the title funny then and I still do now, what, am I not allowed to comment on the title of a video?

I have 0 problems with Ubisofts mtx model. Are people here expecting R6: Siege to be constantly updated for years, for free? People see the words 'microtransactions' and 'ubisoft' and their immediate response is 'fuck ubisoft'.

There's a knee-jerk reaction for you.

He is talking about the fact that ubisoft are now actively promoting the lie that predatory practices just stop once people stop buying them. Or that as a society we should simply wait for everyone to en masse stop buying products before corporations stop being greedy assholes

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I think there is a line you should not cross as a corporation when it comes to microtransactions, but I do not believe Ubisoft is crossing that line. Unlike EA with their SWBF2 situation.