I'm curious - why the hate for cashcards?

[ChillerVapes]

 

 

 

Rockstar have never needed cash cards for any of these games even though add ons could be purchased right from gta 1 (gta London which needed the original disc in order to work)

 

GTA IV had an online version which never used cash cards and had purchasable DLC.

 

Can I just point out that in the other GTA online modes money wasn't as big as it is in GTAO. Basically your point is invalid...

I'm just going to leave this here-

 

 

 

 

For me, it's because I have been a fan of Grand Theft Auto since the start. I have always owned the pc version of every single one right up to IV which I bought on both PS3 and PC. I have even purchased gta vice city and San andreas for android.

 

Rockstar have never needed cash cards for any of these games even though add ons could be purchased right from gta 1 (gta London which needed the original disc in order to work)

 

GTA IV had an online version which never used cash cards and had purchasable DLC.

Rockstar didn't need cash cards in the other games because there was no need for in game money.

Exactly and they never went bankrupt... They still managed to come out with some of the best games time after time (ok they had a few flops) but they still gained revenue and made a profit with every single game they ever made.

 

To back up my statement,

Take twos closing share price on the 15th of April 1997 was $5.88, January of this year it was around $17.50 and as of the 8th of April 2014 it closed at $21.17.

[tjor24]

I'll say this. I'm glad they aren't extremely cheap otherwise the spending would be even more out of control. I'm glad that the purchase of them gives R* motivation to keep online going and adding dlc. However, they still create imbalance. Based on that principle alone, I'm not a fan of them but I do understand their purpose. I just hope they don't add RP cards or drastically drop the prices.

[lalilulelo]

 

i love how everything bad is always the fault of the cash cards. you go cashcards, you go!

 

 

also I bought a few of them, don't know why the cards are so hated.

Off-Topic: Do you frequent Jalopnik by any chance?

I don't even know what Jalopnik is ;_;

[JohnGazman]

Well said I agree. I can afford shark cards but I shouldn't be forced to buy them. While they dont exactly shove them down our throats they are suggested. I mean why do I have to buu a car multiple times for different body styles. The stinger fro example has a convertible hard top and soft top hard top version. Its random what yoi get and when I am paying 500k for a car I should get the one I want

 

That's not an issue because of cash cards. It's an issue because of R*'s stupidity.

 

I'm fairly sure that at some point, it'll be patched so that you can either choose the convertible version when purchasing, or choose to remove the softtop option at LSC.

 

The greedy suits and their stock holders are not happy with major profits, they want more and more and more and more.

 

 

I am reliably informed by these fine gentlemen that more is never enough.

 

Besides, are you saying that if you ran R* or held shares, you'd be a at a point where you were saying "That's enough profit for me, I don't want any more."

Edited April 10, 2014 by JohnGazman

[Puchicas]

May all who hate cash cards be treated similarly if they should ever see fit to try and earn a profit off their own creation in a free market of a free world, where people are free to set their own prices and choose whether to pay them.

[Euphorica]

 

Besides, are you saying that if you ran R* or held shares, you'd be a at a point where you were saying "That's enough profit for me, I don't want any more."

 

I have enough already and right now I'm unemployed. I don't need more money and I definitely do not want it either.

The only reason I would go out an make more money than I need to get by would be to help others who have nothing at all.

[BigBiff]

 

 

Besides, are you saying that if you ran R* or held shares, you'd be a at a point where you were saying "That's enough profit for me, I don't want any more."

 

I have enough already and right now I'm unemployed. I don't need more money and I definitely do not want it either.

The only reason I would go out an make more money than I need to get by would be to help others who have nothing at all.

 

You also do not have shareholders that you are legally obligated to make money for or at least act in a manner that you believe is most beneficial to them.

 

They're a publicly traded company, you are not.

Edited April 10, 2014 by BigBiff

[Euphorica]

You also do not have shareholders that you are legally obligated to make money for or at least act in a manner that you believe is most beneficial to them.

 

 

They're a publicly traded company, you are not.

 

 

Really, you don't say? What are you 10?

Anyone with basic reading and comprehension skills would have caught that I answered his question from a personal standpoint and not as if I had shareholders or owned a publicly traded company.

 

Besides, both of you missed the point of my initial post. Something which seems to be a common phenomena on these boards.

I don't care about the moral or ethics of cash cards or companies and their greedy businessmen. But some of you pinheads seem to believe that cash cards are there because some people do not have the time to play as much as others. Further more the same people believe that it would be the same game without cash cards & micro transactions.

[Zwenkwiel]

 

 

Besides, are you saying that if you ran R* or held shares, you'd be a at a point where you were saying "That's enough profit for me, I don't want any more."

 

 

YES, without a doubt yes!

R* used to actually be like a R* not giving a f*ck about what people thought about them or their games.

ofcourse they're in this buisiness to make money, but that doesn't mean you have to place profits over the actual product.

they should go for making the best game possible instead of focusing on all these commercial schemes to maximize profits

cuz if you make a solid product, the profits will follow naturally and more importantly, you've got a long term relationship with your customers

they've proven this time and time again with other games

 

a DLC about bikers? bikers aren't cool like gangster rappers

it's gonna cost how much? 30 bucks for a dlc, that's crazy!

haha, funny joke, what's next a DLC about a gay club owner? what seriously, you're gonna call it WHAT?

R* did it anyway

a free roam game about cowboys? who still likes cowboys? people want space marines and sh*t!

R* did it anyway

an old school beat-em up with guys in leather vests and face paint and sh*t, who'd play that?

R* did it anyway

 

the point is pretty much any success R* has had in the past has depended on their creativity and guts to be unconventional, their ability to say f*ck the suits and f*ck the focus groups, we're making the game we think is best!

with this new business model these values seem to be thrown out the window somewhat

i for one hope it remains an isolated incident and they don't turn into an EA or something

Edited April 10, 2014 by Zwenkwiel

[BigBiff]

Then you didn't answer his question. You put a personal touch into it that was not necessary and provided no value to the conversation.

 

 

In the end I agree that cash cards or not, this is the game we would've had either way. And I'm not going to hold it against people who's job it is to make money going out and making money, especially when its 100% optional purchases.

 

 

 

Besides, are you saying that if you ran R* or held shares, you'd be a at a point where you were saying "That's enough profit for me, I don't want any more."

 

 

YES, without a doubt yes!

 

 

No, you would not. Stock holders are in it to stay flat, it's about growth and gain. If you're a stock holder for any other reason, you're doing it wrong.

 

You are asking take two/rockstar to act unlike any other public company in the world.

[JohnGazman]

 

 

Besides, are you saying that if you ran R* or held shares, you'd be a at a point where you were saying "That's enough profit for me, I don't want any more."

 

I have enough already and right now I'm unemployed. I don't need more money and I definitely do not want it either.

 

 

 

 

 

Besides, are you saying that if you ran R* or held shares, you'd be a at a point where you were saying "That's enough profit for me, I don't want any more."

 

 

YES, without a doubt yes!

 

Uh-huh, sure.

Edited April 10, 2014 by JohnGazman

[SmokeDat]

 

You also do not have shareholders that you are legally obligated to make money for or at least act in a manner that you believe is most beneficial to them.

 

 

They're a publicly traded company, you are not.

 

Really, you don't say? What are you 10?

Anyone with basic reading and comprehension skills would have caught that I answered his question from a personal standpoint and not as if I had shareholders or owned a publicly traded company.

 

Besides, both of you missed the point of my initial post. Something which seems to be a common phenomena on these boards.

I don't care about the moral or ethics of cash cards or companies and their greedy businessmen. But some of you pinheads seem to believe that cash cards are there because some people do not have the time to play as much as others. Further more the same people believe that it would be the same game without cash cards & micro transactions.

Once you gain some real life knowledge you will think different. It's plenty obvious you don't know much about what it takes to make it in the real world today (your comment about having enough real money is indicative of a true 10 yr old.) It takes more money than you can even imagine for a big business to keep its sh*t in line.

 

There is absolutely nothing that cash cards get you or anyone else, that you can't get by just playing the game.

[Zwenkwiel]

Then you didn't answer his question. You put a personal touch into it that was not necessary and provided no value to the conversation.

 

 

In the end I agree that cash cards or not, this is the game we would've had either way. And I'm not going to hold it against people who's job it is to make money going out and making money, especially when its 100% optional purchases.

 

 

 

Besides, are you saying that if you ran R* or held shares, you'd be a at a point where you were saying "That's enough profit for me, I don't want any more."

 

 

YES, without a doubt yes!

 

 

No, you would not. Stock holders are in it to stay flat, it's about growth and gain. If you're a stock holder for any other reason, you're doing it wrong.

 

You are asking take two/rockstar to act unlike any other public company in the world.

 

first of all, don't be so presumptuous as to know my motivations (or any1's for that matter) unlike you might believe there are some people who will support something without the need for financial gain, If I buy stocks in anything it's because I believe it's a good idea worthy of my support.

 

also I'm not asking them to be unlike any other company in the world.

I'm asking them to be themselves.

 

your whole premise is deeply flawed

basically what you're saying is this

R* is a publicly traded company, publicly traded companies want to make profits

cash cards make profits, therefor cash cards can not possibly be a bad thing

 

let's disregard the fact that this only interesting to R*, take2 and it's shareholders and has literally no benefits for us gamers whatsoever

the problem with your reasoning is that you ignore all possible alternatives, including the ones proven successful by R* themselves in the past.

 

 

 

 

 

Besides, are you saying that if you ran R* or held shares, you'd be a at a point where you were saying "That's enough profit for me, I don't want any more."

 

I have enough already and right now I'm unemployed. I don't need more money and I definitely do not want it either.

 

 

 

 

 

Besides, are you saying that if you ran R* or held shares, you'd be a at a point where you were saying "That's enough profit for me, I don't want any more."

 

 

YES, without a doubt yes!

 

Uh-huh, sure.

 

 

it's hard to understand for a lot of people, but I don't believe in money

you're all brought up to value it a lot, but to me it's worth no more than the paper it's printed on.

any money I do have is for practical purposes only, if it were up to me I wouldn't have any money at all.

[Euphorica]

Once you gain some real life knowledge you will think different. It's plenty obvious you don't know much about what it takes to make it in the real world today (your comment about having enough real money is indicative of a true 10 yr old.) It takes more money than you can even imagine for a big business to keep its sh*t in line.

 

There is absolutely nothing that cash cards get you or anyone else, that you can't get by just playing the game.

 

 

You are assuming that you and I share the same goals and values in life. I bet you that my definition of "making it" is a hell of lot different from yours, or Marys or Bob's definition.

If by making it you mean work hard and at the end of it make a huge profit then I have already made it once. And let me tell you something. All that so called success, media attention and money, did nothing for me.

Well I could enjoy and own a luxurious car and eat at fancy restaurants. Oh and suddenly I was surrounded by "friends", imagine that. But I was still stuck with the same feeling I had at the start of that journey, and that forever changed my definition of "making it".

 

You might be different of course and that's fine. Once you make it to wherever it is you think you want to go then you'll know.

[Euphorica]

Cash cards - Good for business, bad for gamers.

Because what we will end up with eventually are games developed more in the interest of business than the interest of gamers.

 

Of course there has to be and always have been a business aspect but the scale is tilting more and more over to that side.

[BigBiff]

 

Then you didn't answer his question. You put a personal touch into it that was not necessary and provided no value to the conversation.

 

 

In the end I agree that cash cards or not, this is the game we would've had either way. And I'm not going to hold it against people who's job it is to make money going out and making money, especially when its 100% optional purchases.

 

 

 

Besides, are you saying that if you ran R* or held shares, you'd be a at a point where you were saying "That's enough profit for me, I don't want any more."

 

 

YES, without a doubt yes!

 

 

No, you would not. Stock holders are in it to stay flat, it's about growth and gain. If you're a stock holder for any other reason, you're doing it wrong.

 

You are asking take two/rockstar to act unlike any other public company in the world.

 

first of all, don't be so presumptuous as to know my motivations (or any1's for that matter) unlike you might believe there are some people who will support something without the need for financial gain, If I buy stocks in anything it's because I believe it's a good idea worthy of my support.

 

also I'm not asking them to be unlike any other company in the world.

I'm asking them to be themselves.

 

your whole premise is deeply flawed

basically what you're saying is this

R* is a publicly traded company, publicly traded companies want to make profits

cash cards make profits, therefor cash cards can not possibly be a bad thing

 

let's disregard the fact that this only interesting to R*, take2 and it's shareholders and has literally no benefits for us gamers whatsoever

the problem with your reasoning is that you ignore all possible alternatives, including the ones proven successful by R* themselves in the past.

 

What presumptuous? A corporation with stockholders has a legal obligation to act in the best interest of stockholders. They have no option but to try and make money. If you "be yourself" and it doesn't operate in the best interest of shareholders, the big wigs can kiss their jobs good bye.

 

A motivation for owning stock is to invest that and turn it into more money. If you weren't in it for that, then why would you risk anything and not just put it in a low interest account at a bank and have it be insured? Investing because you believe in an idea is hiding behind the fact that if the idea explodes, you're in at the ground floor. Bo. Ku. Bucks.

 

How do cashcards not benefit gamers? They don't benefit everyone, but some people need/want them, so they buy. Markets have changed since GTA4, gaming has changed since GTA4, to say they need to stick what worked, never grow, never try something knew is route 1 to downward trends in your company. A company should always be looking for revenue streams and cost saving measures that will not negatively effect the bottom line. Obviously selling 32.5M units plus another $66M in q1 cash cards, they're doing something right.

 

If you've never worked for a company that was private and went public (I've done it twice), you really have no idea on the differences between the two. It is such a corporate mentality shift that it almost knocks you off your feet at times. And when you have to report every expense and every revenue shortfall, "being yourself" isn't going to fly with any shareholder.

Edited April 10, 2014 by BigBiff

[Strikeslip]

If you bought $500 worth of Take-Two stock on the GTA-V release date, and sold it today, you'd have enough profit to buy a Megalodon Shark Card.

[BigBiff]

If you bought $500 worth of Take-Two stock on the GTA-V release date, and sold it today, you'd have enough profit to buy a Megalodon Shark Card.

Thats a 20% growth at least, which is pretty good.

[Strikeslip]

 

If you bought $500 worth of Take-Two stock on the GTA-V release date, and sold it today, you'd have enough profit to buy a Megalodon Shark Card.

Thats a 20% growth at least, which is pretty good.

 

20% in just under 7 months, I wish I'd bought some. Hindsight.

[hvcciookay]

Someone said it perfect before as i was skimming through. This game isn't made for the kids and so far i see alot of kids who hate the cash cards not understanding how businesses work.

[BigBiff]

Someone said it perfect before as i was skimming through. This game isn't made for the kids and so far i see alot of kids who hate the cash cards not understanding how businesses work.

Some adults don't get it either...actually MOST don't which is why businesses fail at the rate they do.

[Strikeslip]

I'm trying to decide whether or not to buy some Take-Two stock so I can push cash cards in these forums.

[hvcciookay]

I'm sure the stock will continue to rise as long as more free dlc releases that pushes the need to buy cash cards, but i wouldn't hold my breath since Heists are pretty close and the cash cards purchases should slow down. Unless Heists payouts really suck of course. At this stage it's pretty unpredictable.

[Zwenkwiel]

 

 

Then you didn't answer his question. You put a personal touch into it that was not necessary and provided no value to the conversation.

 

 

In the end I agree that cash cards or not, this is the game we would've had either way. And I'm not going to hold it against people who's job it is to make money going out and making money, especially when its 100% optional purchases.

 

 

 

Besides, are you saying that if you ran R* or held shares, you'd be a at a point where you were saying "That's enough profit for me, I don't want any more."

 

 

YES, without a doubt yes!

 

 

No, you would not. Stock holders are in it to stay flat, it's about growth and gain. If you're a stock holder for any other reason, you're doing it wrong.

 

You are asking take two/rockstar to act unlike any other public company in the world.

 

first of all, don't be so presumptuous as to know my motivations (or any1's for that matter) unlike you might believe there are some people who will support something without the need for financial gain, If I buy stocks in anything it's because I believe it's a good idea worthy of my support.

 

also I'm not asking them to be unlike any other company in the world.

I'm asking them to be themselves.

 

your whole premise is deeply flawed

basically what you're saying is this

R* is a publicly traded company, publicly traded companies want to make profits

cash cards make profits, therefor cash cards can not possibly be a bad thing

 

let's disregard the fact that this only interesting to R*, take2 and it's shareholders and has literally no benefits for us gamers whatsoever

the problem with your reasoning is that you ignore all possible alternatives, including the ones proven successful by R* themselves in the past.

 

What presumptuous? A corporation with stockholders has a legal obligation to act in the best interest of stockholders. They have no option but to try and make money. If you "be yourself" and it doesn't operate in the best interest of shareholders, the big wigs can kiss their jobs good bye.

 

A motivation for owning stock is to invest that and turn it into more money. If you weren't in it for that, then why would you risk anything and not just put it in a low interest account at a bank and have it be insured? Investing because you believe in an idea is hiding behind the fact that if the idea explodes, you're in at the ground floor. Bo. Ku. Bucks.

 

How do cashcards not benefit gamers? They don't benefit everyone, but some people need/want them, so they buy. Markets have changed since GTA4, gaming has changed since GTA4, to say they need to stick what worked, never grow, never try something knew is route 1 to downward trends in your company. A company should always be looking for revenue streams and cost saving measures that will not negatively effect the bottom line. Obviously selling 32.5M units plus another $66M in q1 cash cards, they're doing something right.

 

If you've never worked for a company that was private and went public (I've done it twice), you really have no idea on the differences between the two. It is such a corporate mentality shift that it almost knocks you off your feet at times. And when you have to report every expense and every revenue shortfall, "being yourself" isn't going to fly with any shareholder.

 

 

your arguments (if I could call them that) are all over the place

presumptuous as to knowing MY MOTIVATIONS!

as an example, I wouldn't put it in a low interest bank account because I don't want money and don't care much for banks (greedy f*ckers robbed us all and we actually paid them for it afterwards)

 

you can drum up all the bullsh*t you learned in business school a million times over it's not going to make it any more relevant.

let me sum it up for you f*ck MONEY, f*ck R* f*ck TAKE2 and most of all f*ck ALL SHAREHOLDERS OR ANY OTHER SUIT WEARING MOTHERf*ckER, the title of this thread is, "i'm curious, why the hate for cashcards" not "how do big businesses operate and why should I give a f*ck"

 

so I did exactly that, I explained, from a personal perspective (since the OP is interested in knowing why some of US (not R*, take 2 or any of their shareholders) hate cashcards)

 

also what does being a publicly traded company have to do with anything? as far as I know nothing much has changed in this regard since gta 4 ( or even gta 3) and there were definitely no micro transactions in gta 4.

 

so your argument of, publicly traded company= only interested in profits (which isn't true, lot of businesses have other goals) and therefor micro transactions exist in this game makes no sense whatsoever

 

there's plenty of publicly traded companies who don't use microtransactions and make huge profits, in fact R* used to be one of them

which was my point all along, but you're just blindly going on and on about the very basics of economics which really don't have anything to do with anything.

[BigBiff]

You lost me at f*ck money. You're so f*cking hipster, you're anti-lifeblood of the world.

 

Nothing's changed since GTA4? Were there apartments to buy, cars to store, upgrade and keep for good? Helicopters to buy, planes to buy, A MASSIVE ONLINE GAME THAT CHANGED IMMENSELY!!!!

 

Get a f*cking clue. Public companies have to make money, or need a valid reason why they're not. Going hipster saying "Its not us" is not a valid excuse. Unless you have the means to divest from the ownership and buy your stock back (like Chipotle), then you have a complete and full obligation to your shareholders first and foremost, not the customer. You said that they need to go back to how they used to be. Newsflash, no company with a direction sits on their laurels. Get bigger, get better, get richer, thats America in a f*cking nutshell. I'm not sure what hippy commune you live in, but you've lost the plot while staying there. Sure, they made money, but big business isn't about just getting there, it's about staying there and getting more and more. Those small companies that strive to stay small, good for them, but when sh*t hits the fan they'll end up being another piece of a big companies pie when they get swallowed up.

 

Im not going on blindly, I just think your train of thought is jump the shark hipster, and Im sure as hell not going to listen to a guy that said "f*ck money" for my advice on the business world. Your personal perspective is completely f*cked and incredibly shortsighted, thats what Im saying

[Euphorica]

The business perspective is pretty easy for anyone to understand. Nobody is disputing what a business is or what the main purpose of a business is.

But personally I'm not here to discuss business practices. I'm here to discuss how the GAME is affected by a business strategy such as micro transactions and also what kind of impact it has on us gamers.

.

It's fair to say that if you add something like cash cards to a game something else has to be sacrificed. In the same way if you add anything to the mix something else has to give. There has to be a trade-off. That's how it works.

And in this case we don't know for sure what the trade-off is. Functionality, stability, design, content, story or a combination of these things or something completely different. We just don't know.

What we do know however is that it affects the game and so it affects our experience of it, and not all of it in a good way. Although it's not the end of the world it might still be a reason for concern or not depending on what you want to experience in a game now and in the future.

[BigBiff]

You hit the nail on the head....we don't know the trade off, but people are assuming like mad and it's annoying because it's assumption after assumption on this site 3-4 times a day.

 

I have no idea what cashcards have done to this game to make it a more negative experience. There's nothing in this game that you can't play the game for 30-45 mins a day for a few weeks and not have.

[Giantsgiants]

I'm going to say it's because that many people expect to be able to buy the best cars and weapons from the get-go for free. Thus they're often used to relying on glitches for their money. When R* patches these glitches, their primary source of money is gone, and they don't know any other way to make money.

 

I'm also going to have to agree with those saying that the cash cards are there to help the development of GTA Online. Yes, R* made a killing from the initial sales of GTA V, but if it wants to keep adding new things to GTA Online, it needs a way to keep the money coming in. Developing DLC isn't cheap, and eventually, the initial revenue will be depleted.

 

Got only an hour of gaming? That's $240,000 via Rooftop Rumble farming. Quite a nice sum of money for relatively little time if you ask me.

Edited April 10, 2014 by Giantsgiants

[SaturdayNight]

That thread that came out lamenting Strauss Zelnick's appreciation of GTA online as "The gift that keeps on giving" Pissed me off so bad and killed my soul a little. Whether we are for them or not, they are prevalent in GTA online. Personally I hate the idea due to more and more people giving into this idea that the more money we spend the more content we will get.. Well so far we have given over a billion for the initial release of the game and over 60 million in cash cards.. Yet it only costed a total of 265 million to make the game.. Thats a pretty big margin if you ask me which makes this game incredibly successful.. With the amount of content we have so far, cash cards were really not necessary. But since they are in the game I would have expected much more content than what we have already been exposed to since the release BACK IN OCTOBER.

 

If they do not release anymore content to compensate for the large amount of money we have spent then we will be the ones on the losing end. however we do continue to be "the gift that keeps on giving" through the purchase of ridiculously calculated shark card prices. Because of these prices, we are fed the illusion that having bought the most expensive card gives the most money, when in reality its just for items we could have accumulated normally if we weren't so lazy. Think about it, even if you spent 2 hours a day playing, one hour making money, one hour messing around you could still have over a million a week. Also, since the only items worth spending large amount of money on have been here since day one (Tank, Buzzard, Frogger, Entity, Adder etc) there virtually is less value than if it was new and exciting content...

 

So far we have had:

 

Beach bum

Christmas

Valnetine's

Business

 

None of these have been even close to having an excuse to have such high priced cash cards..

 

now I do understand that it is geared towards those who started late and want a quick way to get content without spending tons of hours getting the money.. Of course they still have to gain a rank for some of this stuff. But what about those who don't want cash cards? What about those who just want to spend money on DLC content? Those who want larger vehicle packs, jetpacks, flamethrowers, nukes, military outfits, Movie themed weapons and outfits etc?

 

Why is this game leaning towards those who only want to spend money on stuff that is already in the game past the 65 dollar margin?? Cash is King? Are you serious? They really are putting an emphasis on this. Silly is he who thought otherwise like myself.

 

 

In conclusion, we still have time to see a big improvement in the expansion of GTA online. I will not spend any more money on this game until something worth it releases.. Yes I would pay $20 for the hydra, hunter and new gear pack.. More you say? f*ck you.