Take-Two plans to only release games with 'recurrent consumer spending' hooks

[Nihilist.]

Let's face it - Take 2 is a corporation, and like any corporation, it cares only about profits, so no one should be surprised they try to milk whatever they can out of anything they own. And you know who's to blame for the current state of industry and direction it took? People who fall for it andkeep buying Shark Cards, or any other virtual faux-currency. It's conformists who allow that to happen, and they should be perceived as accomplices of this entire mess.

 

Remember when Microsoft introduced monthly payments during Xbox 360 days, for example? People agreed to that, conformed, and now, few years later, PCs are the only platform allowing us to play online for free - the rest pays to play like obedient sheep, without saying a word, bending over to Sony, Microsoft or Nintendo. Now there's the new threat - microtransactions, and my gut tells me history will make a full circle once more.

[Big Molio]

Let's face it - Take 2 is a corporation, and like any corporation, it cares only about profits, so no one should be surprised they try to milk whatever they can out of anything they own. And you know who's to blame for the current state of industry and direction it took? People who fall for it andkeep buying Shark Cards, or any other virtual faux-currency. It's conformists who allow that to happen, and they should be perceived as accomplices of this entire mess.

 

Remember when Microsoft introduced monthly payments during Xbox 360 days, for example? People agreed to that, conformed, and now, few years later, PCs are the only platform allowing us to play online for free - the rest pays to play like obedient sheep, without saying a word, bending over to Sony, Microsoft or Nintendo. Now there's the new threat - microtransactions, and my gut tells me history will make a full circle once more.

 

Yeah well, if only we could all be so edgy and non-conformist. Stick it to the man, and ignore that element of human nature that makes us simply consumers of the things we want, or need. I'd love to know what you last spent money on. Perhaps the supplier of it is sneering at you the same way.

Edited November 9, 2017 by Big Molio

[TyrionV]

They can only push it so far. If people know they will have to spend real money to continue playing then the sales of the game in the first place will plummet.

 

Also gives another developer the opportunity to rise to the challenge of producing an epic game that you don’t have to pay to play.

[RedDagger]

Why are so many people surprised that a corporation is trying to maximize profits? A lot of y'all act like you were born yesterday and this is a foreign concept to you when it's been happening since the invention of currency.

We're not surprised that a corporation is maximising profits, we're annoyed that the creative liberty of the studio is getting gimped just to satisfy the money makers, like how people get annoyed at music labels for gutting an artist's freedom - it's an age old problem.

[.Diana McFarland.]

 

Why are so many people surprised that a corporation is trying to maximize profits? A lot of y'all act like you were born yesterday and this is a foreign concept to you when it's been happening since the invention of currency.

We're not surprised that a corporation is maximising profits, we're annoyed that the creative liberty of the studio is getting gimped just to satisfy the money makers, like how people get annoyed at music labels for gutting an artist's freedom - it's an age old problem.

 

 

it won't go away.

 

Game devs just need to stop going to publishing companies to release their games.

 

but that won't happen because it's easier said than done.

 

oh well.

 

it's not like it ruins the game or anything.

Edited November 9, 2017 by .Diana McFarland.

[Cheesy_wotsit]

All i have to say about this is

 

[Lonely-Martin]

 

 

it won't go away.

 

Game devs just need to stop going to publishing companies to release their games.

 

but that won't happen because it's easier said than done.

 

oh well.

 

it's not like it ruins the game or anything.

 

 

For this one, maybe...

 

But in future, there simply might not be much 'game' to ruin.

[highspeed]

I understand that a business is indeed that, a business. Gotta make money wherever you can.

 

But this is going too f*cking far for me. I don't know about a lot of you, yeah I work but I also study and struggle to make ends meet somedays. My income is constantly up and down. I can't afford to shell out extra money in a game, so I'm stuck constantly grinding somedays rather than enjoying the game.

 

If it comes to this, I might give up gaming. Yeah sure, they'll make money. Keep on going like this, and they might lose a big fanbase and more. Whats more important, money or the fans who have the money?

 

This sh*t is getting out of hand!

[Shaundi.]

 

AAA/Triple A no longer means good enjoyable game. It's now a warning that the game is not good and is factually a money maker for faceless investors.

[HamwithCheese]

Like, they've made billions of dollars off the game alone, at some point you have to make those customers as happy as possible. Business is a two way street.

[Rabid Vulpix]

I don't mind the micro-transaction method that R* has implemented.

It's not literally pay to play or even pay to win, for example rank required to unlock alot of things still.

 

However what truly insults me & what I find offensive to the gaming community, is R* has made so much money of the game + shark cards......yet they won't upgrade to dedicated servers. Now if in the next game they upgrade to such, which I see no reason why they should not, I'll find the micro-transaction/shark card deals more tolerable. After all, by all technicality we are getting new vehicles, weapons, clothing, game modes, etc for FREE. Yeah alot of it is high priced, however long term players shouldn't have an issue getting the money they need. In the end basically I'm saying if they are going to further continue down this route of money making, at least they need to update their sh*t, dedicated servers for the next game.

[Input]

I'm a share holder. A few months back they were about to end GTA V support/updates entirely, but because of the resurgence in in-game sales they decided to to continue adding content to it since its a cash cow.

 

And within the past couple days they've stated that incorporate in game "buyables" in all their games which unfortunately means Red Dead too.

[Giantsgiants]

The thing is, expansion packs are older than you think. I remember playing Rollercoaster Tycoon back in the day and yeah, that game had expansion packs. Zoo Tycoon had Marine Mania and Dinosaur Digs (which I practically begged my parents to get).

 

The difference between then and now? Back then, not buying an expansion pack or a DLC wouldn't make you feel like you got gimped of content. I didn't buy any of the expansion packs for Rollercoaster Tycoon and still felt like I got a complete game. Nowadays, DLC consists of content that should have been in the original game. Thus, gamers will feel like they bought an incomplete base game. For example, if the original Zoo Tycoon was just released now, you bet your ass that zoo staples like lions and elephants would be locked behind "paid DLC".

 

And of course, there's microtransactions. I feel this is even worse than shady DLC practices. You're spending money on something that isn't really content at all. You end up spending the price of an expansion pack (or more) on meaningless virtual currency.

 

I like to say that GTA Online's DLC is "allegedly free". Theoretically, you can get that $GTA 3.5 million ($50) supercar without spending a single cent. But unless you've got a lot of time on your hands, it's going to take you a damn long time. I'll go on to say that the rising prices actually make me harken back to the days when I played Urban Rivals. When I first started, you could get a decent deck for a cheap amount of in-game currency. But as years passed, rampant inflation occurred, and now many of the good characters are priced well beyond what one can make in-game in a reasonable amount of time without paying real money.

 

This picture perfectly sums up gaming business practices these days:

 

And...it's only a matter of time before SCS Software starts hopping on the bandwagon. Monkey see, monkey do.

Edited November 10, 2017 by Giantsgiants

[Cheesy_wotsit]

 

The thing is, expansion packs are older than you think. I remember playing Rollercoaster Tycoon back in the day and yeah, that game had expansion packs. Zoo Tycoon had Marine Mania and Dinosaur Digs (which I practically begged my parents to get).

 

The difference between then and now? Back then, not buying an expansion pack or a DLC wouldn't make you feel like you got gimped of content. I didn't buy any of the expansion packs for Rollercoaster Tycoon and still felt like I got a complete game.

 

That's the issue with DLC today and expansion packs of yesteryear. The game back then was completed and released as a total and complete stand alone package and the expansion pack felt excatly like that, an expansion to what the game already gave you. Today DLC is pre planned before the game even goes gold with the content for many DLCs being part of the original games core design which is then picked out to a degree that doesn't render the game unplayable but certainly give you the impression that the game is missing something. In it's defence GTA O has never felt like that, the game itself does not feel like the content was meant to be there and then picked out to be repackaged and sold to us at a later date. Many factors make this clear.

 

1). The DLC released way back when was pretty cheap

2). The ability to earn in game money was pretty easy certainly not the boring grind fest that it is now

3). The content that we get as 'DLC' is so unbalanced, and so mis miacthed with what the core game was and is so buggy to the extent that it actually breaks previous functional features (the oppressor making the longest jump freeroam event worthless for example) shows that this content has been developed after the fact.

 

Of course just because Rcokstar didn;t partake in one sh*tty business practice certainly hasn't stopped them from trying other sh*tty business practices and given that 2017 is now the year of the lootbox (and yes Rcokstar have tried their hand at lootboxes the research in the G/R DLC used a very similar pay to gain access to a random reward mechanic) I am willing to bet real money that GTAO will have something close to a proper lootbox mechanic in it by the end of this year.

[0cta]

On other news, EA might turn their sports games from yearly releases to "Live-Service Games" with updates, patches, maybe paid DLCs or monthly fees. Although it's not very specific regarding schedule or prices, it seems that they're thinking about it.

 

What a time to be alive.

Edited November 10, 2017 by 0cta

[Ash_735]

The problem is the majority is just for this, GTA Online has become THE best selling GTA in terms of cash generation. You all had a part in it by making this game super popular, convincing Take-2 that they can retain an audience with these tactics. And it's affecting other games too, as much as we dislike it, there's a majority audience who MUST like this and keep throwing money at these kind of things, sometimes the gaming majority is just one big f*cking contradiction of itself. For example, Sonic Forces just came out, it's a bad game but it's already on track to selling up to two or three times as many copies as Sonic Mania, a GOOD game released earlier this year.

[BS_BlackScout]

The dark age of gaming. It's seriously getting worse each day.

I've already made my decision. I will not buy any more games whose company / publisher involves Take-Two. This is unacceptable...
I know it's unfair to Rockstar. However, I just can't support Zelnick's evil plan :v. Anyway, this news pretty much confirms that Take-Two is in complete control of what happens there.

Reading this thread makes me realize even more how complicated this is. Gaming really turned into a way of printing money carelessly.
It's kinda funny... I thought the problem was me. That I was getting bored of gaming in general... Perhaps I was wrong and it's just the industry going down the toilet.

I mean, I know it's not every publisher/dev who's into this kind of shady business scheme... But AAA gaming... It's dead to me.

This is truly sad.

 

Why are so many people surprised that a corporation is trying to maximize profits? A lot of y'all act like you were born yesterday and this is a foreign concept to you when it's been happening since the invention of currency.

We're not surprised that a corporation is maximising profits, we're annoyed that the creative liberty of the studio is getting gimped just to satisfy the money makers, like how people get annoyed at music labels for gutting an artist's freedom - it's an age old problem.

 

Hehe, music labels is one great example... Money is a f*cking disgrace sometimes.

f*ckING ANJUNABEATS.

Edited November 10, 2017 by BlackScout

[MattyH1812]

I don’t know if it’s been mentioned yet, but I think Monolith/Warner Bros. got the balance of micro transactions vs. content exactly right. In Middle Earth: Shadow of War there are loot boxes sure, but at no point during the game did I ever feel that they were necessary, like I couldn’t get the same experience without them. I think that’s important, nothing was locked behind a paywall, they were simply there as a option to potentially speed up gameplay, but as I say, this never felt necessary. There was even a box that you could use IN GAME currency on, coins that you naturally accumulate during the game.

 

Most importantly, the existence of these micro transactions didn’t have a negative impact on the content of the game whatsoever. I’ve recently bought the expansion pass as well, I know that the story expansions are probably things that were held back from the main game to sell after release, but as far as I’m concerned, if the content is good, I’m more than willing to pay for it. I get content that I enjoy, the developer gets money to put into their next game.

 

What I’m saying is, if it’s done right, it can work to everyone’s benefit, so MAYBE, just maybe there is hope for RDR2.

[TovarishTony]

Microtransactions is one of the reasons why I buy and support Japanese games like the Yakuza games from Sega these days

[Rammer2k]

The problem I had with this business model by Take 2 is that they completely abandoned Story Mode, and the vast content they could have done with it. I'd gladly pay $15 - $20 for a good Single Player DLC like they did for GTA 4.

[fw3]

Turn on your television in the US these days.

CBS Television is now offering exclusive programming (ie. Star Trek Discovery) via their new CBS Premium "pay" channel. $5.99 per month.

FX TV, which is part of an already paid-for cable package, so they receive money from both cable companies in their contracts, as well as from the onslaught of advertising they bring in. Yet, not they are offering their own premium level channel, despite all. $5.99 per month.

AMC, home of The Walking Dead, launched their premium services, as well. $5.99 per month.

Amazon Prime, Netflix, Hulu, Crackle, and even YouTube Red are all grabbing at the opportunity to bring in cash via streaming services.

It's the great "unbundling" of the cable conglomerates, except instead of paying less, we'll end up paying more!

The same goes for video game developers. From GTA and Elder Scrolls, to even the apps we play on our phones... it's all becoming unbundled and they all want to go in favor of the quick cash and microtransactions.

It's getting a little out of hand, in my opinion.

[fatdog]

Their buisiness model sucks, I willingly spent money on PC upgrade and controller, to enjoy the game more, but haven't buy a single shark card.

[Shaundi.]

This picture perfectly sums up gaming business practices these days:

 

There are people that will defend this heavily, being the person I am, I'll name names.

 

ragedandcaged.

[Happy Hunter]

ragedandcaged.

 

He's been kinda quiet lately, it's weird. Did something happen to him?

[Iroquois]

You forgot to highlight the most important part: "One of the things we've learned is if we create a robust opportunity, and a robust world, in which people can play delightfully in a bigger and bigger way, that they will keep coming back. They will engage. And there is an opportunity to monetize that engagement," added Zelnick. "There's a lot of room for growth. This is just the beginning."

 

 

Translation: "All the consumers are brain-dead sheep. They never realized our secret plan. We found the most greedy evil way to make money even if it means sacrificing gameplay, quality, the honor-code, graphics, and fun.They are so goddamn stupid; we created a system where we hide behind lies regarding why SP isn't updated and/or finished and why we don't care to remove exploited players from the game. We even told them that on LG the 3 characters was too much of a strain and interiors held back content even though all interiors were fully rendered 100% of the time from the very start whilst being locked for no damn reason. With our current status, we will continue to release updates that we had already planned for the past 7 years but withheld just so we can make 1 gajillionfazillionbebillion dollars from all the shark cardy kids...Muahhhaha muahaha muahaha"

[RedDagger]

He's been kinda quiet lately, it's weird. Did something happen to him?

Probably just taking a break from the forums, though I think it's best we don't turn this into personal issues with other forum users

[HamwithCheese]

"Just for you; Buy your first white shark card or higher and get an extra 600k"

 

LOL f*ck off Strauss.

[Shadowfennekin]

All R* is doing is making me question buying a Bully or LA Noire sequel. I want SP DLC. Neither of those games had an online mode and they were f*cking perfect.

But if C* decides to be greedy and introduce one in a sequel... ugh.

 

 

Bully 2 and LA Noire Online would NOT last. Neither will Red Dead Online, what are you going to do? Buy every breed of horse in existence? Will they implement the Horsemen of Apocalypse and Unicorns?!

[elfoam]

In the end we (not me) but the people that bought shark cards ruined this game and the future of gaming is looking very grim. However this is all in flux and if our attitudes change so will the games. Everyone needs to make a statment buy no supporting any games that are 1: unfinished on launch and 2: don't go near anything that is built around microtransations, although it GTA's case they are hardly micro !.

 

ragedandcaged.

 

He's been kinda quiet lately, it's weird. Did something happen to him?

 

He doesn't defend the game anymore, he's realised what goes on but he chooses to enjoy the game anyway by blowing sh*t up in overpowered vehicles .

Edited November 10, 2017 by elfoam

[Gray-Hand]

A lot of people here are saying that they won't play any more T2 games that have an over abundance of microtransactions...

 

...on this forum of a game that they presumably play regularly that has apparently become the industry leader in monetising its product.

 

Interesting.