Do you remember the day when you finished the game and somehow got more points than any points system marked with Trophyes or Achievements?
At that time, you need to pay the full price for the game, you must be proficient in the game, and you will be rewarded for mastering new weapons, character skins or some other new toys.
Over the years, this progress has become increasingly rare. First, publishers tried to find a way to prevent second-hand game purchases through Project $ 10 and online passes. That turned into pre-order bonuses and micro-transactions, and now Battle Pass is all the rage.
As loot bins and microtransactions become dirty words, a new challenger appears in the battle for player wallets: content as a subscription service. You can get drip in-game items by investing £ 50 in the game and then paying another £ 8 to £ 15 per month.
The worst thing? We should applaud.
Recently, Doom Eternal director Hugo Martin announced that the upcoming id Software shooter will not have micro-transactions or digital stores. The gaming site then reported this across the Internet, praising the move, even if the game has a Battle Pass.
Fortnite's popular Battle Pass is not a microtransaction. This is an expensive seasonal subscription that gives you access to stickers, emoticons and skins in the game. None of this gives you any benefit online-just optional additional features locked behind paid columns.
They were originally thought of as a way to raise money for bonus pools in esports games such as Dota 2, but since then they have transformed into what we see today-another way for publishers to squeeze money out of games method. This is a new trend and cannot be eliminated soon.
First, it is nearsighted. Just like everyone on TV is competing with Netflix for control of a subscription model, this model has encroached on video games for some time. You need to pay to play online on every platform you own-whether it's Xbox, PlayStation or even Nintendo, then if you want to access game libraries from different publishers, you can use Game Pass, EA Access, Apple Arcade and Uplay + . Square Enix is also considering one.
Most importantly, we want to pay a monthly fee-the battle pass-to enjoy new content for every game we have. Before stacking up, we can only stack many banknotes.
Fortnite managed to make a lot of money from its battle pass because there were many children there. Kids don't like to be left behind and not getting new Fortnite skin is like an uneven day swinging to school in a Kappa pullover. If you don't have the latest designer skins, your peers will laugh at you mercilessly.
As an adult with a living and actual bill, I know nothing about cosmetics. I would love Doom Eternal because it's a great shooter, I don't care if WeedLord420 has a cool helmet, and I'm swinging the default Doomslayer skin. I just run into a problem, just like the lack of traditional microtransactions is a good thing-especially when it is more sinister to replace it.
Why is it more sinister? Because it allows you to invest more time into the game. That's it. You bought a battle pass and then unlocked some initial items, but then you have to work hard to get the rest. And you have to do this before the end of the season, otherwise you will lose things that have not been unlocked.
You have to work hard to force yourself to play. I don't know you, but I like to switch between different games, sometimes I don't have the mood to play at all. After purchasing a combat pass, you may waste this money if you do not play the game. You are the hostage of your own entertainment. Is this better than buying a hat for £ 2? Why does it become more acceptable?
I know that increasing development costs make A-A games a risky prospect, but there must be a better way to raise more money. I think microtransactions are morally more reasonable, and even increasing the basic cost of the game would be better. After all, these rolling content subscriptions may make more money for the game, but they also increase development time, consume resources, and make developers spend more after release when developing digital helmets and animated silly dances.
None of this is fanaticism for id Software or Doom Eternal-I'm more excited about that game than any other game released from now to the end of March-and, of course, Texan developers are not alone in jumping into the Battle Bus trend . But we need to call it as it is: battle passes are micro-transactions on steroids. This is a new bad trend with a gloomy background. In today's world, the fact that video game addiction can negatively affect people's lives, players have become hostages of their own entertainment. We should not applaud.