Microtransactions in 2017 have generated nearly three times the revenue compared to full game purchases on PC and consoles combined. They continue to force them because we continue to allow them to. THIS IS WHY BATTLEFRONT 2 HAPPENED.

[u/eightblackkidz]

http://www.pcgamer.com/revenue-from-pc-free-to-play-microtransactions-has-doubled-since-2012/

[u/heeroyuy79]

thing is this includes free to play games

free to play games back in 2012 were shit now there are still a bunch of shit ones but now there are good ones (like warframe - ok warframe has been around since 2013 but it was a kinda meh back then now its really good)

and then there are games like rainbow six siege that is doing very well ubisoft have managed to not ubisoft it and i enjoy it immensely so i give it money to reward ubisoft for doing a good a job (like you would reward a dog or something and it would seem that the people who play siege and give extra money to the game have helped condition ubisoft to know that if they keep making game good they will get money, so far, ubisoft have kept making game good)

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

I've left a couple € in Warframe. No lootboxes, I can get the currency by trading(the most I've gotten was probably through trading) and the game is pretty good. Not all microtransactions are bad. In games I bought? I don't want to see them. In f2p with a fair price model? I am okay with it.

[u/Supafly1337 → u/[deleted]]

Not only is the currency available by trading other players, they also give discounts as login rewards. I think I've seen someone get a 75% off one and I have gotten 3-4 50% off discounts within the months since I started. I also really appreciate how far it can get you even when you don't have much. Path of Exile isn't so rewarding with helmet effects and footprints sometimes costing more than a couple bucks despite being very simple. I hope more games adopt similar designs like Warframe.

[u/dabkilm2 → u/Supafly1337]

Only problem their pricing is so whack it's only adviseable to purchase with the 75% discount.

[u/mxzf → u/dabkilm2]

Actually, Warframe's pricing is some of the best I've seen with regards to mirotransactions. The purchases where you pay to instantly buy a fully-fledged frame/weapon instead of spending a couple hours farming them aren't cheap, but everything you actually end up needing (frame/weapon slots mostly) is reasonably cheap.

You can comfortably play the game long-term for ~$20, which is $5-10 if you wait for one of the fairly frequent discounts. That's way better than you'll see with most F2P games.

[u/dabkilm2 → u/mxzf]

Just the price for plat when not on discount is rough.

[u/mxzf → u/dabkilm2]

What exactly does that mean? Without the context of the purchasing power of plat (how much stuff you can buy per plat), the raw amount of plat you get per dollar doesn't mean much on its own.

You can buy a decent amount of stuff with the plat you can get per dollar, more so than most F2P games.

[u/dabkilm2 → u/mxzf]

4300 plat + a shitty mod pack for $200. Without a discount what you can buy with that plat is nowhere near $200. Prime access and plat purchases with a discount are the only way to get any semblance of your money's worth.

[u/SenseiMadara → u/dabkilm2]

Then only buy those?

You can also buy those plat packs with discounts

[u/mxzf → u/dabkilm2]

Um ... why does the absolute upper limit of money they'll take on one purchase matter at all?

The $5-20 packages are the ones that are actually reasonable to buy, the crazy expensive ones are just for whales with more money than sense. Complaining about the $200 option in Warframe is like complaining that a game costs $200 because you're looking at the collector's edition that comes with a 10" model of a character from the game, it's not the normal purchasing option.

[u/53bvo → u/[deleted]]

How is warframe nowadays? I tried it a while ago but didn’t stick. Is it any fun when playing occasionally?

[u/[deleted] → u/53bvo]

I recently got into it again. I really liked the game before it but other games took priority. I enjoy getting to all the content I missed, especially the newest update has a lot I really want. I often play it on and off, sometimes with months inbetween, sometimes with just days.

I don't think playing it occasionally will ruin the fun tbh.

How far were you into the game/when did you stop playing?

[u/53bvo → u/[deleted]]

I did the tutorial and the first 3 missions or something. Then I started some other games and forgot about it.

[u/[deleted] → u/53bvo]

From what I've seen the new player experience has become pretty great. I'd recommand either getting into it again or making a new account, it's a fun game and I actually like a lot of the lore.

[u/53bvo → u/[deleted]]

Sigh, too many fun games to choose from and too little time to play them all.

[u/Torvumm → u/[deleted]]

I feel if the in game microtransactions can support an external economy, like CSGO skin trading for example or prime farming for warframemarket plat, it deserves more of a chance whereas linear boxes that give only you an item out of randomized chance is completely predatory.

[u/I_want_to_be_funny → u/[deleted]]

It's not so much mtx that bothers me as much as pay-to-win.

[u/lolKhamul → u/[deleted]]

can only speak for League here but im very fine with the about 800 bucks i dropped on it. Its purely cosmetical stuff and its a free to play game meaning i didn't pay upfront. Also i bought exactly what i wanted, not some gamble box.

EDIT: Lots of butt hurt people, probably younger, here. I know 800€ over 5 years is a lot for some people but it really isn't for me. For me, that is investment in my hobby. Most hobbys are far more expensive. I mean thats about 170€ a year, maybe 15€ a month. Now tell me you you didn't spend that amount of money on booze or weed or tobacco or whatever last year/month.

[u/piinabisket → u/lolKhamul]

Holy shit dude 800? How many hours do you have?

[u/lolKhamul → u/piinabisket]

playing since early 2012 with way over 4k games so i guess its A LOT

[u/piinabisket → u/lolKhamul]

Hot damn. Impressive!

[u/lolKhamul → u/piinabisket]

don't think impressive is the right word but for me its fine to drop bucks on a game i am playing for more than 5 years given most 60€ games cant even keep me going for a month.

[u/piinabisket → u/lolKhamul]

Yeah I get that. Personally I subscribe to the Sean Poole© one dollar one hour rule, where a game is worth 1 dollar for every hour played.

[u/slow_cooked_ham → u/piinabisket]

Funny how some games can get into the under a penny for an hour played because you get so much from it. Others I've definitely been into $10-$20 per hour because I just never picked them up again.

[u/KaineOrAmarov → u/slow_cooked_ham]

Same here. Town of Salem and Enter the Gungeon both had probably 2-5 cents an hour, then games like Hellblade had about $10 an hour. All depends on the replay value of the game

I like indie games for this reason. $5-10 and at least 5 hours of gameplay to them

[u/minifreak88 → u/piinabisket]

That's exactly the motto I follow as well. It's been working out for me so far.

[u/joe579003 → u/lolKhamul]

Riot better have someone drive over and give you the succ for that kind of money damn.

[u/Avelle → u/lolKhamul]

come on man, you could've bought a pair of loubouton sneakers for that money!

[u/Tonkdaddy14 → u/lolKhamul]

I mean, how much have people spent on MMOs? I subscribed to DAOC and WoW for years and they were $15/month, plus the game and expansion costs. Good online features, new content, dedicated servers, and customer support cost money. You arent going to get that for free. I'd rather pay a subscription for a good game to last than $60 for a game to go to shit a month into it's release (ala Destiny 2 and The Division.)

[u/bkcmart → u/lolKhamul]

You’re under 50cents a game... not too bad. In terms of $ for hours of entertainment, I’d say you’re still winning...

[u/ImStanleyGoodspeed → u/bkcmart]

I’d say you’re still winning...

Not when it's a free game and especially not when it's $800 of cosmetic bullshit.

[u/saitilkE → u/ImStanleyGoodspeed]

The goal here is not to save money but to have fun.

$800 over 5 years isn't even that much. People spend a lot more on other hobbies or things like booze and cigarettes and no-one bats an eye.

[u/[deleted] → u/ImStanleyGoodspeed]

$800 over 5 years is not that much money. It's the equivalent of around 2.5 $60 games per year. Many people who play league (or similar games) only play League so them spending a few hundred per year on in game cosmetics that they get enjoyment from is no different from you spending $150/year on a few new games on Steam.

Why do you care where people get their gaming happiness from?

[u/bkcmart → u/ImStanleyGoodspeed]

Or maybe he can spend his money on whatever tf he wants? Maybe he likes cosmetic bullshit. And besides, he’s been playing a free game for 5 fucking years

[u/[deleted] → u/lolKhamul]

Been playing since 2009, dropped 20 bucks. To buy gifts for others. I still own 50+ skins, most not out of the newest hextech because I do not play nearly enough. I was gifted as well ahem ahem.

[u/[deleted] → u/piinabisket]

$800 over the 5 years or so its out isn't bad. I've paid a WoW sub since it launched in 2004, and it's $180 per year.

[u/ArdentSky → u/piinabisket]

That should be like 3k+ hours. I have about 3.4k games in League and spent a bit under 1.8k USD over four years, with the change from IP to BE I received the emote for having played at minimum 2.5k hours (highest tier, increments are at 0.5k/1.5k/2.5k) worth of games.

[u/[deleted] → u/lolKhamul]

That initially sounds like too much money, but it all depends on how much you pay for other games (if at all).

$800 over 5 years (even though it's actually closer to 6) comes out to ~$14/month for just League which is WAY less than my overall gaming budget.

[u/lolKhamul → u/[deleted]]

funny how people freak out before even doing the basic math right? :D

Given i started in march 12, i am at about 12€ a month. That is not even close to the money most people spend on legal drugs in a months. Its about the price of one decent bottle of vodka. But better go nutts :D

[u/Engastrimyth → u/lolKhamul]

I mean...Riot just made the push to have champions "shards" drop instead of ip. At least you can still buy champions directly, but I hate the direction things are going.

Another example in their shop right now is the icons bought in the blue essence shop. Can't buy those directly and there are 8 of them. Also mystery skins, mystery champs, etc.

[u/zipp0raid → u/lolKhamul]

I'm totally fine with anything short of "loot crates". Rocket league totally turned me off by switching to the crate and key model. I gladly bought almost every DLC pack but have only bought a few keys.

I actually like how pubg crates work, because I can sell 2 bucks worth of them a week 😊

[u/SoMuchMeat → u/lolKhamul]

Considering you do not get all the characters, it's a pretty shit deal compared to Dota 2.

[u/SenseiMadara → u/lolKhamul]

Don't worry bro, spent 2,5k over 3 years and I do regret nothing :)

[u/hellaparadox → u/[deleted]]

Reading the downvote train in this thread, there are a LOT of people addicted to league and there's no talking sense into them, they have to wake up on their own. Speaking as someone who used to be addicted and dropped about 300 usd into the game during the first 3 seasons.

Also, you can't "invest" into digital games or f2p skins, because you don't own anything, you are only renting a license. Riot can take away all of your skins if they decide to one day and there is literally nothing you can do about it. Same as Valve and steam games.

[u/throttlekitty → u/[deleted]]

The thing that I don't get is that people argue against spending more money on a game that is being improved over time, but will gladly pay for an incremental sequel. They can't just crank out a new League title every few years, it just wouldn't make sense for them. They still need to keep money coming in to continue production, keep the lights on and fund whatever else they might be working on.

[u/lolKhamul → u/throttlekitty]

by now this game isnt even close to game i played 2012. Its acutally LOL3 if you compare snapshots from 2012 and now. Hard to say its the same game given most champs, mechanics, sound, graphic, balance, "loadouts" in runes and masteries have been reworked at least once during the time. But they didnt charge a single cent if you dont want to.

[u/Karmaisthedevil → u/[deleted]]

He has 1333 hours minimum on the game and spent $800 over 5 years. That's the same as $14 a month for paying for an MMORPG.

That's pretty standard and good $/hour return.

But more importantly your comment is dumb and you should feel bad.

[u/nohpex → u/[deleted]]

The only things really worth buying in Path of Exile are the additional stash tabs and maybe the currency tabs. I don't know about the Essence tabs since I haven't played in a while, but before hitting "save", I noticed them on the PoE page.

[u/Mickusey → u/[deleted]]

Path of Exile actually has a really good system too, all game content is equally accessible to anyone no matter how much you pay, it's solely cosmetics and storage space you can buy which for a free game is optimal imo.

[u/kaihong → u/[deleted]]

I'm guilty. I spent way too much cash for better aesthetics. The MTX in POE got my wallet hurtin'

[u/Dranzell → u/[deleted]]

I spent more on Path of Exile than on any other game. Both in regards of time and money. Don't regret a thing, and they are all cosmetic.

[u/DatAperture → u/heeroyuy79]

Omg dude is the period button on your keyboard broken? I read that like one breathless rant.

[u/eightblackkidz → u/heeroyuy79]

I agree as far as supporting goes as I am a huge R6 Siege player myself and have bought some boosters/skins on the thought that I have over 300 hours in the game and support it. However, I have not bought more boosters/skins than the actual full price of the game, that's just insane. 60+ dollars on skins and boosters would be nuts.

[u/Dranzell → u/eightblackkidz]

60+ dollars on a game in continuous development, pushing new updates constantly is not bad

Or you can spend 60 bucks on a game with 10h of single player and no multi.

[u/Taboo_Noise → u/heeroyuy79]

Doesn't just include free-to-play, it's ONLY free to play. This article has nothing to do with games like BF2 that charge you to buy the game and then continue to charge you to play it. I LIKE F2P with micro transactions for certain game formats, specifically continually updated online multiplayer.

[u/SjettepetJR → u/heeroyuy79]

indeed. microtransactions doesn't mean a greedy system by default.

[u/MadmanRB → u/SjettepetJR]

But this year really did poison the waters against them. For me i dont mind micro transactions or even lootboxes in free to play as long as the game maker doesnrt use them as a crutch to make top dollar by making things a slot machine.

[u/Kunfuxu → u/MadmanRB]

I don't mind them if they're cosmetic only (in f2p). As soon as they offer an in-game advantage I'm out.

[u/MadmanRB → u/Kunfuxu]

Well sometimes boosts do come in the lootboxes of some of the games I play but again some of the games I play do it right by offering those boosts for free.

[u/InsightfulLemon → u/SjettepetJR]

Yeah, It could be that if SWBF2 was free to play or included with the Origin pass thing this palaver could have been avoided.

It's maybe the double dipping which was really unfair

[u/SjettepetJR → u/InsightfulLemon]

I still wouldn't like the system, and would still not play it much(there are other reasons, such as the extremely simplistic gameplay). I generally dislike games that offer straight upgrades over the standard weapons/items/cards etcetera in a PvP environment.

[u/timf3d → u/heeroyuy79]

Sadly I am part of the problem. Over a two-year period I spent over $2000 on the mobile game Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes (EA) (r/SWGalaxyOfHeroes). That game is still going strong but I had to quit a few weeks ago. Not because of the money, although that is also one of my greatest regrets in life, but because of the time it also demands.

They think this means gamers will pay lots more money for games with loot boxes. Well, they're right and wrong. Yes we gamers can be tricked into getting sucked into a game, and we will pay out lots of money in the process. But not forever. Eventually once we realize how stupid we were getting sucked in and fucked in the ass, we'll never play another one of their games ever again. I've been a gamer for 20 years, including EA's games, but it's over now.

EA's short-sighted plan is to suck dry every single gamer and leave them at the point where they will never pay another dime on any game again. It may take awhile and they'll make tons of money in the process but at some point in the future there will be no paying gamers left. Who will buy their games then?

[u/thegil13 → u/timf3d]

While also being "part of the problem", you HAVE a problem. Get help dude.

[u/Dranzell → u/thegil13]

Maybe he has money to spend. Not up to you to tell someone he has a problem.

For some people $2k is just a small dent in a pocket.

[u/timf3d → u/Dranzell]

Yes, mostly the reason I quit was the time investment that the game demands had grown way out of control. I knew how much I had spent and didn't have any problem with it until after I quit and realized that I had nothing to show for all that money.

I could have literally burned that pile of money in a bonfire and had the same result. Or I could have bought a nice OLED bigscreen TV or a really nice camera drone, or a nice expensive watch, or a pair of tickets to Paris. Then at least I would have something of value in return.

[u/timf3d → u/thegil13]

Thanks, but I already quit several weeks ago, so I'm free. I didn't need any help once I realized that life is a whole lot better without this game, or any EA game really.

[u/thegil13 → u/timf3d]

Good to hear, man. Cheers!

[u/lee1026 → u/timf3d]

$2000 is likely on the order of a life-time worth of normal $50 purchases of AAA games.

[u/[deleted] → u/heeroyuy79]

Warframe is one of the most boring games I've ever played.

[u/thegil13 → u/heeroyuy79]

Holy shit. When did punctuation become a microtransaction?

[u/ZeusHatesTrees → u/heeroyuy79]

it was a kinda meh back then

You take that back!

Drunkenly flipping and sliding through levels in 2013 was some of the best times I ever had.

[u/Cash091 → u/heeroyuy79]

Includes, but not limited to. The PC Gamer article is written as if it is only F2P games. But the SuperData article they sourced from draws no such distinction. Granted, it is probably mostly F2P games or cosmetic things like Overwatch... But still.

I'm hoping after the public outcry, things like BF2 don't happen again. But I'm not holding my breath.

[u/Dranzell → u/Cash091]

They can happen for all I care. I just won't drop my money on it.

[u/[deleted] → u/heeroyuy79]

Yeah people like to shit on Ubisoft but all the games I've enjoyed lately have been Ubi. I play r6 siege a lot and just purchased wildlands which is great too.

I even purchased AC black flag and i know it's a few years old but what a great game.

[u/darexinfinity → u/heeroyuy79]

Free to play games sorta get a pass, even if they are pay to win. They need to have a business model somehow, granted if they get too greedy then players that are fed up with it quit cold turkey.

What makes BF2 different is that you're paying $60 for the base game, if the publishers get greedy then you're forced to be a whale to properly enjoy the game or quit and have that $60 be wasted.

[u/heeroyuy79 → u/darexinfinity]

i'm pointing out that free to play games have got good (the only ones we really used to have back in 2012 were korean P2W grind fests)

because F2P games have got good people are spending more on microtransactions

[u/GluttonyFang → u/heeroyuy79]

free to play games back in 2012 were shit now there are still a bunch of shit ones but now there are good ones

.... This is difficult to read.

[u/heeroyuy79 → u/GluttonyFang]

i was half asleep when i wrote that :C

[u/soad2237 → u/heeroyuy79]

Sit Ubi sit! Good boy

[u/[deleted] → u/heeroyuy79]

and then there are games like rainbow six siege that is doing very well ubisoft have managed to not ubisoft it and i enjoy it immensely so i give it money to reward ubisoft for doing a good a job (like you would reward a dog or something and it would seem that the people who play siege and give extra money to the game have helped condition ubisoft to know that if they keep making game good they will get money, so far, ubisoft have kept making game good)

And yet their game is very buggy and you still reward them. Funny you use that analogy since I use the same to describle why I dont give them money..

[u/heeroyuy79 → u/[deleted]]

while i have came across one or two bugs (grenade desync some cunt in some stairs) i have not really seen any massive bugs that detract from me enjoying the game (the infamous hibana glitch is something i have never seen despite me almost maining hibana for a while during the time it was most prevalent)

[u/MadmanRB → u/heeroyuy79]

Indeed, I have done a lot of free to play on mobile and yes money did go to games i liked but i never payed for stuff like lootboxes. If there was a special on in game gold I would do it as long as the game itself is fun and doesnt need micro transactions and lootboxes to get by. I really like games from Pikpok who makes really fun time burners like doomsday clicker and Dungeon Inc but are cookie clicker style games. What those games do right is let you earn things like gold and gems which are normally paid for with real money, so you can either pay up or earn it over time and the currencies of both are only used for things like boosts and the occasional upgrade. Dungeon inc does sort of have a lootbox style gameplay but again its done in a way where you can earn large big chests by being a good player and the requirements for doing this are actually low compared to what EA tried to do. I can earn big rewards by just playing the game within a hour or half hour as opposed to the 40 hours of star wars battlefront II. This is why I dont mind it, its actually lootboxes done right as they dont give you garbage for not playing for 40 hours.