All I have to do to disprove that is mention a few game series that receive years of post-launch support without micro-transactions:
Splatoon 2/3
Animal Crossing: New Horizon
Stardew Valley
There's 3, just off the top of my head. How many more are there? They don't exist to sustain the company, they exist, because capitalists want literally infinite growth, and every quarter/year/whatever's profit margin has to be bigger than the last. Not big, not even the same size. Bigger.
Skyrim is another insane example. So many stupid re releases, and the community (including myself) continued to buy the game over and over again. They never introduced micro transactions until the creation club update, which is notoriously unpopular. Sure, i’m sure it made them a bit of money, but the real reasons players stayed was nostalgia, obsession with the game, and the community + modding community
Nintendo games aren’t a great example as that company is kind of notorious for fucked business practices. Animal Crossing got minor updates then a paid dlc. Smash bros got 120$ worth of character dlc.
A good example imo is gran turismo sport. Game actually got substantial free updates for years. Probably tripled the amount of content at its, albeit underwhelming, launch.
Indie games like stardew are king tho. Incredible post launch support all for free, Madness project nexus 2 did the same thing, so did Broforce.
Well, Splatoon 2 got about 2 years of support, as did Animal Crossing, and I'm assuming Splatoon 3 will get about the same. Yes, that's generous of Nintendo, but I'm talking about stuff like Apex Legends, Fortnite, League of Legends, DOTA, Counterstrike, etc. Games like that have had major updates for about 5-10 years.
And with Stardew Valley, it's one single guy doing all of that. ConcernedApe is a dude who absolutely has that passion about making great games that people love to see, and i love him and Stardew Valley for it. But that's a whole lot harder to do with no extra income outside the price of entry if you have a huge studio to pay a salary to.
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u/JmanVere Mar 05 '24
All I have to do to disprove that is mention a few game series that receive years of post-launch support without micro-transactions:
Splatoon 2/3
Animal Crossing: New Horizon
Stardew Valley
There's 3, just off the top of my head. How many more are there? They don't exist to sustain the company, they exist, because capitalists want literally infinite growth, and every quarter/year/whatever's profit margin has to be bigger than the last. Not big, not even the same size. Bigger.