The More You Buy, the More You Enjoy, as Ubisoft Claims That Microtransactions Allow Players to Have More Fun

[Peter_Brosdahl]

Ubisoft has made some seemingly contradictory claims regarding what makes a game fun, in its latest earnings report.

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[Brian_B]

Well, for whales, I don't think they are wrong.

It's just that's a small subset of players who outlay a disproportionate amount of the cash. But yeah, they enjoy being at the top of the game moreso than actually playing the game.

 

[Grimlakin]

Whales are idiots... and I mean that sincerely. they don't bother to investigate alternate paths to awesome.

For ALL of the recent Assassins Creed games of late they have offered microtransactions for gear/faster advancement. I've personal got a lifetime sub to CheatHappens. Short of cosmetics... I don't feel a need to spend a dime on my single player games. And largely cosmetics don't matter. It's like a bypass for game effecting microtransactions. Sure I'll buy content. But no need to worry about anything that makes the game faster or easier. Fire up the cheat client and I'm good.

And honestly for a 50 year old gamer like me... it's nice to be able to play a game and not just have mounting frustration because I get murdered by X. Or run into roadblock Y. I can relax and play the game. I still try to play the game 'correctly' and work on my in game skills, dodging and blocking and whatever shooting or other gameplay experience is there. I don't walk through the fire like I know I'm untouchable. And largely once you hit max level and gear... and unlock all of the games special skills there is no reason to have the cheats running. Normally at that stage you're already effectively cheating just by existing. Power fantasy delivered.

 

[Peter_Brosdahl]

Yep, I'm a member of CH as well and agree on all fronts. What blows my mind is that I've encountered folk who speak about what they can't afford in real life but then turn around and tell me about the $2K+ spent over a 3-6 months on microtransactions whether its on PC/console or mobile storefronts. I admit I question my own sanity for my hardware but its at least something I own and is tangible but its unfathomable for me spend that kind of money on virtual add-ons. Pretty sure my annual gaming spend rarely exceeds $200 either so it even more mind boggling to me. I don't know, to each their own.

 

[Brian_B]

There was a point when I was neck deep in MMOs that I would be running 2, 3, or 4 subscription accounts simultaneously (for the same game), at like $15 a pop. And wouldn’t blink an eye at that.

I still contend, in my younger days, all my money I spent on MMOs was much less than had I spent even a fraction of that time hanging out in the local bar - which was a very likely alternative.

Today I see a new release at $60 and I don’t think “I used to throw that out every month” - instead, I think “meh, it’ll be on sale in a year, I can wait for the GOTY edition”

Im probably along with Peter, I might spend $200/year on game software - almost all of that “on sale”. I spend a lot more time on throw away junk F2P titles than anything else any more - they aren’t all that fun, but they are easy distractions that I can jump into and out of and not feel bad about it when I just drop them completely or don’t have time to dedicate to them.

My main hobbies have kinda shifted - PCs were awesome in the golden days where you upgraded ever year. And I was more into building them out than anything. But that’s kinda went away unless you are willing to mortgage your home to fund your build any more, and the software to run on them is … not really that spectacular leap like it used to be

 

[Ditchinit]

There was a point when I was neck deep in MMOs that I would be running 2, 3, or 4 subscription accounts simultaneously (for the same game), at like $15 a pop. And wouldn’t blink an eye at that.

Same but slightly more limited. I had two accounts in DAOC ... gotta have a buff-bot for farming and running the frontiers. Rather than go the subscription route, I purchased two lifetimes for LOTRO ... still worth a dip in the pool now and then and easily got sufficient value out of them.

Most of my game software purchases these are always on the cheap ... heavily discounted or throw-away indies that started at low cost. I still have an incredibly deep backlog of games to play (and in some cases, replay), so I don't feel compelled to purchase the latest FOMO-marketed pile of overly expensive AAA tripe. If it's a good game today, it'll be a good game in 5 years ... maybe ... most likely. And if it isn't, then I didn't need it anyway.

 

[DrezKill]

What blows my mind is that I've encountered folk who speak about what they can't afford in real life but then turn around and tell me about the $2K+ spent over a 3-6 months on microtransactions whether its on PC/console or mobile storefronts.

Yeah man!!!

but its at least something I own and is tangible but its unfathomable for me spend that kind of money on virtual add-ons

My friend's grown-@ss step-kids grew up like this somehow. They have no problem doing that, and I can't fathom how it's possible, or why. I start bleeding from the nose as my brain kills itself trying to process the insanity.