To EA, Battlefront 2 was the last straw. Some of us knew about the exploitation and predation. Thank you for generating enough outrage to spread awareness to the masses.

For several years reddit has known about the predatory and exploitive nature of microtransactions. We've even seen the deterioration of trust in regards to pre-orders. Once upon a time I had no problem preordering upcoming games because I had full faith that the developers were passionately trying to deliver an experience they would be proud of. Since then we've seen a systemic disregard for quality and excellence that has given way to a thinly veiled, mass marketing driven cash grab. At first we had sympathy for the developers, it was easy to blame the corporate suits for cutting budgets and releasing products on shortened deadlines. But, as with any power hungry or greedy entity willing to act without conscience, they grew endlessly bolder. Simply because we are individuals with no common banner we have allowed the feduciary contract to slip, and it has slipped, but never in our favor. There was a time when we could implicitly expect a game to be a complete self contained experience for a fair price. Over time, hope, anticipation, excitement and our own interest in gaining an advantage over our peers has fueled the erosion. Games slowly devolved from polished "Gold" disk, cartridge and CD releases to requiring day 1 patches (a safety net for a lack of testing provided by the internet). From day 1 patches eventually games were released missing actual content or functionality, when we balked, big developers jumped on the early access train - something that only independent developers actually need. But why get investment and take on responsibility when you can gamble with consumers money?

Content has also eroded. Gone are the days of a full, satisfying, complete game that wants for no further content. When DLC first hit the scene it allowed us to see over the horizon and further enjoy worlds we grew attached to. Developers poured all of their ideas into a game, and only once it was completed did they step back and think, wouldn't it be great if we could expand this area? Somewhere along the line DLC went from being a separate addendum to a completed work and instead split the first story into installments or separate pieces. Less for more. When we only reacted mildly, dlc turned into season passes, double the cost for your original game. Season passes weren't enough. Clearly we are leaving money on the table as some people are willing to spend thousands. Thus DLC gave way to microtransactions. The wonderful world of legalized, potentially underage, gambling and psychological exploitation of inherent human addictive behavior full stop. The microtransactions in Call of Duty struck me as absurd when they first came out. I hadn't been on the CS:GO skin train. The next step is to give actual in game advantage to whales and big spenders. If we let this continue we will indeed see a game before long that opens for preorders with bundles up to $500, is released as early access, has micro-transactions that lock all of the best features, gives advantage to those willing to pay and takes some as of yet unforseen unbelievably exploitative step further.

So for now, I want to sincerely thank EA. Thank you for taking one step too far, too fast. I hope, and will do everything in my power to ensure, that the rubber band snaps and we return to a place where we are not exploited during the very time we seek reprieve from our stressful lives. Long live PCMR, Long Live Consoles, Long Live Gamers.

Edit: Gold? It's because I included PCMR and Consoles in the closing statement isn't it?

by tanmerican http://ift.tt/2A3LCl0