Paid content in videogames (DLC, loot boxes, passes, currencies, "surprise mechanics" and - new! - pay more or wait!)

Anything to do with games at all.
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Lagamorph
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PostRe: Paid content in videogames (DLC, season passes, micro transactions and loot boxes)
by Lagamorph » Fri Jan 04, 2019 5:27 pm

Physical lootboxes have been a thing for a long time before digital lootboxes came along.
Anime and Comic conventions in particular have long had mystery boxes of merchandise or mystery bags of comics.

You've been able to order physical mystery content loot crates online for years, you can even get monthly subscriptions to them. They're basically the physical equivalent of Humble Bundle Monthly.

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Pedz
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PostRe: Paid content in videogames (DLC, season passes, micro transactions and loot boxes)
by Pedz » Fri Jan 04, 2019 5:51 pm

The worst a fairs, you give them a pound and you don't even get a box, you just put your hand in a box and rummage around until you get a tacky toy. Shocking.

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OrangeRKN
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PostRe: Paid content in videogames (DLC, season passes, micro transactions and loot boxes)
by OrangeRKN » Fri Jan 04, 2019 6:07 pm

Sleighamorph wrote:Physical lootboxes have been a thing for a long time before digital lootboxes came along.
Anime and Comic conventions in particular have long had mystery boxes of merchandise or mystery bags of comics.

You've been able to order physical mystery content loot crates online for years, you can even get monthly subscriptions to them. They're basically the physical equivalent of Humble Bundle Monthly.


One difference here is getting the items shipped after opening, so you have the instant option to "sell back" the contents to reinvest for a better box.

Those mystery loot crates are as far as I am aware always standardised contents, with a fixed monetary value, at least for the popular monthly subscriptions one. So you don't know what you are getting inside, but it will always be goods to the value of x, whereas here you could get something worth £1 or £1000.

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jawafour
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PostRe: Paid content in videogames (DLC, season passes, micro transactions and loot boxes)
by jawafour » Tue Jan 08, 2019 1:10 pm

Eurogamer has put up an article about FIFA 19's Ultimate Team component; from a player perspective it's basically (potentially) high costs for (probably) low returns. A few popular YouTubers spend thousands of dollars on the packs and then get pretty large audiences watching them being "opened".

No real surprise there but one thing I hadn't realised before is that any players you win are only playable in that year's version of the game; they don't carry into the next edition. MMOs are pretty notorious for expensive in-game items (hello ESO!) but at least you can carry on using them for the lifetime of the game. In FIFA it seems that you could spend out a lot of money on FUT and then repeat this every year. I guess this is how it has become such a huge income stream for EA.

Disclaimer: I am a fan of PES rather than FIFA but PES also includes a similar gameplay mode called MyClub and I believe the loot box / single season approach works in the same way. Equally terrible!

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Cheeky Devlin
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PostRe: Paid content in videogames (DLC, season passes, micro transactions and loot boxes)
by Cheeky Devlin » Tue Jan 08, 2019 1:15 pm

Was just reading that. Nothing I didn't already know but it's still strawberry floating disgusting.

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BID0
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PostRe: Paid content in videogames (DLC, season passes, micro transactions and loot boxes)
by BID0 » Tue Jan 08, 2019 3:02 pm

I think Rock Band and Left4Dead are the only two games that have ever carried across things you've purchased from one game to any future ones.

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OrangeRKN
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PostRe: Paid content in videogames (DLC, season passes, micro transactions and loot boxes)
by OrangeRKN » Tue Jan 08, 2019 4:47 pm

BID0 wrote:I think Rock Band and Left4Dead are the only two games that have ever carried across things you've purchased from one game to any future ones.


LittleBigPlanet too, the mainline is fully backwards compatible and you can carry over DLC costumes

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Wedgie
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PostRe: Paid content in videogames (DLC, season passes, micro transactions and loot boxes)
by Wedgie » Tue Jan 08, 2019 5:01 pm

Well that would mean EA ditching annual games for one big game that can get patched for a small fee is out of the question as it would lose them a lot of money from this FUT bullshit.

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BID0
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PostRe: Paid content in videogames (DLC, season passes, micro transactions and loot boxes)
by BID0 » Wed Jan 09, 2019 8:40 am

OrangeRKN wrote:
BID0 wrote:I think Rock Band and Left4Dead are the only two games that have ever carried across things you've purchased from one game to any future ones.


LittleBigPlanet too, the mainline is fully backwards compatible and you can carry over DLC costumes

ah good shout, I had forgotten about LBP

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Prototype
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PostRe: Paid content in videogames (DLC, season passes, micro transactions and loot boxes)
by Prototype » Wed Jan 09, 2019 9:26 am

Outwith the microtransactions, FIFA Ultimate Team is an extremely deep game. Dismissed by most gamers are the same old sh*t though.

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OrangeRKN
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PostRe: Paid content in videogames (DLC, season passes, micro transactions and loot boxes)
by OrangeRKN » Wed Jan 09, 2019 9:41 am

Prototype wrote:Outwith the microtransactions, FIFA Ultimate Team is an extremely deep game. Dismissed by most gamers are the same old sh*t though.


What's the Ultimate Team part then? I thought it was just unlocking players to use in the game in general

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Prototype
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PostRe: Paid content in videogames (DLC, season passes, micro transactions and loot boxes)
by Prototype » Wed Jan 09, 2019 9:52 am

OrangeRKN wrote:
Prototype wrote:Outwith the microtransactions, FIFA Ultimate Team is an extremely deep game. Dismissed by most gamers are the same old sh*t though.


What's the Ultimate Team part then? I thought it was just unlocking players to use in the game in general


It's easily my most played game.

You essentially start with a squad of "bronze" cards/players and assemble your ultimate team. You play games against other peoples' ultimate teams in leagues and competitions to earn coins. You then use the coins to buy better players, silver, gold and "legends". There is an entire marketplace for buying and selling these cards and it's very addictive in of itself. You can play and enjoy the entirety of ultimate team yourself by grinding out victories and winning coins.

Alternatively, you can pay real money for fifa points to open packs of cards and this is a complete lottery. You could get Lionel Messi in a pack, but more likely you'll get a Jordan Pickford at best.

You can also get packs through completing in game squad building puzzles so there are lots of ways to build a "god squad" without spending a penny.

I absolutely love ultimate team and the majority of streamers I watch who play it advise everyone not to spend real money on it.

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OrangeRKN
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PostRe: Paid content in videogames (DLC, season passes, micro transactions and loot boxes)
by OrangeRKN » Wed Jan 09, 2019 9:57 am

Ah cool, I didn't know it was a whole mode like that.

So it's a pay-to-win competitive mode :P

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Prototype
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PostRe: Paid content in videogames (DLC, season passes, micro transactions and loot boxes)
by Prototype » Wed Jan 09, 2019 10:00 am

OrangeRKN wrote:So it's a pay-to-win competitive mode :P


:lol:

I've played against people with Ronaldo, Messi and George Best and beat them. Having quality players certainly helps, but it doesn't guarantee victories.

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Moggy
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PostRe: Paid content in videogames (DLC, season passes, micro transactions and loot boxes)
by Moggy » Wed Jan 09, 2019 10:03 am

Prototype wrote:
OrangeRKN wrote:So it's a pay-to-win competitive mode :P


:lol:

I've played against people with Ronaldo, Messi and George Best and beat them. Having quality players certainly helps, but it doesn't guarantee victories.


I am not surprised you won if you were playing against people fielding dead players.

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Prototype
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PostRe: Paid content in videogames (DLC, season passes, micro transactions and loot boxes)
by Prototype » Wed Jan 09, 2019 10:07 am

Moggy wrote:
Prototype wrote:
OrangeRKN wrote:So it's a pay-to-win competitive mode :P


:lol:

I've played against people with Ronaldo, Messi and George Best and beat them. Having quality players certainly helps, but it doesn't guarantee victories.


I am not surprised you won if you were playing against people fielding dead players.


:fp: :slol:

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OrangeRKN
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PostRe: Paid content in videogames (DLC, season passes, micro transactions and loot boxes)
by OrangeRKN » Wed Jan 09, 2019 10:08 am

To be fair it's not a real videogame until it has zombie DLC

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Saint of Killers
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PostRe: Paid content in videogames (DLC, season passes, micro transactions and loot boxes)
by Saint of Killers » Fri Jan 18, 2019 6:38 pm

Found this on my YouTubes:



(Loot boxes started life in an EA's UEFA Champion's League game, then progressed to p2w in FIFA 2009.)

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Moggy
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PostRe: Paid content in videogames (DLC, season passes, micro transactions and loot boxes)
by Moggy » Tue Jan 29, 2019 5:37 pm

twitter.com/thesportsman/status/1090216428513443846



It’ll be interesting to see what other countries follow Belgium.

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Balladeer
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PostRe: Paid content in videogames (DLC, season passes, micro transactions and loot boxes)
by Balladeer » Tue Jan 29, 2019 8:30 pm

That looks like a tacit admission that lootboxes are gambling to me.


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