Hime wrote:...we also have to be realistic about how companies can afford to support games that have stayed the same price for over 30 years despite the size of teams and development costs drastically inreasing.
Activision
made $3.6 billion in DLC income in 2016; up from $1.6 billion in 2015. Sure, development costs of games have increased but, back in the 90s, you paid a fee and that granted you access to all of the entertainment for that game. Now, when you buy a “Triple A” game, the fee is the entry point; content and enhancements are chargeable extras and, increasingly, in the form of a virtual roulette wheel.
With the big publishers literally raking in billions from this form of charge, I do begrudge it when, say, shaders in Destiny 2 are single use. Or character development progress is dependent upon loot boxes as in Star Wars Battlefront II. This situation is going to increase as enough folk - a relatively small proportion of the audience, but paying large sums - are making this an easy, and hugely profitable, income channel for publishers.