The Main Lesson From ‘Baldur’s Gate 3’ Should Be ‘People Hate Microtransactions’
If reception to Baldur’s Gate says anything, it’s that people hate microtransactions in their AAA games.
If reception to Baldur’s Gate says anything, it’s that people hate microtransactions in their AAA games.
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How could you learn anything about what people think of microtransactions from the success of a game that doesn't have them? If a beloved franchise added a sequel with microtransactions in it and that sequel tanked, then maybe you'd have a case. From the success of Baldur's Gate 3 the most you could conclude is "people will still buy a game that doesn't have microtransactions," which is not particularly revelatory.
A bunch of AAA games that heavily feature microtransactions are smash hits and made millions of dollars. Sure, people complain about it, but they also purchase tons of them (may not be the same people, mind you). I'm pretty sure we can conclude that not all people hate microtransactions. Hell, publishers will look at Baldur's Gate 3 and probably go "man, this game is good but if they put some paid cosmetics in there they could have made even more money."
And it's probably true.
All 100% correct unfortunately. These companies put in micro transactions because they make a boatload of money off of them. End of story. Til that changes, they will continue to shoehorn them into games to sustain the unsustainable infinite growth/profit model. Until pissing us off costs them more than they gain from it, it ain't gonna change.
Then fuck it. All the people who want microtransactions, or don't care about the quality of the medium enough to stop engaging with shitty practices, can have them. There are plenty of developers making games that care enough about the things they make that I'll be happy to buy from. We've reached a point where the big studios will spend three years and a quarter of a billion dollars putting out 7/10 games that look great in trailers and don't function on PC that exist alongside solo devs who make the games that look at home on PS1 and offer a better experience than anything Blizzard has made in the last decade. Even if my wallet's vote doesn't matter to the big guys, it doesn't have to as long as it's enough to support people whose passion isn't exploited to make a just barely par product.
Don't get hyped, don't preorder, don't buy games until they're fixed. You can't change the industry but you don't have to support it.
This is a good point. It's like saying people don't like bananas because they buy more apples than bananas.
