Originally posted by Jemcrystal Arrrrrrr. I smells a pirate who's after our looty.
In the immortal words of Captain Barbossa: "These aren't actual rules... more like... guidelines!" XD
Haarrrr!
The best review on Amazon was this, written by "plantos500"
"You'd think I'd be mega unhappy like everyone else at the constant waiting and lack of actually being able to play a game I purchased.
Well, you'd be wrong.
The hours upon hours since launch that I haven't been able to log in, whether it be sitting in queues, or server busy messages, or just plain old not working screens, I've managed to do a heap of things that I never do when I'm locked in my man cave playing video games.
I've washed the dishes, the laundry, changed the oil in the car, mopped the floors, dusted, did a spot of gardening, greeted my children who I hadn't really seen since Christmas, walked the dog, asked how my wife's day has been and listened to the entire response, restocked the groceries and many more things! My family has never been happier that they've got a father and husband again.
In fact, I feel like Simcity has given me a new lease on life. This wouldn't have been possible without the seemingly crazy decision to have constant online connections and server side save points even for single player.
So I can only thank EA and Maxis. Your failures have been my rewards. 5 stars!"
Best two ways to get a gamer out of a game:
1) Make him/her excited about a game which will obviously have issues like this.
2) Threaten to withhold sex (though if you're a guy doing this... you're gonna be waiting a long time but only the first time XD).
I don't think gaming companies have decided that a cash shop is fine and most players want one because they will use the shop. I think they do realise gaming is addictive, they do realise we want it all. That is part of their strategy to milk as much money from players as possible.
Gambling is addictive. Alcohol is addictive. But most people are not addicted to either.
I really don't have a lot of sympathy to people who don't have a little self-control.
I have been playing F2P games for a few years now, and i have never spent a dime in the cashshop of them (specifically STO, DDO, a little LOTRO, and DCUO). So it works for me.
If you are playing for hours on end you are addicted, you dont have to be paying to be hooked to something. But I assume you pay for single player games? One way or another you will feed the beast, it is hungry for your loot.
Originally posted by Scot If you are playing for hours on end you are addicted, you dont have to be paying to be hooked to something. But I assume you pay for single player games? One way or another you will feed beast, it is hungry for your loot.
Addiction is not that simple. The formal defintiion includes a dependency and often include withdrawal sypmtoms.
I doubt just playing for hours will fall into that.
I have watch tv for hours before, am i addicted to tv? Probably not since usually i don't, and there is no psychological dependencies. How about games?
I do want to finish single player games .. but never have a need to return after i see the ending. Am i "addicted"? I think not. In fact, there are periods of time i don't play games at all and seek other entertainment. That is not a typical addicting scenario, right?
I don't think just spending a few hours on an activity once in a while will count as addiction.
Originally posted by taziar But fine, how about a simplier example. If you want your political candidate to win, do you just vote with your vote? If that is all everyone supporting your candidate did, your side would lose. Getting OTHER people to vote is how you win. This is why people campaign, to gain support for their side. It is all about changing public perception.
So in effect you wanna convince other people to stop buying video games because they are offered a digital medium for which to buy additional content if they choose to.
Are you also going to protest outside your local McDonalds for having the audacity to ask you if you want fries with that?
Do you want fries with your Happy Meal? Yeah, yeah, yeah, we know we once included the fries in the Happy Meal but economics, inflation, you know.
"Yeah, okay, I guess I'll take the fries."
Great! Will you be having a soft drink with that Happy Meal?
Not a lot of us can just fork over for a $25 for a little pony...But hey if you think thats great news to which EA is going,do you care to share that wealth of yours?
Originally posted by Scot If you are playing for hours on end you are addicted, you dont have to be paying to be hooked to something. But I assume you pay for single player games? One way or another you will feed beast, it is hungry for your loot.
Addiction is not that simple. The formal defintiion includes a dependency and often include withdrawal sypmtoms.
I doubt just playing for hours will fall into that.
I have watch tv for hours before, am i addicted to tv? Probably not since usually i don't, and there is no psychological dependencies. How about games?
I do want to finish single player games .. but never have a need to return after i see the ending. Am i "addicted"? I think not. In fact, there are periods of time i don't play games at all and seek other entertainment. That is not a typical addicting scenario, right?
I don't think just spending a few hours on an activity once in a while will count as addiction.
Spend a week without TV or gaming, take your pick. Come back here and tell us you are not really missing it, had no trouble not switching that TV on, could not care about starting that game. Your withdrawal symptoms are the excessive amount of time you think about that fact you are not playing or watching. Sure its not like a drug, but an entrenched habit is hard to kick.
I will never buy a game that requires extra money just to play it if that is what this is all about (edit - I mean a game that is not an MMORPG). If I buy a single player game, I prefer it to be offline and only require extra money for expacs. I already tried some single player games that were online only and I had a bad experience with them (Diablo 3, ok so you can play multiplayer but I never did and never wanted to). If I have to pay extra money for bullets or whatever, to hell with that game and the company responsible for that.
However microtransactions in F2P MMORPGs is very different. You get the basic game for free, but to unlock content you have to pay more. That is essentially like buying expacs and I find that to be fair. I already like less P2P games that require microtransactions to unlock cosmetic items (why can't I get that stuff ingame through playing ?), but again if they require microtransactions to unlock new content that is pretty much akin to buying an expac. I also don't mind paying more for extra services: character transfers to join friends on another server, new character slots, database changes, etc.
It all depends on what they are asking extra money for. If it is just to enjoy a game that you already paid money for (and is not fun straight out of the box), I will never support that kind of business model. I do not think people should be forced to pay 60 bucks for just having access to a game and then required to pay more to actually enjoy it. That is ridiculous and is a rip-off.
If that is the sort of gaming that EA is going to promote, then ToR will me my last EA purchase.
Originally posted by Scot If you are playing for hours on end you are addicted, you dont have to be paying to be hooked to something. But I assume you pay for single player games? One way or another you will feed beast, it is hungry for your loot.
Addiction is not that simple. The formal defintiion includes a dependency and often include withdrawal sypmtoms.
I doubt just playing for hours will fall into that.
I have watch tv for hours before, am i addicted to tv? Probably not since usually i don't, and there is no psychological dependencies. How about games?
I do want to finish single player games .. but never have a need to return after i see the ending. Am i "addicted"? I think not. In fact, there are periods of time i don't play games at all and seek other entertainment. That is not a typical addicting scenario, right?
I don't think just spending a few hours on an activity once in a while will count as addiction.
Spend a week without TV or gaming, take your pick. Come back here and tell us you are not really missing it, had no trouble not switching that TV on, could not care about starting that game. Your withdrawal symptoms are the excessive amount of time you think about that fact you are not playing or watching. Sure its not like a drug, but an entrenched habit is hard to kick.
An entrenched habit, even an abuse, is not an addiction.
Just because you don't like it doesn't mean it is bad.
Originally posted by Scot If you are playing for hours on end you are addicted, you dont have to be paying to be hooked to something. But I assume you pay for single player games? One way or another you will feed beast, it is hungry for your loot.
Addiction is not that simple. The formal defintiion includes a dependency and often include withdrawal sypmtoms.
I doubt just playing for hours will fall into that.
I have watch tv for hours before, am i addicted to tv? Probably not since usually i don't, and there is no psychological dependencies. How about games?
I do want to finish single player games .. but never have a need to return after i see the ending. Am i "addicted"? I think not. In fact, there are periods of time i don't play games at all and seek other entertainment. That is not a typical addicting scenario, right?
I don't think just spending a few hours on an activity once in a while will count as addiction.
Spend a week without TV or gaming, take your pick. Come back here and tell us you are not really missing it, had no trouble not switching that TV on, could not care about starting that game. Your withdrawal symptoms are the excessive amount of time you think about that fact you are not playing or watching. Sure its not like a drug, but an entrenched habit is hard to kick.
An entrenched habit, even an abuse, is not an addiction.
Plus, i just spent a weekend last month (valentine day weekend) with my wife up to NAPA for wine tasting. No tv, no movies .. hardly miss anything.
Heck, sometimes i go for 2-3 weeks without checking the tv shows that i follow and i have to "catch up". Don't think everyone needs this stuff. There are plenty of other stuff to do.
although the moderaters are permitting this thread, dozens were deleted. The point is that even those of us who have been boycotting EA for . . . a decade . . . are SHOCKED they could go this low. I thought they were the lowest of the low. This is just . . . worse than big banking. My god.
EA has managed to:
to destroy sim city and
simultaneously destroy the concept of cooperative online gaming.
It is amazing. . . even to me . . . amazing. This is not a company. This is Satan of gaming. Literally. Evil.
"The truth is EA lies." - Youtube User
Sim City. Everquest. Civilization. Dungeon Keeper. Vampire: The Masquerade. These are the games that I love and cherish.
although the moderaters are permitting this thread, dozens were deleted. The point is that even those of us who have been boycotting EA for . . . a decade . . . are SHOCKED they could go this low. I thought they were the lowest of the low. This is just . . . worse than big banking. My god.
EA has managed to:
to destroy sim city and
simultaneously destroy the concept of cooperative online gaming.
It is amazing. . . even to me . . . amazing. This is not a company. This is Satan of gaming. Literally. Evil.
Until you explain, in descriptive non-hyperbole words, how they have destroyed Sim City, you're just a bunch of hot air.
If you weren't boycotting EA, you'd have played Sim City and known it to be a pretty fun city building game quite worth the money. Instead you're not being very logical and throwing a lot of hatred out for someone who hasn't even tried the product they're hating on.
"What is truly revealing is his implication that believing something to be true is the same as it being true. [continue]" -John Oliver
although the moderaters are permitting this thread, dozens were deleted. The point is that even those of us who have been boycotting EA for . . . a decade . . . are SHOCKED they could go this low. I thought they were the lowest of the low. This is just . . . worse than big banking. My god.
EA has managed to:
to destroy sim city and
simultaneously destroy the concept of cooperative online gaming.
It is amazing. . . even to me . . . amazing. This is not a company. This is Satan of gaming. Literally. Evil.
Until you explain, in descriptive non-hyperbole words, how they have destroyed Sim City, you're just a bunch of hot air.
If you weren't boycotting EA, you'd have played Sim City and known it to be a pretty fun city building game quite worth the money. Instead you're not being very logical and throwing a lot of hatred out for someone who hasn't even tried the product they're hating on.
Deal!
1) Limited city space - no opporutnity to develop the next Chicago, NY, London, Shanghai, etc.
What about Chicagos and NYs and Londons with micro cities and communities within cities? That is OUT in this shitty version. The diversity of a mega city is what made sim city so interesting and cool and realistic.
Limited features with zoning; zoning controlled by "road size." Yes. Road size. Do you live ina major city? Have you at least travelled to a major city? The city is . . . a game. Not . . . organic. Not life.
3) FORCED internet/online gameplay (without being able to save on different "servers")
But this is based on reviews, and they are so bad that I would not even think to disgrace the old Sim Cities and play this version. Nor will I disgrace myself. From what I am told, even, you cannot even log in . . . to your own game. who the hell would buy a game, not be able to log in, and then be forced to be online (watched?) while gaming?
I have never heard of a game. This comes from EA. And . . . this even shocks me. Wow, EA, and we all know that your minions are reading, holy shit, this is . . . even lower than I imagined you would go. This is beyond low.
"The truth is EA lies." - Youtube User
Sim City. Everquest. Civilization. Dungeon Keeper. Vampire: The Masquerade. These are the games that I love and cherish.
Hi I'm having fun playing simcity. There is over 8 million hours logged into the game globally. Your boycott doesn't seem to be working.
"You have some serious mental issues you may need to seek some help for. There are others who post things, but do not post them in the way you do. Out of every person who posts crazy shit in this forum, you have some of the craziest and scariest" -FarReach
1) Limited city space - no opporutnity to develop the next Chicago, NY, London, Shanghai, etc.
What about Chicagos and NYs and Londons with micro cities and communities within cities? That is OUT in this shitty version. The diversity of a mega city is what made sim city so interesting and cool and realistic.
Limited features with zoning; zoning controlled by "road size." Yes. Road size. Do you live ina major city? Have you at least travelled to a major city? The city is . . . a game. Not . . . organic. Not life.
3) FORCED internet/online gameplay (without being able to save on different "servers")
But this is based on reviews, and they are so bad that I would not even think to disgrace the old Sim Cities and play this version. Nor will I disgrace myself. From what I am told, even, you cannot even log in . . . to your own game. who the hell would buy a game, not be able to log in, and then be forced to be online (watched?) while gaming?
I have never heard of a game. This comes from EA. And . . . this even shocks me. Wow, EA, and we all know that your minions are reading, holy shit, this is . . . even lower than I imagined you would go. This is beyond low.
1. This is an incredibly trivial reason to hate a game. It almost sounds like you read a few angry internet forum posts and decided they were entirely true. If you judged all games by that standard, you'd never buy another game!
2. It has about as much zoning as any Sim City game, and the control over what buildings appear is a dynamic, elegant game system rather than a simple pre-made low-med-high zoning choice. I like this system far better.
And let's put aside the fact that I feel traffic is better simulated in this Sim City than any previous game in the series. Now: since when has Sim City had realistic traffic?
3. Requiring internet is only a problem with (a) downtime or (b) weak DRM systems. By itself requiring internet is irrelevant (it's 2013.) Have EA/Maxis botched launch day? Absolutely. Do the game servers still barf on me occasionally? Sure. It's a real problem and they need to solve it. And they will, and then the internet requirement will be essentially invisible and not matter to players at all.
"What is truly revealing is his implication that believing something to be true is the same as it being true. [continue]" -John Oliver
So in terms of depth between old and new... IMO it's a wash.
On one hand that's a copout, because specific examples of games (new and old) can be said to be shallow or deep.
On the other hand, trying to measure depth in a discussion is inevitably going to prove futile, due to how tricky it is to measure.
Only thing I can say with certainty is WOW's design elegance is part of why it's been so insanely successful, compared with many other MMORPGs over the years. Certainly all of the early MMORPGs I tried (which notably didn't include EQ or UO) were pretty challenging to see the depth in, either because they were ridiculously (unnecessarily) overcomplicated or because they hid whatever depth they might've had behind enormous timesinks.
But in relation to the comment that started all this, we can say with absolute certainty that a game with microtransactions can be deep.
Between individual games yes it may be possible to say that, but between the genre before wow and the genre after wow I don't think so.
But yes, microtransactions really have nothing to do with depth in a game.
Good luck finding any depth in games EA now makes. They're the MC D's of game development where the young and naive are the ones that fall for it making statement like "EA needs to make money" and fail to see the nickel and dimming going on
Good luck finding any depth in games EA now makes. They're the MC D's of game development where the young and naive are the ones that fall for it making statement like "EA needs to make money" and fail to see the nickel and dimming going on
What about the depth of Sim City and all its many interconnecting systems? How about the massive interweaving storyline arcs of Mass Effect 3?
Or does that conflict with your blanket generalization and we shouldn't discuss things rationally?
"What is truly revealing is his implication that believing something to be true is the same as it being true. [continue]" -John Oliver
Nah .. sheep are those who blindly following hate.
Those people with minds will judge each game separately. Last good EA game? Dead Space. Phenomenal game. Good immersion. Good critical response. Good sales.
One critical point I would like to make: the very first computer games were 25¢ to start a game and 25¢ to continue. They were a shameless micro-transaction pay-for-power model. Want another life? Pay for it.
The reason game companies switched over to boxed games was because players didn't like getting nickeled-and-dimed (literally!). Players wanted to pay one price and be able to play the game as much as they wanted. Once boxed games came out, arcade games went into a nearly terminal decline which they have never recovered from.
Game companies now appear to think that they've hit the jackpot by rediscovering the quarter-eating-machine model. They haven't. A quick review of the biggest hits of the last few years show that by far the biggest hits - Guild Wars 2, Diablo 3, Starcraft 2, Terraria - have been boxed games. Players still like and still favor the boxed game model, for the most part. So-called free-to-play games are (with one significant exception) small players whose sales do not approach those of the boxed titles.
This is complicated, but only just a bit, by the presence of games that charge extra for vanity features. This is classic economic pricing along the demand curve, though - game companies know that some players will pay more for what is effectively the same product, so they add some meaningless bells and whistles, and those who want to pay more will do so. (Meanwhile, those who want to pay less will wait for it to hit the bargain bin.) This is the "deluxe edition" pricing, only it's being done through DLC instead of as part of a packaged box.
The only thing that's really changed is that one company - Riot Games - has figured out that, for just the right kind of game, you can set the boxed price to $0 and make enough money to run the company on sales of vanity alone. That's neither the boxed game model nor the quarter-eating-machine model, and it's doubtful as to how well that will work for types of games other than online battle arenas.
Where I see game companies going wrong is in believing that they can get away with charging players for the box, then tacking on a quarter-eating-machine to the game. That isn't going to go over well with players, and hasn't been going over well. The price for the game needs to be fixed - $60 or $0 - with the only additional costs being for meaningless vanity or for significant content expansions. Anything else, and players are going to boycott, just like they left the old arcade games to gather dust.
The reason game companies switched over to boxed games was because players didn't like getting nickeled-and-dimed (literally!). Players wanted to pay one price and be able to play the game as much as they wanted. Once boxed games came out, arcade games went into a nearly terminal decline which they have never recovered from.
I never heard that complaint ever from anyone in the arcade. I did often hear how they wished they could have this at home on their atari or nintendo.
Game companies provided that and charged $50 for the game and a couple hundred for the console. We loved it.
Not because we had to pay a quarter to continue.
edit - and 2 of those biggest games you mention have some kind of microtransacation system. Hmm. I guess people do like those, they just like to pay for the box too.
Just because you don't like it doesn't mean it is bad.
Nah .. sheep are those who blindly following hate.
Those people with minds will judge each game separately. Last good EA game? Dead Space. Phenomenal game. Good immersion. Good critical response. Good sales.
sheeps are those who blindly follow anything without thinking for himself.
pretty much all people who follow the new fashion, and things saying you need to buy this new thing, ignore all the product problem if you don't buy it you will be branded as tasteless fool and boring.
Comments
Best two ways to get a gamer out of a game:
1) Make him/her excited about a game which will obviously have issues like this.
2) Threaten to withhold sex (though if you're a guy doing this... you're gonna be waiting a long time but only the first time XD).
Gambling is addictive. Alcohol is addictive. But most people are not addicted to either.
I really don't have a lot of sympathy to people who don't have a little self-control.
I have been playing F2P games for a few years now, and i have never spent a dime in the cashshop of them (specifically STO, DDO, a little LOTRO, and DCUO). So it works for me.
Addiction is not that simple. The formal defintiion includes a dependency and often include withdrawal sypmtoms.
I doubt just playing for hours will fall into that.
I have watch tv for hours before, am i addicted to tv? Probably not since usually i don't, and there is no psychological dependencies. How about games?
I do want to finish single player games .. but never have a need to return after i see the ending. Am i "addicted"? I think not. In fact, there are periods of time i don't play games at all and seek other entertainment. That is not a typical addicting scenario, right?
I don't think just spending a few hours on an activity once in a while will count as addiction.
Do you want fries with your Happy Meal? Yeah, yeah, yeah, we know we once included the fries in the Happy Meal but economics, inflation, you know.
"Yeah, okay, I guess I'll take the fries."
Great! Will you be having a soft drink with that Happy Meal?
Not a lot of us can just fork over for a $25 for a little pony...But hey if you think thats great news to which EA is going,do you care to share that wealth of yours?
I retired retroactively..Haha
Spend a week without TV or gaming, take your pick. Come back here and tell us you are not really missing it, had no trouble not switching that TV on, could not care about starting that game. Your withdrawal symptoms are the excessive amount of time you think about that fact you are not playing or watching. Sure its not like a drug, but an entrenched habit is hard to kick.
I will never buy a game that requires extra money just to play it if that is what this is all about (edit - I mean a game that is not an MMORPG). If I buy a single player game, I prefer it to be offline and only require extra money for expacs. I already tried some single player games that were online only and I had a bad experience with them (Diablo 3, ok so you can play multiplayer but I never did and never wanted to). If I have to pay extra money for bullets or whatever, to hell with that game and the company responsible for that.
However microtransactions in F2P MMORPGs is very different. You get the basic game for free, but to unlock content you have to pay more. That is essentially like buying expacs and I find that to be fair. I already like less P2P games that require microtransactions to unlock cosmetic items (why can't I get that stuff ingame through playing ?), but again if they require microtransactions to unlock new content that is pretty much akin to buying an expac. I also don't mind paying more for extra services: character transfers to join friends on another server, new character slots, database changes, etc.
It all depends on what they are asking extra money for. If it is just to enjoy a game that you already paid money for (and is not fun straight out of the box), I will never support that kind of business model. I do not think people should be forced to pay 60 bucks for just having access to a game and then required to pay more to actually enjoy it. That is ridiculous and is a rip-off.
If that is the sort of gaming that EA is going to promote, then ToR will me my last EA purchase.
Playing MUDs and MMOs since 1994.
EA is just following what's is happening with the gaming scene.
Players don't care about balance, sense of achievement or anything likewise anymore.
Only thing that matters is personal progress and it should be lightning fast and boosted by spending real money.
I would milk out these "players" aswell.
An entrenched habit, even an abuse, is not an addiction.
"The truth is EA lies." - Youtube User
Sim City. Everquest. Civilization. Dungeon Keeper. Vampire: The Masquerade. These are the games that I love and cherish.
Plus, i just spent a weekend last month (valentine day weekend) with my wife up to NAPA for wine tasting. No tv, no movies .. hardly miss anything.
Heck, sometimes i go for 2-3 weeks without checking the tv shows that i follow and i have to "catch up". Don't think everyone needs this stuff. There are plenty of other stuff to do.
although the moderaters are permitting this thread, dozens were deleted. The point is that even those of us who have been boycotting EA for . . . a decade . . . are SHOCKED they could go this low. I thought they were the lowest of the low. This is just . . . worse than big banking. My god.
EA has managed to:
It is amazing. . . even to me . . . amazing. This is not a company. This is Satan of gaming. Literally. Evil.
"The truth is EA lies." - Youtube User
Sim City. Everquest. Civilization. Dungeon Keeper. Vampire: The Masquerade. These are the games that I love and cherish.
Until you explain, in descriptive non-hyperbole words, how they have destroyed Sim City, you're just a bunch of hot air.
If you weren't boycotting EA, you'd have played Sim City and known it to be a pretty fun city building game quite worth the money. Instead you're not being very logical and throwing a lot of hatred out for someone who hasn't even tried the product they're hating on.
"What is truly revealing is his implication that believing something to be true is the same as it being true. [continue]" -John Oliver
Deal!
1) Limited city space - no opporutnity to develop the next Chicago, NY, London, Shanghai, etc.
"The truth is EA lies." - Youtube User
Sim City. Everquest. Civilization. Dungeon Keeper. Vampire: The Masquerade. These are the games that I love and cherish.
Hi I'm having fun playing simcity. There is over 8 million hours logged into the game globally. Your boycott doesn't seem to be working.
"You have some serious mental issues you may need to seek some help for. There are others who post things, but do not post them in the way you do. Out of every person who posts crazy shit in this forum, you have some of the craziest and scariest" -FarReach
1. This is an incredibly trivial reason to hate a game. It almost sounds like you read a few angry internet forum posts and decided they were entirely true. If you judged all games by that standard, you'd never buy another game!
2. It has about as much zoning as any Sim City game, and the control over what buildings appear is a dynamic, elegant game system rather than a simple pre-made low-med-high zoning choice. I like this system far better.
And let's put aside the fact that I feel traffic is better simulated in this Sim City than any previous game in the series. Now: since when has Sim City had realistic traffic?
"What is truly revealing is his implication that believing something to be true is the same as it being true. [continue]" -John Oliver
Good luck finding any depth in games EA now makes. They're the MC D's of game development where the young and naive are the ones that fall for it making statement like "EA needs to make money" and fail to see the nickel and dimming going on
What about the depth of Sim City and all its many interconnecting systems? How about the massive interweaving storyline arcs of Mass Effect 3?
Or does that conflict with your blanket generalization and we shouldn't discuss things rationally?
"What is truly revealing is his implication that believing something to be true is the same as it being true. [continue]" -John Oliver
Nah .. sheep are those who blindly following hate.
Those people with minds will judge each game separately. Last good EA game? Dead Space. Phenomenal game. Good immersion. Good critical response. Good sales.
One critical point I would like to make: the very first computer games were 25¢ to start a game and 25¢ to continue. They were a shameless micro-transaction pay-for-power model. Want another life? Pay for it.
The reason game companies switched over to boxed games was because players didn't like getting nickeled-and-dimed (literally!). Players wanted to pay one price and be able to play the game as much as they wanted. Once boxed games came out, arcade games went into a nearly terminal decline which they have never recovered from.
Game companies now appear to think that they've hit the jackpot by rediscovering the quarter-eating-machine model. They haven't. A quick review of the biggest hits of the last few years show that by far the biggest hits - Guild Wars 2, Diablo 3, Starcraft 2, Terraria - have been boxed games. Players still like and still favor the boxed game model, for the most part. So-called free-to-play games are (with one significant exception) small players whose sales do not approach those of the boxed titles.
This is complicated, but only just a bit, by the presence of games that charge extra for vanity features. This is classic economic pricing along the demand curve, though - game companies know that some players will pay more for what is effectively the same product, so they add some meaningless bells and whistles, and those who want to pay more will do so. (Meanwhile, those who want to pay less will wait for it to hit the bargain bin.) This is the "deluxe edition" pricing, only it's being done through DLC instead of as part of a packaged box.
The only thing that's really changed is that one company - Riot Games - has figured out that, for just the right kind of game, you can set the boxed price to $0 and make enough money to run the company on sales of vanity alone. That's neither the boxed game model nor the quarter-eating-machine model, and it's doubtful as to how well that will work for types of games other than online battle arenas.
Where I see game companies going wrong is in believing that they can get away with charging players for the box, then tacking on a quarter-eating-machine to the game. That isn't going to go over well with players, and hasn't been going over well. The price for the game needs to be fixed - $60 or $0 - with the only additional costs being for meaningless vanity or for significant content expansions. Anything else, and players are going to boycott, just like they left the old arcade games to gather dust.
And then they cocked it up by Making deadspace 3 into a cod style corridors and cutscenes man shoot, with day 1 dlc and an item shop.
I never heard that complaint ever from anyone in the arcade. I did often hear how they wished they could have this at home on their atari or nintendo.
Game companies provided that and charged $50 for the game and a couple hundred for the console. We loved it.
Not because we had to pay a quarter to continue.
edit - and 2 of those biggest games you mention have some kind of microtransacation system. Hmm. I guess people do like those, they just like to pay for the box too.
Good post
Except for diablo 3. Diablo 3 is activision / blizzard pulling the same shit as ea.
sheeps are those who blindly follow anything without thinking for himself.
pretty much all people who follow the new fashion, and things saying you need to buy this new thing, ignore all the product problem if you don't buy it you will be branded as tasteless fool and boring.