EA Going Away From In-Game Ads? Microtransactions Proving Far More Lucrative

[IlluminatusUIUC]

I generally don't complain about DLC because I do my research and know what I'm buying before I get into it. What I cannot stand is EA selling boosts which unbalance competitive multiplayer. Basically, unless you have a week to spare then it costs at least $20-30 to get your player boosted enough to be competitive in the EASHL for NHL 11. And of course, that character gets reset to zero once NHL 12 comes out. There was a thread on OS asking what people felt about NHL 11 and I have to say, the stat boosts completely killed it for me. I haven't picked it up in over a month.

[extremeskins04]

EA this is your wake up call. Notice that big sign that says "18% loss of sales on Madden"??

Maybe if they would develop a better product, they wouldn't lose money and wouldn't have to start "talking" about microtransactions.

What's it gonna be now?

We throw a pass to Andre Johnson in the endzone for a TD but wait, while the ball is in mid-air a window comes up and says "Please pay $1.00 to complete this pass for a TD. We accept Visa, MC, and Paypal. Thank you."

No thanks. I just won't spend any money again this year.

[Hova57]

What's more interesting about this thread is someone actually got themselves banned for this exact thing.

[LiquorLogic]

Idea !!!!! Instead of Micro-transactions , how about Macro-transactions ?

How many people here would pay $25 for a franchise mode, with all the features of Head Coach 09, that could be played on or offline ? I know I would.

[LiquorLogic]

Quote: Originally Posted by adembroski

Why are people so against companies attempting to make money?

Essentially, there only three things that people want to hear : We're getting real-time physics, we're getting a full fledged franchise mode, or the exclusive license is being torn up.

If EA tells us anything other than that, call the fire department.

[tlc12576]

Quote: Originally Posted by LiquorLogic

Idea !!!!! Instead of Micro-transactions , how about Macro-transactions ? How many people here would pay $25 for a franchise mode, with all the features of Head Coach 09, that could be played on or offline ? I know I would.

LOL. I feel your point but people would revolt and swear off Madden for life.

Them charging $25 for HC 09 features in Madden would be them admitting they have been "misleading" us when they claimed it couldn't be done, completely and what can be added would take years.

PR nightmare, IMO.

[LiquorLogic]

Quote: Originally Posted by tlc12576

LOL. I feel your point but people would revolt and swear off Madden for life. Them charging $25 for HC 09 features in Madden would be them admitting they have been "misleading" us when they claimed it couldn't be done, completely and what can be added would take years. PR nightmare, IMO.

EA is one big PR nightmare. They're in a lawsuit now, they were sued by former NFL players, they were sued by a college player for use of his likeness, and they're currently charging people $10, who purchase used copies, for up to date rosters and the ability to play online.

I forgot to mention that Peter Moore said, in an article, that he wanted to further take advantage of consumers. $25 was just a number that I would pay, which shows my desperation for a quality football game. $10, maybe $15 would be more reasonable.

Also, this is the third year of development; how many years are we talking about for goodness sake ?

[Bonee]

Assuming I really like a game I would be willing to pay extra cash for the extra features I want (need). The price people would pay in total (for the game and the extra features) is only a question of supply and demand.

The tricky thing for EA is, having a somewhat "stale" game coming out of the box year after year would make it impossible for them to earn cash from the extras. As long as Madden is not "state of the art" (comparing to other computer games) they won't earn much money this way. But at the point where the majority of the customers are happy with the Madden-Series they can dig out the money.