Microtransactions up 57% from 2016 - Take Two Interactive

[trekfan]

Re: Microtransactions up 57% from 2016 - Take Two Interactive

Micro transactions are the reality with gaming in 2017. I don't see it as inherently good or bad, though. Now how a company goes about pushing it is open for debate. Like you, I consider myself a dinosaur. My thing is offline single player. That's it.

I didn't even know what the heck a shark card was until my nephew asked me to buy him one for GTA online so that he could get a mobile lab or something. And I'm a gamer. Nevertheless, it was huge for him and his "crew" and extended the fun they were able to have with a what... 3 year old game now. Gaming has changed. For me, as long as its not excessive I'm cool. I bought and have been enjoying AC Origins. I've got more than 60$ value out of it in over 115 missions/quests. There will be DLC. I'll buy it as I love the universe they have crafted. It'll extend my enjoyment of the game. I think that's great for me and the Ubisoft.

At the same rate, I expect quality. I'm not gonna spend my money on just anything and I have no problem passing on a product that I don't feel is worth it. It's about balance. I see how micro transactions could trouble people (I think there was something with the new Star Wars Battlefront game) but given the fact that 2K is the standard, IMO, with franchise I see no reason to worry it'll be going anywhere anytime soon. It hasn't really been the focus this gen and it's still the most robust out there. My personal opinion is that the game being such a commercial success allows them to pump money into the non revenue generating modes.

I feel like their financial success with the VC is beneficial to us offline guys at the moment, but I feel that's more a function of the insanely Sim-enthused development team we have behind those modes.

My concern, going forward, is that micro transactions will become so invasive that it'll begin to push the developers of offline modes into crafting some sort of reward or loot system, which will invariably allow users who pay to get/increase their odds of getting these rewards.

This is happening with the new Shadow of War game in its single player mode and I can see loot boxes/rewards making their way to the myleague mode. I'd expect MYGM to get it first, especially with the "narrative" aspect they forced users into this year with the storyline there.

We could be seeing the MYGM mode as the franchise equivalent of Mycareer.

I think the lack of micro transactions in the franchise modes are due to the development team going to bat to keep it out, but that becomes harder when the publisher is pushing it.



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[coolcras7]

Re: Microtransactions up 57% from 2016 - Take Two Interactive

It's kinda a shame. Despite the overly aggressive pricing and "bad" reviews, they still made more money than last year while being on pace to be the best selling NBA 2K to date. Goes to show that Operation Sports is definitely a minority group of people.

Probably have to spend VC just to play a game in PNO next year.

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The bad reviews were totally scewed by reviewers trying to penalize the entire game because of their views on micro transactions, most of the reviews are the game is great and best 2k to date but i will give it a low score because of this, I am sure 2k is crying all the way to the bank, and lets not think this is some fad this is how games will be going forward you can grind or pay and in this immediate gratification world we live in people will pay. If a company can make an additional 100 plus million on a game after release they are not going to give that up no matter what some reviewer says.

[Adnaniel]

Re: Microtransactions up 57% from 2016 - Take Two Interactive

Sad man. This 2K is the least my friends and I have played because of how in your face VC is and how limited it makes you feel. The servers are still wack with all the VC money they should figure out that issue. Looks like 2K will be on the way down. I don't know if I agree that there is not a sizeable chunk of playerbase willing to play offline but you can see that it is not prioritized by most sports developers so of course it will be played less.

Look at Madden, they are absolutely terrible with improving franchise, so of course less people will play it compared to their golden child, MUT. I fear 2K will head further down that path. GTAV online was bad with the microtransactions too and RDR2 will probably be the same. I don't have high hopes

[Nza]

Re: Microtransactions up 57% from 2016 - Take Two Interactive

2K will undoubtedly succeed on paper with microtransactions. If anything they probably could have gone even further, and may do so in 2K19. They just need to be careful about what prerequisites and conditions they're placing on joining the 2K community. Right now it seems haphazard and unplanned. It's typical boom-time thinking. It may not always be boom-time.

[hanzsomehanz]

Re: Microtransactions up 57% from 2016 - Take Two Interactive

For as long as the microtransaction train churns thru: it's all a representation of the price for pleasure. The consumer will only object when the price offends their value on pleasure.

Consumers are showing that the ceiling is high in the sky re; the price they are willing to pay for pleasure.

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[Junior Moe]

Re: Microtransactions up 57% from 2016 - Take Two Interactive

People acting like the profits reaped from excessive VC milking go directly back into improving the game instead of the pockets of the shareholders...

Oh my sweet summer children...

Sent from my HTC_0PJA10 using Operation Sports mobile app

Well, the game has undeniably improved as the profits (evil VC) and sales have soared. The money is going somewhere. Dzar himself even intimated that the game being as successful as it has might be responsible for some of our favorite devs working there. Happy shareholders and, evidently, happy enough customers to make this year even better than last. Looks like a win for everyone from where I sit. But, nevermind....

[Junior Moe]

Re: Microtransactions up 57% from 2016 - Take Two Interactive

I feel like their financial success with the VC is beneficial to us offline guys at the moment, but I feel that's more a function of the insanely Sim-enthused development team we have behind those modes.

My concern, going forward, is that micro transactions will become so invasive that it'll begin to push the developers of offline modes into crafting some sort of reward or loot system, which will invariably allow users who pay to get/increase their odds of getting these rewards.

This is happening with the new Shadow of War game in its single player mode and I can see loot boxes/rewards making their way to the myleague mode. I'd expect MYGM to get it first, especially with the "narrative" aspect they forced users into this year with the storyline there.

We could be seeing the MYGM mode as the franchise equivalent of Mycareer.

I think the lack of micro transactions in the franchise modes are due to the development team going to bat to keep it out, but that becomes harder when the publisher is pushing it.



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I hadn't thought about how a change with this particular dev team could change things. You're right, that could be an issue going forward as these guys "get it", to me. They tried putting VC in 2K14 but they pulled back after the uproar. Hopefully they haven't forgotten that.

[nddot]

Re: Microtransactions up 57% from 2016 - Take Two Interactive

Well, the game has undeniably improved as the profits (evil VC) and sales have soared. The money is going somewhere. Dzar himself even intimated that the game being as successful as it has might be responsible for some of our favorite devs working there. Happy shareholders and, evidently, happy enough customers to make this year even better than last. Looks like a win for everyone from where I sit. But, nevermind....

How can u call a game that dropped 5 patches plus all the minor fixes in less than 2 months after release date, an improvement ? [emoji848]


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[Junior Moe]

Re: Microtransactions up 57% from 2016 - Take Two Interactive

How can u call a game that dropped 5 patches plus all the minor fixes in less than 2 months after release date, an improvement ? [emoji848]


Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

The same as last year. I enjoyed the game then, even with 12 patches or whatever it was. This year is no different. Judging by the numbers I'm not the only one, apparently. As long as patches improve the game and dont functionally break anything, I don't really see why people keep looking at them as negatives. I don't know how many times 2K14 was patched but it was the least enjoyed 2K for me. Games have bugs, just fix them.

[Junior Moe]

Re: Microtransactions up 57% from 2016 - Take Two Interactive

As long as there's a less-than-1-year dev cycle, unless they greatly invest a lot of money in expanding the dev team the quality of at least some modes will suffer. Hell, even throwing money at a bunch of new devs wouldn't do much soon anyway as I can't imagine how long it would take new hires to get their head around the game's code base.

The game could probably do with a new engine at this point as it's just been stuff stuck on top of old legacy stuff year after year, but no point from a business point of view if people are throwing more money at them than ever...

Why would they do all that and incurr those new costs? In addition to the new costs, why would they lose out on the hundreds of millions they're making every year? What, all because you dont see the game taking massive leaps you want? I hate to break it to you but the yearly dev cycle isn't changing. The numbers are up from last year. The game is improved. Not as much as it would be in a 2 year cycle I'm guessing, but the current model is proving plenty successful from a critical and commercial perspective. This year is no different.

People aren't stupid. They buy and support what they want. If the product was in such dire need of changing it would be reflected in the numbers somewhere. We saw it with Live over the last few years of its last gen life; sales dropping year over year until 2K overtook and smoked it. If a yearly release isn't improving enough (and this is genuinely no snark) then just skip a year between releases. The people who get enough out of the new release get to enjoy the newest game, and whenever you buy it'll be 2 years more refined than the last iteration.

[coolcras7]

Re: Microtransactions up 57% from 2016 - Take Two Interactive

How can u call a game that dropped 5 patches plus all the minor fixes in less than 2 months after release date, an improvement ? [emoji848]


Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

You have no idea the complexities of trying to fix a game with a patch, it usually causes something else to not work as intended, so then they release another patch to fix the new issue and so on and so one, and this is not an issue just for NBA 2k18 so far Live has released 6 patches, WWE 2k18 5 patches.

[nddot]

Microtransactions up 57% from 2016 - Take Two Interactive

You have no idea the complexities of trying to fix a game with a patch, it usually causes something else to not work as intended, so then they release another patch to fix the new issue and so on and so one, and this is not an issue just for NBA 2k18 so far Live has released 6 patches, WWE 2k18 5 patches.

Of course i dont know the complexities of fixing a game with a patch. What i see from the outside is that 2k forced micro transactions and it worked i mean hey good for them but in a perfect that extra money would be injected in adding more ressources to prevent them for releasing a game that is clearly not finished upon release date. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Im not anti micro transactions im just anti being a beta tester for a game that i pay full price.
The other game dont push micro transactions that hard.

Dont know about WWE 2k18 though.

The same as last year. I enjoyed the game then, even with 12 patches or whatever it was. This year is no different. Judging by the numbers I'm not the only one, apparently. As long as patches improve the game and dont functionally break anything, I don't really see why people keep looking at them as negatives. I don't know how many times 2K14 was patched but it was the least enjoyed 2K for me. Games have bugs, just fix them.

Well the game was pretty enjoyable before patch 2 or 3 i believe. It has went downhill ever since. IMO.

I dont see them as a negative thing as long as the gameplay is not negatively impacted lol.


I mainly play offline and a MLO. So im not that much of a MyCareer guy.



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[jeebs9]

Re: Microtransactions up 57% from 2016 - Take Two Interactive

Why would they do all that and incurr those new costs? In addition to the new costs, why would they lose out on the hundreds of millions they're making every year? What, all because you dont see the game taking massive leaps you want? I hate to break it to you but the yearly dev cycle isn't changing. The numbers are up from last year. The game is improved. Not as much as it would be in a 2 year cycle I'm guessing, but the current model is proving plenty successful from a critical and commercial perspective. This year is no different.

People aren't stupid. They buy and support what they want. If the product was in such dire need of changing it would be reflected in the numbers somewhere. We saw it with Live over the last few years of its last gen life; sales dropping year over year until 2K overtook and smoked it. If a yearly release isn't improving enough (and this is genuinely no snark) then just skip a year between releases. The people who get enough out of the new release get to enjoy the newest game, and whenever you buy it'll be 2 years more refined than the last iteration.

Couldn't have said it any better.

I'm so tired of the me me me my my my guys around here.

I can't believe people spend more money on this game after they paid for it. Blows my mind lol

[ILLSmak]

Re: Microtransactions up 57% from 2016 - Take Two Interactive

Glad I quit. haha. Sometimes you gotta concede and move on. Otherwise, you are just another mark for them. Whether it gives you fun or not, if you are upset, you have to make a choice: accept it or give up the fun part to save yourself the stress. Kind of like any other real vice. Sad that games have become a legit vice, tho.

-Smak

[Adnaniel]

Re: Microtransactions up 57% from 2016 - Take Two Interactive

Personally the only reason my friends and I are able to play at all is because of the VC glitch. I would not do this ridiculous grind that is obviously there to force you to buy VC. Yes it is a business blah blah blah but the practice feels almost exploitative to me and it seems to be trending more in that direction according to these comments.