The Corporate Greed in the Gaming Industry
And why it should change
Video games over the last decade has evolved immensely in many factors, ranging from gameplay and graphical improvement, rise of the esports scene, increase of social popularity and many more. However not all factors are necessarily positive as recent years has seen game developing companies implement the microtransaction* system and pricey content within many games in this day and age. Due to the increased number of consumers and positive sales in the last few years, it is natural for business companies to figure out solutions to earn more profit. Unfortunately there are gaming companies had gone too far to the point where some are overpricing in-game and downloadable content, installing a paywall for new content, false advertisement of merchandise and content, encouragement of the gambling through microtransactions and rigging the game system in some way to encourage gamers to buy boosts or content. These acts of corporate greed is an issue to the gaming community as gaming itself is slowly becoming more and more as an ideal source of income for these hungry companies, viewing video games more as a business model rather than a game that brings joy and happiness to others. Many users and gamers are continuously being ripped off from their games yet people still pay as some are oblivious to the unjust exchange.
One of the biggest Triple-A* companies, Electronic Arts is recently branded as greedy controversial company that supports the gambling through the ‘loot box’ system. Their recent game title FIFA 19 (one of their trademark games) heavily exploits the microtransaction system as chances of obtaining high level characters in game are as low as 4.3% with some even higher levels are less then 1%, not even mentioning a specific number. This setup encourages players to either grind long hours of gameplay for a pack or purchase multiple packs instantly with real world money which most players will most likely do. This influence is taken further as some legendary characters and items were only available for a limited time, adding a sense of psychological urgency for the players which could lead them to buy these packs. EA was at one point under investigation by the Belgian and Dutch governments as the company themselves stated that they violate Belgian gambling laws as it announced last year that mircotransaction in video games are gambling. Other companies obliged to this law yet EA stood their ground and insisting that ‘loot boxes’ are not gambling since “players always receive a specified number of items in each pack, and secondly we don’t provide or authorise any way to cash out or sell items or virtual currency for real money,” said Andrew Wilson, CEO of the Electronic Arts. These exploitation and persistence for ‘loot boxes’ clearly shows the developer’s corporate greed as they are very invested into the microtransaction system as their source of profit. EA has a history of these exploitation and rising distrust from their fans because of these actions, yet it is still ongoing.
Another triple-A developer, Activision well known for its Call of Duty franchise has similarly exploited their games for profit through microtransaction. In their recent games such as Destiny 2 Forsaken, Call of Duty: WW2, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered and Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 has implemented the ‘loot box’ system for a petty price. All content on sale in these games are usually items, equipment and cosmetics yet some of them should already be in the game. An infamous example of this is the open red dot on sale for 100 points (which translate to a single dollar) within the in-game store of Black Ops 4 which caused large outrage as this should had been in the game as it should have been apart of a weapon. This shows how willingly Activision is to grab cheap cash. But it doesn't end there. Upon the release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered, the company was reselling past DLC* map packs for the remastered version. This was perceived as a scam for money as the original game Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare had been out since 2007 and many had expected the long period of development of the remastered version would contain all past content, but no they are reselling it as packs like in 2007. Another scam by Activision and indie developer* Bungie on their joint development on Destiny 2 Forsaken was the Exp scandal. The developers of the game had deliberately rigged the player progression system to take longer to level up and earn fewer items. Much like EA, it has a psychological effect of allowing players to either go on a slow grind or purchase items, outfits and weapons instantly. In every new instalment of the Call of Duty franchise and new games Activision made, they are always finding ways to earn money from the pockets of their players, even through low tactics.
The most recent game Fallout 76 by Bethesda studios received a massive backlash for not only its mircotransaction system but also for it’s false advertisement, glitches, hacking, leakage of personal information, poor gameplay and many more. Due to variety of poor PR management and development into this game, many gamers would naturally want a refund for the game. However Bethesda refused to accept most refunds and hold on to the cash they had took. The refunds was inconsistent as Bethesda only allow a handful of players to receive their money back. Currently there is a lawsuit against this act by the Migliaccio & Rathod LLp on behalf of Bethesda consumers. False advertisement was another issue they faced, prior to the game’s release fans were able to preorder the limited edition of Fallout 76 which included other merchandise. One mechanise was advertised as high quality duffel bag that was made out of canvas, but what the fans got was a small cheap bag made of nylon. This caused outrage and requested for refunds. As a result Bethesda responded by giving $5 worth of in-currency in their accounts for the in-game store. This caused further outrage as it shows the company being very reserved with their money. It was unfair deal. The players should had received at least $100 worth of in-game currency as the limited was well over $100. The microtranscation scandal they pulled on the players was the Christmas event of 2018, where they deceived the actual price of the Holiday Emote Bundle. In the in-game store menu, it states the bundle is half priced from 2400 atoms ($24) to 1200 atoms ($12) but it is actually false as it always has been 1200 atoms. The ‘50% off’ deal was installed to again like the other developers to create a sense of urgency since it was a limited time event. Players took note of this and the company quickly made changes, removing the false deal. The deceptions and refusal of refunds clearly shows Bethesda’s desire for money as they grasp on to it.
Koei Tecmo is the game developing company known for its Dead or Alive series due to its questionable outfits and characters, however they are also know for their overpriced DLC and season pass*. In their most recent game Dead or Alive 6 it includes a season pass that costs more than the game itself. with the game costing for $79.99 while the season pass being $13 more with $92.99. This is greatly viewed as overpriced considering the season pass contains 62 costumes and 2 additional characters to be added to the existing 24 character roster. The ripoff continues with one of the characters to be added in the game with the season pass is Mai Shiranui, a character that has already appeared in past Dead or Alive games. Like Activison, Koei Tecmo is reselling old content that should already be in the game. This action of reselling past content is easily seen as lazy by most members of the gaming community. Another disappointing factor that the company did was mentioning that this is the Season Pass 1, indicating that there will be more overpriced deals in the future. Unfortunately this action by the company is not the first time as they had done something similar in their previous game Dead or Alive 5 with its 71 DLCs all adding up to a total of $1,289.79, according to Steam. The over priced downloaded content and season pass compared to its base game is ludicrous yet it is sadly true for many other games including Destiny 2 Forsaken and Destiny. The statistics below from WePC.com indicates how much DLC has been priced and sold over the years.
- The DLC market took 20% of the market share in 2011 and increased to 54% in 2017. (Capcom Annual Report, page 44, 2017)
- The DLC market value increased by 121% in 7 years. (Capcom Annual Report, page 44, 2017)
The entertainment company Warner Bros. had last year made a mobile game with developer PortKey games to created a spin off for the Harry Potter franchise. This game Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery, heavily relies on a resource system known as energy to perform most activities within this game which may take hours to replenish or use of the microtransaction system to buy more energy to progress the game. The players our given have limited energy since the start and can perform a number of actions. But the atrocious aspects of the game were revealed when certain parts of the game traps the in-game character in a situation forcing the players to spend a large amounts of energy to progress. However these situations were specifically rigged to drain players of their energy half way through the event, encouraging players to buy more energy or wait until they regained their resource with a limited time. The scene within the Devil’s Snare perfectly captures this ‘enforcement’ to use currency. The player’s avatar is trapped in a wave of vine with the only way to escape is through spending orbs. Players who do not want to pay have to wait for their energy while watching their child avatar trapped and struggling to be free.
This scene has ironically become a metaphor of what the microtransaction systems are in video games today. Holding the players captive until they pay up.
Due to these unjust methods rigs, disadvantages and scams game developers are getting away with the money that that didn’t deserve. Corporate greed is an issue that more members of the gaming community and the world should be more aware of as they are continuing these actions. These mentions of gaming companies’ actions are only a few examples of what has been occurring over the last decade. It is disappointing to see video games turn into money making machines to mislead and lure players into spending their money. In contrast to a decade or more years ago, video games were meant to being an aspect that is most important in gaming; fun. Video games are meant to enjoyable, not to be exploited for for cash. Video games are meant to have full packaged content, not a half complete game with a paywall for extra content. This needs to change. As mentioned before people should be more aware on this matter, and perhaps achieve change in some way like the investigation of EA, the lawsuit against Bethesda, the poor hard copy sales for the games of EA and Activison or even an organised boycott by the players against another money hoarding company Bioware for the lack of content in their recent game Anthem. What ever the case, microtransactions are becoming a norm in video games (which can be in the statistics below) and the injustice act of greed must stop.
- The value of the online microtransaction console market worldwide in 2017 is estimated to cover 10.5% of the shares. (Xania News, 2016)
Terminology:
Microtransaction*; a business model within video games where users can purchase virtual boost, cosmetics and content with micropayments, credit cards or accounts.
Triple-A*; a term to describe video games made with the highest development budget and teams along with high promotions. A triple-A game is often expected to be of high quality.
DLC*; stands for Downloadable Content. In video games it is the extension of the base game.
Indie developer*; an independent company that doesn't necessarily have a high development team or budget. Also not owned by larger gaming companies.
Season Pass*: a deal that guarantees future DLC that is yet to be revealed for a game. It is often a cheaper price compared to all of the DLC combined.
