Tuesday, January 7, 2020

stop with the freemiums!

I'm tired and annoyed at freemium games.

I recently tried out EAs SimCity for mobile. It's got great graphics, and smooth gameplay, but it's a far cry from the entertainment quality I have come to expect from the franchise. I'd honestly rather play an emulated version of SimCity 2000 than the mobile version, for one simple reason: freemium.

You see, they give you a few 'dollars' at the beginning to speed up production. But by the time you get a hang of the game, you run out, and are forced to pay more, or essentially stop playing. 

So I deleted the game.

It may be because I'm in my thirties, and possibly too accustomed to "the way it used to be"
And yes, I know programmers and designers work hard and deserve to get paid for their work, but the freemium model has gotten sickening.

Forget about the "pay to win" culture that it has fostered, sending the message to young gamers who are poorer that their efforts and skills do not matter, it's simply a frustrating and eye rolling experience to play through a game up to a certain point, and it's not in a darksouls kind of way. It's because you know what you should or could do to progress, but you can't, Because you are lacking some resources that can only be obtained with real world money. And when you think about it, even for the briefest moment, you realize that the necessity to pay will come up again and probably again. At which point you erase the game from your phone, to prevent you from wasting your hard earned cash.

I've paid for in-app purchases. Like in PUBG, where the gameplay has nothing to do with how much you pay. It's a great game, and so far, nobody has made anything better. I will probably pay them again for some skins, since the game is quality, and fair, and I support programmers when I can.
I've even paid for items in tacticool. Where items you buy do give you some advantage, but not nearly as much as of you play with friends and have great teamwork. 
What I'm trying to say is, freemium can be done right, but most developers are doing it wrong.

If rather pay for a descent full mobile game, than get trapped in the stupid freemium hole of torture and deception.

And I've paid up to $20 for a mobile game (KOTOR). I don't have any statistics on this, but I believe, if more mobile games, that were made well, would have a single one time price, they would sell just as  well, or even better, since you will be rewarding gamers for their efforts, which is great for brand image.

Or maybe I'm wrong, and freemiums are the new way to play. 

But judging on what I hear from all the gamers I know, who are all non professional gamers, and are probably very similar to the bulk of consumers that companies are relying on for profits, we aren't happy with it.

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