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View Full Version : could this be the begining of the end



Big she'd
07-18-2014, 05:16 AM
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-28363729 Apple and google are in strife for app cash purchases

Fergus14
07-18-2014, 05:20 AM
I doubt it, just means clearer advertising. The part they will fall down on is the customer service part.

bam bam.
07-18-2014, 06:11 AM
It's just more talk. It will take yrs to implement and even then there will still be lots of ambiguity in the new rules. I honestly am yet to find a "free" game. Same as all sales say you save $20 per purchase. Well actually if I buy 5000 of whatever the sale item is I am not going to have an extra $10,000 in my bank. Word play. Same as all our prizes say they boost your atk/def/output by X percent but they all boosts your base output by X percent.

bam bam.
07-18-2014, 06:12 AM
So.... No lol

Big John
07-18-2014, 06:47 AM
Liked this quote from the article:-
Our own findings show that 95% of consumers never pay anything for free-to-play games”

Tiga
UK games industry trade association

NexusImperium
07-18-2014, 10:37 AM
This is an interesting topic because it touches on something that I'm passionate about.

A co-worker of mine worked for EA Games and they also follow the 'F2P' model on some of their mobile games.

He told me that their business model is set up to target the so-called "whales" (a term taken from high rollers in the regulated gaming industry, a.k.a. gambling). These constitute about roughly 1% of a game's players and these players spend far and above in-game than the next group of more casual players or the more financially-disciplined free players.

Apparently they can spend thousands of dollars on these games. I personally feel it's a very serious problem. Generally I'm not in favor of regulation but in this case I think many game developers dishonestly misrepresent how much money is required to fully participate in the game.

I enjoy MW and don't mean to single it out but the Crate events are a good example of this abuse. We are presented with an award (open 10 crates) but have no idea how many crates we will actually need to open to obtain the reward. It's a gamble and my guess is that one must spend upwards of $100 to get the final reward.

In industry, companies must tread a very tight line of regulation and legal frameworks in order to hold contests where there is a monetary prize. "No purchase necessary" sweepstakes are very common here in the States where people can enter to win a prize with a monetary value. Perversely, in the F2P game world, people pay money to enter and win a prize worth no monetary value.

I've been drafting a letter to my local congressional delegation to raise awareness on the issue because I believe that F2P games developers ought to be required to disclose odds of winning and cost to win in-game events and prizes.

In a different game I play, a player was curious to see how much money he'd have to spend to acquire a promotional hero. He ended up spending $2,000 before obtaining it and then did a charge back (in fairness, that's dishonest on his part but it's good to pull back the covers and see what a company is really asking in the form of a "promotion").

PM1896
07-18-2014, 02:26 PM
Thats an interesting topic.

With regards to an business model i'd like to see the net earnings with reducing the amount of events and/or make it cheaper.
Due to my in game experience i see a lot of guys (top25), who just sit out events, cause its too much.

Simple conclusion: relax the event-schedule, make kt a bit more affordable to finish events, and you will have a LOT of more players paying for gold.

As it is nowadays Gree just makes it easier to leave.


I can't understand the logic behind the endless events.
Almost all top spenders have jobs and real life to tak care off.
I am absolutely sure that 1 day rest between the events and 1 WD per month wouldnt result in any loss to Gree.

NexusImperium
07-18-2014, 02:56 PM
Hey Guys,

Just as a follow-up to my last post: I mentioned a guy using a chargeback after spending lots on an in-game reward.

That isn't just dishonest, it's fraud and you will get sued.


Cheerio.