Last Year, Free-to-Play Games Accounted for a Quarter of Total PS Store Spend on PS4

Half of that is probably mine 😫🤣

@lolwhatno If they're enjoying the game and are happy to spend the money, then who are you to stop them? The vast, vast majority of people are not spending tons of money on them.

Never ever bought anything through microtransactions. Unfortunately, platform holders knew that if they ignored complaints long enough they could rinse a generation of gamers who grew up with it as being normal to be treated this way. Free to play to get them hooked, then squeeze them for more and more when they are invested. The drug dealer method of games design.

I love micro transactions. We all know how big and grindy games can be and there is nothing that can be done about that it's just a matter of fact. We should applaud companies like Ubisoft and EA that give us the opportunity to save time.

It's almost like "free" games cost more than traditional ones

People cant be surprised by this surely?
This had been going on for years. The fight against live games or ftp was never a fight.
This will be the future. I dont like it, but it is true.
Sure there will be single player games, but f2p or live games will be dominant.

@LiamCroft
It’s a fair point that these games make money by manipulating people with addictive personalities. They could not exist as a profitable product without doing so. It is an immoral structure unless some type of spending cap is enforced. Even then…

That's a lot of dollarydoos. None of them mine, however.

@LiamCroft I would agree if it’s just things like battle passes, DLC and skins and stuff but once it’s loot boxes we are talking about the hormonal kick your brain gets due to gambling. That’s not healthy. But yeah lootboxes appear less and less and I have no issues with people spending tons on fortnite ASSUMING they can actually miss that money.

@LiamCroft Maybe not today, but this is a shockingly high number. One that will likely only increase in the future. Once Upon a Time, digital downloads were the minority, now they're the majority of sales. How do you miss the obvious that this can potentially set a bad precedence going forward? Less incentive to invest in a traditional consumer-friendly gaming model, so hey let's load our games up with even more DLC, in-game paid currencies, and invasive micro transactions.

I proudly spent $0 on F2P last year.

Good for those who enjoy those type of games.

I prefer single player games so as long as those keep coming out, not an issue for me.

so that says 25 percent of the gaming public arnt that smart

And yet people can’t comprehend PlayStation making an attempt at live service 😂

@lolwhatno I understand where you are coming from but spending a 1000 here or there isn’t that much to some people. Some people get paid well, can blow a 1000 and still have enough to live a good life.

@lolwhatno you talk like it's different than any other product on this planet. By your logic, nothing should be advertised or made to be appealing. Should people be upset with the amount of money they've spent in a year for their take aways or restaurants? I mean, buying your own ingredients and cooking yourself would be a lot cheaper. Do restaurants have sinister business models because they offer a service that people actually want to consume?

How is someone who is consciously spending money on something they enjoy or want the same as someone being robbed?

@lolwhatno
Whikst I have sympathy for your beliefs and also a strong desire to ensure these buisness models dont use a gambling hook to extract cash from the vulnerable, I feel a political discussion about how capatlism is often at loggerheads with basic humanity is well beyond the scope of this conversation.

IF there is no gamble hook, then people can spend what they like, where they like. Theres nothing to stop them buying $1000 worth of ps4 titles on the store, or going onto amazon and spending a ton on rubbish they dont need.
You only get to choose how you spend your money, others can spend as they see fit, and obviously do!

But we should all fight random loot boxes and the gamble, thats just common sense and where we definately agree.

@lolwhatno do you approach strangers you see wearing £1,000 shoes and £5,000 jackets and tell them that they are wasting their money and that they need support?

@Titntin I agree. Anything involving gambling needs to be responsible with how its marketed and structured.

If you know what you're getting then by all means spend £1,000,000 on a single fortnite skin if you can and want to.

@lolwhatno as grateful as I’m sure they are for your concern lol, I don’t think it’s anyone else’s business what people spend their money on. People who work hard and earn a good living can spend it on whatever they want.

If your neighbour can’t afford to eat, that’s awful but it’s really not your problem. Do you suggest we give away all of our earthly possessions and live like Mother Teresa? Because there will always be someone worse off than you are.

I mean sure, I could withdraw 20 quid from the cash machine and give it to a homeless person 🤔. Orrrrr… I could buy the new Obi Wan bundle that’s coming to Fortnite tomorrow 😬. Sorry homeless dude… I can’t lie to you about your chances but… you have my sympathies 🤣

That makes me sound heartless doesn’t it haha but the point is, we can’t be expected to solve all of the worlds problems 🤷

@lolwhatno you don't think people are addicted to buying overpriced designer products?

@lolwhatno I hear you freind and broadly agree.
Anything that helps people make sound judgements about their spending is to be welcomed.
I was hooked on a mobile game for nearly 5 years (summoners war) and it was the very definition of gambling loot boxes. I spent more than I ever wished to on it due to the gambling mechanic, and I consider myself pretty switched on and wise (ok, just old).
So Ive seen first hand how this traps people even if they are rational and have their eyes open. I would save anyone else I could from falling into this trap if I could.

But monthly subs for an mmo, season passes for 'free' titles and people buying some costumes or vehicles or a map unlock dont have the same danger, so although I rarely choose to spend on such items, I dont have an issue with these type of spends.

Thanks for your clarification, I dont think we are worlds apart on this, and even if we were, we are just two gamers exchanging ideas. Theres no outright truth, just our own viewpoints.
Take care.

Okay let's give @lolwhatno a break - too many messages @ him. He might be addicted to replying to all these messages and it's not good for him 😜

@carlos82 they can cost more. I’ve spent a fair bit on Fortnite over the last three years but I can’t think of a single traditional game that’s provided as much entertainment for the same length of time. And that’s all that really matters to me. I do prefer more traditional games but most are forgotten after 6 months (a year max). Fortnite just keeps going. And when it doesn’t, I won’t feel like I wasted my money because I’ve honestly enjoyed every minute.

@lolwhatno i totally agree with what you are saying, and i do believe i'm gonna be judged for how i spend my money.
I do like and respect your mindset , wish you good luck with your studies man.

I get it why PlayStation wants a bigger piece of that pie, but it's a sad direction in that people rather play more of the same with silly crap to dress their character than experience a brand new game.

@OmegaStriver those are fine. Kids stealing their parents' credit card to own the outfit their friend got, not so much. Same for people with addictive personalities.

I was talking to my son and his mates a little while back, they play a lot Apex, League and a bit of Overwatch mainly. They refer to players like myself who jump into mainly single player games as casual, only a level above mobile players. From their view point 50 hours it what it takes to get a proper feel of the strengths and best play style for a single character not for a whole game. It's clear that many forms of gaming are available today and most have their strengths. Personally I still can't deal with sports gambling Sims or mobile money pits but as long as I still get get single player experience's, I'm happy gaming is expanding and experimenting

No more expensive single player games.

I personally don't care what people spend their money on...but I do care about the impact they have. Nowadays pretty much all the huge publishers are chasing the cash pile and what does that mean? A huge focus on microtransactions, battle passes, countless skins etc

What does that mean for you? Cookie cutter games following the same formula, copy/paste mechanics focused not on fun necessarily but instead simply hooking you on coming back daily to complete chores and errands. While this is pretty much expected in a F2P game, it eventually has impact on full retail games. You don't make a billion dollars and then not have people glancing your way, seeing what they can copy.

Is it any wonder that once legendary franchises are pushing out their worst reviewed garbage yet? Stuff like Battlefield and Halo and hell, even Gran Turismo has been catching flak lately? It isn't because the formula has become tired. Publisher are forcing their developers to chase the trends popularized by F2P, to go after the massive money pie that people are willing to mindlessly spend on. Instead of buying a $60 or $70 game and getting something full and complete, people are willing to spend way over that so long as you give them another hour of content in the form of even more chores every couple months.

It's not that I'm upset that people are spending money on what they like. I'm upset because of how such frivolous spending affects the rest of the games industry.

@BartoxTharglod Battlefield 2042 sucks because they chased the "hero" trend with operators that nobody asked or wanted for, just so they could sell skins to people.

Halo Infinite is doing ok but it's a Halo game, Microsoft's flagship FPS...you would expect it to be doing much better than "ok". The "design flaws" stem from the grind one expects from the usual F2P games.

Gran Turismo was about to do something that most F2P games do, make the grind annoying so that people feel more inclined to buy microtransactions to skip said grind. They only reversed course because people "got uppity".

To me Live Service games are basically glorified F2P experiences... except that they usually charge you a fee upfront to get in the door first.

@lolwhatno mate, you're perfectly entitled to criticise gamers who blow this money on skins and ***** like that. Don't let the F2P defenders get you down.

It DOES have an effect on SP gamers, if companies are investing more and more into live service games then that means less for SP games, no?

It's exploitative garbage, pure and simple, aimed at kids to boot. It's a depressing sign of the times and of the future.

@TooBarFoo ha, really? To me those that only play online MP games are the true casuals.

The sheer cheek of it!

@Col_McCafferty I'm with you on that, funny how subsets see the "others" so differently

@trev666 Including you because that's how much money was spent and not how many players have. A single dude could just go and spend billions, he himself would be these 25% then.

PS is flushing itself down the toilet and I find myself agreeing with multiple @Col_McCafferty posts. The world is upside-down and it's not even Friday yet.

@themightyant You definitely need more coffee, lol. Some trolling is too obvious to not be a joke

@LiamCroft There's a reason why casinos have a strong negative stigma, Vegas is called "Sin City" (and the stigma is the appeal), and there's always a political battle whenever legalizing the entry of casinos into an area (that's usually won by the companies spending money to win.) Every casino customer is having fun and chooses to spend the money. But it doesn't make a business which has the entire operating principle designed around manipulating and exploiting common human personality flaws and restraint weaknesses to bleed them dry acceptable, even when legal.

It's also noteworthy that the real casinos have taken note of "gaming" in the mobile (and now console) space borrowing from their pool of tricks and have been making a massive concerted effort in marketing to push their own gambling mobile apps. This is interesting, because video game publishers are not regulated, while gambling apps are government regulated. And yet, what's the difference between a pay2win game in a free app, and a real gambling game in a free app that gives new members $1000 in no-risk bets to start? In the real gambling app, you actually can win money and come out ahead. In the video game app, you can only lose money. We've arrived at the point that video games are competing directly with casinos, and actually losing the value proposition.

@NEStalgia ha, "a stopped clock is right twice a day". That's you not me....I'm always right.

😉

Upside down? It's not 2018 anymore. All about a certain Jedi Knight for me.

😝

@lolwhatno Don’t get me wrong though. I miss the way gaming use to be. I prefer games with a traditional amount of content at a traditional price. I hate the current direction of games along with everything that goes with it.

I've spent...let's see...about $35 over more than a year of playing, on Genshin Impact. Much of that was discounted credits from my PS card or $5 off a $10 PSN card from Gamestop, but yeah - $35 in credit. And I enjoyed it, because they've made a reasonably fun game they keep adding content to, to keep it fresh and fun and enjoyable.

I don't begrudge the $35 to a free game nearly as much as I'm annoyed by the microtransactions (and pushy ads - OMG, the pushy ads!) of games that aren't free, like Hot Wheels Extreme I picked up on sale this week, or any EA Sports title.

If we could keep the microtransactions to FTP and ban them from anything you have to buy, I'd be much happier. Even if I could just disable the menus and ads in games I've paid for, I'd be thrilled. Heck - Genshin Impact is FAR more subtle in trying to get you to spend money than EA is, even if they rig their rewards to really take advantage of psychology.

@RobN genshin & splitgate are the only ftp games I like , genshin because I can play all the content single player the online requirement would be a big no for me but it's free so I can't complain & splitgate because it reminds of playing custom games on halo 3 with my mates back in the day

That's really depressing. I honestly hate free to play games with a passion. None of them are any good (to me). They're all geared towards spending or opening loot boxes.

I'd rather play a free demo and make a single purchase from there. If it's good I'll pay up to £60, otherwise I'll get it on sale. In both cases I'm likely to buy relevant and expansionary DLC. I don't feel like this is unreasonable to expect.