2K asks gamers to help repeal Belgium loot box ban...

From PC Gamer:

Earlier this week, NBA 2K19 developer 2K asked players to "contact local government" about the Belgian loot box ban. Now, a senior producer at the company has told Trusted Reviews (via PCGamesN) that its games' Virtual Currency "is an unfortunate reality of modern gaming."

https://www.pcgamer.com/microtransactions-are-an-unfortunate-reality-of-modern-gaming-says-2k/

Watching them burn at the stake over this...

 

Or... gamers could hold a middle finger up to loot boxes and make publishers realize, that if they want to make money off games.

They need to make good games worth buying.

 

Belgian gamers after reading this news.

 

Some CEO at 2K wants a new car, let's try to pass loot boxes as a necessity so that they don't look greedy at all. Not at all. Good idea for public relations 2K, very good idea.

(They really do take people for idiots)

 

2k is going downhill.

greedy bastards.

i like gta5, but the shark card thing showed them how they could fleece online players in a endless grind for virtual stuff.

 

Loot boxes exist because gamers want them because many (not all of course), modern gamers are lazy entitled cnuts with more money than brains.

I'm an older gamer so I've seen the industry grow from pong clones up, back in the day if you wanted something in a game you really didn't mind grinding to get it because getting something through work was its own reward, modern "kids" are spoiled, lazy and entitled and have no concept of earning something through work and patience, that applies not just to gaming of course but everything else. Generations of bad parenting certainly helped contribute to that of course.

EA make $100m from Fifa's FUT card packs alone, that's a staggering amount of money which shows that it's vast numbers of people buying cards not just a small minority, of course they'll keep prioritising that to the detriment of the rest of the game as other companies are doing as well. FUT is only one example of course as it's the only pertinent game I'm interested in where loot boxes are part of it but the global annual market must be in the billions I'd imagine now?

 

good luck with that 2k your just a bunch of greedy shills now lol

 

Make an ingame shop like in Heroes of the Storm, it works.

 

There was a chart floating around recently from their financial reports that they're making more money thanks to these things than the $60 game unit sales. At least in EA's case, it's their main source of income.

 

Back in the day you bought the game, everything was included (perhaps an expansion pack was released later), you finished it and moved on to the next game.

 

2k used to publish some good games back in the day but now they just trash like EA. The pleading to fans and their excuses for using loot boxes is disgusting really.

Ideal scenario is the publisher goes bankrupt and the devs + game licenses go to good homes.

 

Well in Fifa's case that's not true, as of January Fifa 18 had sold 10 million units, if you guesstimate a worldwide average sale price of $40 that's $400,000,000 so 4x what their FUT money brings in. But yes it's a significant chunk of change.

Edit: Actually searched some more and Fifa 18 has sold more than 24 million copies so say an average of $40 which again is a low estimate that's $960,000,000 add the $100,000,000 for coins and it's a billion $ game, staggering: https://comicbook.com/gaming/2018/09/05/ea-sports-fifa-series-new-sales-record/

DLC and loot boxes are very different things though, I really have no problem with paid DLC, if it's good quality at a fair price I'll buy it, if it's garbage or overpriced I won't, recent example being SOD2's Breakout DLC which sounds like utter crap and I'm certainly not buying it but if they put out one that expands the main game in a significant way I'd happily buy it. Even with Fifa there are definitely DLC I'd be more than happy to pay for, my club is 2nd tier so doesn't have its proper ground/chants/visuals etc so I'd be happy to pay for a 2nd tier pack that adds those, or a DLC that significantly improved Career Mode (or if they started doing their standalone management game and made them work together as in the old days I'd gladly pay for that). Buying cards for FUT, no, just no, there's zero reason to do that, I'm happy to play SP to earn coins/packs etc. etc.

 

Meanwhile in Nevada... state legislators are asking sex-workers to support repealing legal prostitution...

I hope this crashes & burns for 2K

Edit: It's like an addiction for some people almost... seriously the grind was so much more worth it - at the very least tag ESRB / PEGI to the crap. Anyone remember Camel Joe? Yeah I'm taking a stretch but I'm just spitballing cause I think a lot of this crap likely is tied to young people.

 

They are mad and should be ignored.

 

The reason for the latter (post) is described in the former (post).

P2W, F2P, lootboxes etc. are almost 100 % profit. Minimum effort, lots of relative money to be made.

I don't agree with the modern trend and would definitely like things the way they were but ultimately gamers have themselves to blame for this.
If no one ever touched an in-game purchase, this thing would have died out or never even became a thing.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go buy a new hat for a random character in a random game for some real money...

 

A gun skin, a cloak and an octopus pet for 4.99€ is an example of content that takes little effort to make and which is a great profit but has almost no value (if any) to the customer. An expansion like Witcher 3s Blood and Wine is a prime example of additional content which has value for the customer and simply acts like a prolonged version of the game.

I completely understand DLC or micro transactions in F2P Multiplayer games like Fortnite where you just do one thing over and over again and where the interaction with others play a large part of the game which is why cosmetics mean something.

But I really don't understand why single player games like AC:Origins have the Helix currency and tons of cosmetics which do not matter to anyone else but the player...since it's a SP game. SP game should have such content included from start and then real expansions with added content after the game has been released.

 

I think companies and governments have a responsibility to protect people from themselves to some degree, that's why tobacco advertising is banned, that's why alcohol advertising is severely restricted, that's why even junk and sugary foods are now restricted in advertising, gambling and payday loans now etc. etc. Loot boxes 100% need serious protection, I don't think any game that involves real money purchases should be allow a <18 rating for example, and advertising should be severely restricted, even youtube should be behind an age restriction screen for such things, that will make the devs/publishers take a long hard look at what they are and what they do, are they harmless purveyors of entertainment or are they insidious leeches who look to wring out every last cent of their customer base?

 

If they're mad at the law, it's working.

 

Kind of comic given that the game is so riddled with bugs that it would take the average player literally five minutes on Youtube to find a car dupe glitch which would give them all the money they ever needed. I played the game legit for 3 years I was even stupid enough to buy a shark card or two but half way through last year I had had enough and gave up the grind and have just used various car dupe glitches and other issues with the game to make any money I need since. I currently have some 50 retro elegy customs sitting in my garages just waiting to be sold. I am amazed by how much money they have made from GTAO and Shark Cards it would suggest that they have a robust anti cheat, anti glitch system in place but they really don't yet somehow SOMEHOW they managed to make vast amounts of cash from a game that has more holes than swiss cheese.

You may want to know that GTAO introduced lootboxes two months before the crap hit the fan with SWBF2 yet because they disguised it behind a clever random research mechanic it somehow managed to fly straight by the media.

As for 2K... well could you please ask your government to allow us to f*ck you over please, we really want to f*ck you over but your government has stepped in to prevent us from f*cking you over so if you wouldn't mind please ask them to allow us to f*ck you over... PLEASE!!!

 

yea i never logged into the online at all because of the sc bs, well and rampant cheaters in the pc online, never heard of the car dupe thing, but i never cared to follow the goings on either.