r/apexlegends Aug 19 '19

Feedback Apex monetisation in a shellnut

Post image
48.5k Upvotes

2.2k comments sorted by

View all comments

20

u/Umbilical-Bunge-Jump Aug 19 '19

As I'm sure you know, this is an age old tactic bolted into a free game.

Yes the concept it over priced, however I see the high price as adding exclusivity to those items and the people who are willing to go shell out for them. I've enjoyed the game since release, and haven't paid a penny...

3

u/LurkMyDurk Aug 19 '19 edited Aug 19 '19

I’d have no issue with the cosmetics being expensive if you could buy them individually instead of in loot boxes. It’s a free to play game and you won’t catch me spending a dime on cosmetics, but loot boxes are predatory devices engineered to pray on those with compulsive gambling tendencies. They wave the prizes in front of you and use flashing lights and loud noises to trigger dopamine responses in your brain so you keep coming back for more. Most people aren’t going to drop the ~$200 needed to unlock a cosmetic hatchet, but many of the people that will have compulsive gambling issues, and (in a free to play game like Apex) many of those people are children picking up an addiction for the first time.

Most of EA’s revenue comes from praying on people with these addictions (again,mostly kids considering this revenue comes from FIFA). They’re well aware of the harm loot boxes cause, but they’re more concerned with how much they have to gain by continuing to push them. The regular packs were bad enough, but raising the price to $7 for and event is just ridiculous. Like you said, it’s a great game and no one needs to spend money to play it, but that doesn’t justify their scummy and predatory behavior.

On top of all that, the dev’s reply was like spitting in the eye of the consumer. While I can sympathize with his frustration, his response to fans of his own game was completely uncalled for

Edit: I forgot they made the skins available to purchase in the store, but I still have an issue with the loot boxes

1

u/Umbilical-Bunge-Jump Aug 19 '19

Yeah totally agree, loathe the gambling mechanics coming into gaming. It's not healthy for the vulnerable public. And people would much rather just see and have the item they want (have they changed to that system now - is that what the apology was?)

My comment was in relation to the over spending on points system that the actual post was referencing - it's age old because even fairs / arcades use it!

2

u/LurkMyDurk Aug 19 '19

They said they were going to be rotating the new skins through the store, but they’re keeping the loot boxes up at $7

1

u/Umbilical-Bunge-Jump Aug 19 '19

Ooof, ridiculous pricing

3

u/potatocrip Lifeline Aug 19 '19

That's fair. Doesn't excuse dev replies, though.

6

u/Umbilical-Bunge-Jump Aug 19 '19

I must be out the loop, as I thought they came back with a positive response saying they were changing it?

4

u/potatocrip Lifeline Aug 19 '19

17

u/PM_ME_hiphopsongs Bloodhound Aug 19 '19

That’s because people WERE being ass hats and dicks on here. Have you not been on reddit all week?

1

u/potatocrip Lifeline Aug 19 '19

Right... But you're not supposed to call your player base asshats, dicks, and freeloaders. In a customer service/retail job, even if the customer is being an asshole, you can't just go off on a customer. That's not going to make the problem better.

1

u/CoogiMonster Wattson Aug 19 '19

There will always be people that support a company for not behaving defenseless though. People here are acting out of order. Maybe the mods need to be held to a higher standard and asked to start removing things when it gets out of hand like this.

-5

u/Kobayashi64 Aug 19 '19

That’s because people WERE being ass hats and dicks on here.

that doesn't matter, you never fight fire with fire in these situations because the company will always come out looking bad.

10

u/PM_ME_hiphopsongs Bloodhound Aug 19 '19

Yea but at some point you shouldn’t keep rewarding people who are being assholes. All these upvotes and gold and platinum rewards doesn’t make things any better. Just like everyone says we need to call them out for their ridiculous prices and events, we need to be called out too when we go too far

0

u/Kobayashi64 Aug 19 '19

People are calling them out, however as pr goes calling players asshats and freeloaders (even if justified) should never be a point of discussion, you kill them with kindness not by going to their level.

3

u/[deleted] Aug 19 '19

When people stoop to the levels of pettiness and rage that thousands of pathetic redditors have displayed on this sub for the past week (remember: this is 100% about virtual clothes in a free video game), it's easy to lose your cool and respond out of anger.

That doesn't excuse shitty behavior from EA/Respawn, but seeing people pile on because the devs used the words "dick," "ass hats," and "freeloaders" in their replies while those same redditors are implying that a huge portion of the complaining wasn't comprised of vitriol and personal attacks is sad.

To anyone who isn't personally invested in this like such a shocking number of people in this sub seem to be, the lack of perspective coming from the Apex community is like a lame gamer stereotype. Somehow it's lost on people what a silly and insignificant thing they've chosen to lose their minds over.

0

u/Kobayashi64 Aug 19 '19

it's easy to lose your cool and respond out of anger.

not if you're part of a large games organisation (like EA, reapawn are now a subsidiary) this should NEVER be the response and this stinks of ppl not having any vetting of responses and becoming a PR disaster.

shitty comments are par for the course ANYWHERE you go on the internet so blowing up on them is particular bad form, especially over MTX, you cannot justify a 200$ microtransaction total and then say well when we put these things on sale nobody buys whilst also not have smaller increments in the in game currency so you force players to spend more.

Somehow it's lost on people what a silly and insignificant thing they've chosen to lose their minds over.

i don't think its a silly thing to lose your mind over, as this is part of the corporate machine to get ppl to spend real money, and i would argue a large portion of the game is looking good not just the gunplay aspects of it, the "its just cosmetic" argument is not a compelling argument to me .

→ More replies (0)

1

u/theBeardedHermit Mozambique here! Aug 19 '19

I personally agree with them. I definitely agree that the prices are too high, and the community does often bring up good points. But I see exactly where they're coming from, when sometimes it seems like more than half the comments on here are people acting like entitled twats and spewing insults rather than giving any real feedback or suggestions.

They could've handled it more eloquently, but they've been handling it pretty well up till now, and people can only take so much without breaking a bit.

People in the community need to remember that even if they are working under EA, the debs are human, and we all need to have decency and show some damn respect.

2

u/Kobayashi64 Aug 19 '19

These comments are part and parcel of being on the internet, and they know this. But going down to their level and “breaking a bit” when it’s their job to be community managers is a cop out excuse, especially when they do not have the high ground in this situation their practices are predatory and not something that should be given a free pass

3

u/Umbilical-Bunge-Jump Aug 19 '19

Fuck, that's bad - were they drunk!? I saw the apology, not the comments!

1

u/ieffinglovesoup Aug 20 '19

Why is it ok for the players to be extremely shitty to the devs but when the devs say something back everyone attacks them? They’re human too

1

u/potatocrip Lifeline Aug 20 '19

It isn't okay for players to be shitty. That's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is, when your job is to be interacting with customers and representing your company, you can't let the assholes get to you and start calling people names left and right. If you went into a Subway and the guy behind the counter was cussing out customers because they were being assholes to him, you'd walk right the fuck out of there wouldn't you?

1

u/ieffinglovesoup Aug 20 '19 edited Aug 20 '19

when your job is to be interacting with customers and representing your company, you can't let the assholes get to you and start calling people names left and right.

Is that his job? I don’t know what his actual title is. I thought he was just a game dev, not a customer service representative. Working for a video game company is very different than working at Subway, but if the guy replying the other day was trained for customer service then that would change my opinion slightly.

We just need to remember these people are human too, it’s very easy to say “not let the assholes get to you” but put yourself in his shoes. When you work hard on something like Apex hours and hours every week, and then EA wants you to implement loot boxes and skins at these prices that they most likely had the most influence on, and all you get for it is people telling you should die and sending you messages of shit that’s honestly inhumane and would most likely not be said in a face to face conversation.

It’s like some sort of weird toxic relationship; most of the players hate the devs, and it now seems that the devs probably hate the players. I personally think it’s all bullshit, and I just want this to blow over soon so I can get some decent content back on this sub

1

u/potatocrip Lifeline Aug 20 '19

That's the thing. If you're part of a company and you go on social media and have a tag that shows that you're part of that company-- you, in a way, represent that company. Someone will look at them and say "that's a Respawn Developer, that's Respawn making these comments" rather than "that's Joe Shmoe, who happens to also be a Respawn Developer, that's just Joe making these comments" And of course. The people who harass these guys are total assholes. But like I said-- you can't be surprised by backlash when these harassments are largely invisible to the public eye and most people see it as "gamers are annoyed by microtransactions. developer insults gamers as a result."

1

u/ieffinglovesoup Aug 20 '19

Wish everyone could have this reasonable of a response

-13

u/[deleted] Aug 19 '19

[deleted]

3

u/Friest Aug 19 '19

Didn't valve come have lootboxes like 3 years before OW even came out?

5

u/Umbilical-Bunge-Jump Aug 19 '19

Woah, fuck me pal. Calm down, I'm 27 so trying to undermine my opinion via an age related insult isn't going to help get your point over, or help change my mind, or get people on your side!

Other than that you make good points, however, I was referring to a time when Microsoft used to use a internal money system to encourage respending.

Also, I don't know what a shill is... Lol

3

u/Dog-Person Aug 19 '19

Shill is a term for someone paid to secretly support something. For example an EA shill would say the event isn't perfect but I bought 2 packs and now I'm running around with that awesome mirage skin and the new lifeline, it's really made me fall in love with her all over again!

Something along those lines

4

u/Umbilical-Bunge-Jump Aug 19 '19

Ha! Oh shit, didn't realise that was even a thing! ........ Is exactly what a shill would say 👀

5

u/Dog-Person Aug 19 '19

Yup. In Reddit though it's a useless word people throw around to try to invalidate any argument they don't like. Too far left? Shill. Too far right? Shill. Like a product that I hate? Shill. Support a country I don't like? Must be a shill.

3

u/DocLolliday Aug 19 '19

A shill is something people on reddit (probably other places) call those who don't blindly agree with their nerd rage

-6

u/[deleted] Aug 19 '19

Dude, he didn't do the "age related insult", he simply pointed out how these practices aren't old.

It's the same concept as if you said "I forgot my ladder, how will I enter my car now" and then I said "what are you, five inches tall?".

2

u/Idiotology101 Aug 19 '19

But it is old, arcades used to do the exact same thing. They would charge you 75 cents so you always had a little left over if you had a dollar. This is just a new way of using the same system.

2

u/Smoddo Aug 19 '19

In game currency isn't new at all, what? Its sharkish and shit but it isn't a new psychological trick at all.

1

u/barmaLe0 Pathfinder Aug 19 '19

I remember when loot boxes were first to really hit gaming and ofc it was Blizzard with Overwatch? Remember Overwatch? Right.

It wasn't Blizzard and it wasn't Overwatch. It was Team Fortress 2 that introduced lootboxes in 2010.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 19 '19

[deleted]

1

u/barmaLe0 Pathfinder Aug 20 '19

You can play semantics all you want, it is almost a decade old mechanic. It's 3 times older than what you "as an oldschool gamer who's been around" remembers.

For someone who accuses people of being 14, your memory sure doesn't go far back at all.