Comment by Phillips126 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by Phillips126 | Hacker News Reader

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As an avid gamer, the price increase I find a bit unsettling (especially since content is moving digitally - thus cutting several costs). Realistically, it's only a $10 increase, however, I feel the sticker price is approaching that point where I personally am at the "wait for sale" mindset. Not to mention that many games these days include a variety of gimmicks (loot boxes, micro transactions, cosmetics) to vacuum as much money out of the customers as possible. EA is notorious for this behavior so I am interested to see how this game in particular (NBA 2K21) is received.

Lately I've found myself purchasing more games on my PC as they frequently have sales and prices tend to be lower than the console equivalents. Of course my "gaming PC" was a bit more than a console, that doesn't seem to be the case anymore with some of these rumored prices coming out on the next gen systems.

> games these days include a variety of gimmicks (loot boxes, micro transactions, cosmetics) to vacuum as much money out of the customers

Do other people avoid video games these days for this reason? Perhaps it's a function of being busy, and generally liking other hobbies (like programming), but I just don't want to participate in a gaming world which is defined by this sort of economics. I understand it's more profitable, but it turns me away.

I certainly avoid games that put these trends front and center (even if free). Some games that I've purchased over the years, Destiny 2 for example, have changed their model completely and I find it saddening. The core game is now free (which I paid full price for) and all expansions (DLC) are paid. They also include paid seasonal content (4 times per year, 10 weeks in length, $10 each) where they introduce some (typically poorly received) content to grind out and some new items in their in-game real money market (Eververse). Typical items in the "Eververse" are $10+.

I hope these trends fade away over time although I am not expecting that to be the case with the profits some of these publishers are reporting.

FWIW, the NBA 2K game is not published by EA. But it is still full of micro transactions!

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