"This is why you're seeing free to play and microtransactions everywhere. The disc-based, day one $60 model is crumbling." -Cliffy B
In part two of our series we ask "What other ways can sports gaming evolve?" Thats really simple. If they are smart, developers will take preemptive measures that will address the fact that compared to other games their progress is barely noticeable. Outside of a next gen upgrade, sports games so often take a step forward one year and one backward the next. They too often commit the unforgivable sin of carrying over exploits from a previous year. Their developers operate on essentially an 8 month cycle where they settle on a mixture of improvements/aspects they can "sell" to the casual fan as proof they aren't just buying what they could have actually added in a patch. The reason? Greed. Only the companies benefit from a system like this as they keep yearly returns even though game quality suffers. The developers take all the heat as this short cycle hampers bug testing and quality control, often resulting in the release of games that have a number of known issues.
The sad reality is, sports gamers are, for all intents and purposes getting a Version 2 every year.
Its past time to call sports games on the carpet for their bullshit. FACT: EA and 2K your games simply don't improve enough from year to year for anyone to pay full price for what is essentially a roster update. Yeah we said it. Fans of other genres consider sports gamers a punchline. You're the idiot still paying for long distance while wireless companies give it away for free. Wanna laugh at World of Warcraft fans? DON'T. You pay what is essentially a $60 subscription fee every year. Not so funny anymore is it?"
"Its time to wake up people, 1996 just called, and it wants its payment model back."
Now we're sure certain companies will balk at a F2P Model where gamers only pay for the content they determine has value [yes, EA we're looking at you] because then that means they have to supply value based content on a regular basis or they won't get paid. What it also means is that they've gotten used to pilfering you. They do a marketing campaign full of lies and you learn the truth only after they've got your money. Of course they want the status quo where they're used to giving you as little content as possible for the highest possible cost.
So whats the solution? We think its a constant development process like EVE Online and Dust 514 have. CCP's "games as a service" philosophy has steadily grown their game without the customer feeling like they have been taken advantage of, while staying profitable. Content with value actually gives the company the opportunity to uncap their earnings. I've personally paid over $120 for Dust 514. Thats twice the cost of a $60 disc. CCP built a foundation and they add new content to it (for free) on a 3-4 month cycle all while constantly offering paid content that the customer can choose to buy. Interesting concept huh? This consumer friendly model gives the devs all the incentive in the world to deliver a constant flow of new content--because the game is free otherwise. Anyone that doubts the power of competition and incentive should pay close attention to how Sony just sold a better console at a lower price without restrictions as a direct result of what their competitor was doing.
One of the other keys is that F2P must be from the ground up. The core game can't be watered down or stripped down to force users to buy content. Given their history we could see EA all of a sudden charging gamers to use the lobby system or to wear Lebron's new shoes in game. This is not the way to go, the real value is in advertisements, classic teams lobby, Madden/NBA Moment episodic content, advanced features for online leagues, enhanced stat tracking, detailed scouting reports of other players and the classic teams and players that many have wanted access to for so long. These players are no longer in players associations and now have to be paid for their likenesses. With paid content this can more easily be done.
Ads are necessary. Corporations like the NBA, ESPN, McDonalds and countless others would leap at the chance to market to online users and provide income to gaming companies trying not to lose out on any. And lets be honest, ads are already in our games on a smaller level. If money from corporations raises the quality of your gaming for the opportunity to advertise to the playerbase, its a WIN. You think a Pandora section on NBA 2K where users could pick their background music by artists of their choice (and be willing to suffer periodic ads during load times) wouldn't work with today's gamer? Apparently you haven't noticed all the people walking around with headphones recently. Individual user selections are all the rage. Now whenever gaming ads are mentioned the tinfoil hat wearing card carrying ACLU members come out of the woodwork spouting off. Just Stop. Recall for one second how business is done. Don't be naive enough to think that deals aren't done behind the scenes that effect you. We're pretty certain publishers came to Sony and Microsoft with their piracy concerns. While MS chose to lock down their console and content, Sony created a way to reimburse developers (the online fee, which is opt-in) for potential losses by giving them a chunk of PS Plus, and did everything seamlessly without ever asking the consumer to change. Ads in gaming is in the same vein. Dont begrudge a company the opportunity to make money. Its the reason they exist.
In the end, the future of sports gaming can support gamers, F2P and advertisers in a happy medium.
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