It's pretty easy (Gaming)

by ManKitten, The Stugotz is strong in me., Monday, March 05, 2018, 13:42 (2252 days ago) @ Cody Miller

It's hard to say what is best for developers, since what's best for players influences how players feel about the developer which influences their sales. But what's best for players is clear:

AAA game - You charge full price ($60+) up front and only once.
Console game- You charge full price ($40+) up front and only once.
Handheld game - You charge full price ($30+) up front and only once.
Mobile game - You charge full price ($.99-$15) up front and only once.

Additionally you include every piece of content with that purchase price, and do not have in game stores. If you want to add more content later, you do it via an appropriately priced expansion pack, not piecemeal DLC.

Pretty simple. For all the free to play games that work, every single one would be better if this was done. Again, I am only talking in terms of player experience and artistic quality here.

This worked for Atari, Nintendo, Sega, SNES, Playstation 1, Playstation 2, and Xbox, because it WAS a one time purchase...that's it. I pay money, I get game. The gamer went home and played the game and it was awesome or it sucked and we dealt with that accordingly. The game developer went on to make other games or they went out of business because a one time purchase for a product does not sustain a business.

With everything now becoming on-demand with live updates and content, the business model will transition to subscriptions and limited time access. I think the era of "buying" a game is coming to an end.

As much as I prefer your method, it probably won't be around much longer.