Cliff Bleszinksi, who worked on the Gears of War franchise, has come out in support of EA, after the internet was drenched in criticism of their policy of adding microtransactions in every future game was revealed.
He said that the detractors were a vocal minority and that Steam does the same but not many people are that aggressive against it.
“It took Valve years to bang their service into the stellar shape that it is in these days. Yet somehow everyone online forgets this, and they give EA crap about trying to create their own online services. Heaven forbid they see our digital roadmap for the future and try to get on board the ‘games as services’ movement,” his blog post read.
“And you know what? In spite of the uproar, people still bought plenty of them. If you don’t like EA, don’t buy their games. If you don’t like their microtransactions, don’t spend money on them. It’s that simple.
“EA has many smart people working for them and they wouldn’t attempt these things if they didn’t work. Turns out, they do. I assure you there are teams of analysts studying the numbers behind consumer behavior over there that are studying how you, the gamer, spends his hard earned cash.
“If you’re currently raging about this on GAF, or on the IGN forums, or on Gamespot, guess what? You’re the vocal minority. Your average guy that buys just Madden and GTA every year doesn’t know, nor does he care. He has no problem throwing a few bucks more at a game because, hey, why not?”
He revealed a bit more about how games have evolved and publishers want to make money first.
“The old business model is either evolving, growing, or dying. No one really knows. ‘Free to play’ aka ‘Free to spend four grand on it’ is here to stay, like it or not. Everyone gets a Smurfberry. Every single developer out there is trying to solve the mystery of this new model. Every console game MUST have a steady stream of DLC because, otherwise, guess what? It becomes traded in, or it’s just rented,” he wrote.
“Those companies that put these products out? They’re for profit businesses. They exist to produce, market, and ship great games ultimately for one purpose. First, for money, then, for acclaim.
“And when those companies are publicly traded on the stock market they’re forced to answer to their shareholders. This means that they need to make a lot of money in order to increase the value of the shareholder’s stock. Every quarter.”
“If you don’t like the games, or the sales techniques, don’t spend your money on them. You vote with your dollars.
To break down his argument in a sentence, he is saying if you don’t like don’t buy them and the people who criticize are a small vocal minority who are not really a representative of the way the market behaves.
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