"Developers" aren't going to get that tip. The company will.

Fantastic. I think I should tipped every time I log in on multiplayer games. I’m providing a service to other players.

AKA customers paying devs not the employers.

Just like the US restuarant industry.

How about reducing the stratospheric executive pay and giving it to the devs instead

You can already "tip" aspiring developers, it's called kickstarter, or just buying their games.

If by developer they mean employee of a game studio, that's called a salary and it's the job of the studio to pay. If they mean studio as developer then. Just a second let me get my reply just right. Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha no.

if there was a "tip" option where 100% of the money went to the employees at the game developer, and not the company, then maybe.

But no, this will just be used to boost profits.

I don't hate Ybarra's take like the rest of the internet. I can absolutely understand where he's coming from, the genuine want to support developers further after you've played a genuine 10/10 banger. That longingness to support is typically how live-service games get my money, when they release a very good patch that adds content I like/fixes problems I had I'm usually willing to buy a microtransaction or a supporter pack or a premium battle pass or w/e. It can be a little, idk disappointing?, to not be able to do the same for a single-player only title like Elden Ring, where the only way to throw more money is the upcoming DLC.

Of course, the major problem with this idea is the question of where the tip goes. It's probably not going to be distributed to the development team, especially in the West where half of a team gets fired once a game is shipped. For live-service games, you know that it funds continual development and keeps the lights on, but as best as I can tell these hypothetical tips would just go to upper management, people like Mike Ybarra, who don't necessarily deserve it.

I kinda wish games would do a big collector's edition after a game comes out. I might not have wanted to pay $150 to support a game on release, but now that I've played it for 500 hours I feel differently.