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US kids want games subscriptions and virtual currency more than games this Christmas (www.gamesindustry.biz)

submitted 7 months ago by Goronmon@lemmy.world to c/games@lemmy.world

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[-] Boozilla@lemmy.world 132 points 7 months ago

Evil genius marketing, working as it always does. The kids don't know any better, so they are being exploited and conditioned to think the horrible new normal is just the way things have to be. And most parents are too tired and busy to find better alternatives.

[-] Jiggle_Physics@lemmy.world 50 points 7 months ago

It's simple, the games that appeal the most to kids require some form of subscription. If those games didn't, then they wouldn't want ones with subscriptions.

[-] Orbituary@lemmy.world 44 points 7 months ago

The games that appeal most to kids play upon their dopamine response and generate addictive patterns.

[-] Jiggle_Physics@lemmy.world 14 points 7 months ago

Correct, and if they didn't have subscriptions, subscriptions wouldn't be popular.

[-] TwilightVulpine@lemmy.world 5 points 7 months ago

Putting it like that makes it sound that this is incidental, but the conditioning techniques baked into the design of these games are included for the sake of selling battle passes and virtual items. If they didn't have subscriptions and virtual currency, they would have been built entirely differently.

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[-] Wrench@lemmy.world 11 points 7 months ago

And target that critical mass where you don't want to be the only kid that doesn't have access to the game every other kid is playing.

Not having cable TV growing up definitely caused me to be the odd man out on pop culture references. A lot.

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[-] Nacktmull@lemm.ee 6 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Did it never occur to you that this might not be just coincidence?

[-] Jiggle_Physics@lemmy.world 13 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

It did. I think you are misunderstanding what I am saying, or adding more to it than there is.

Children do not desire subscriptions as a superior model to owning games. The model of access is not something they are comparing and contrasting. They are simply going for the games they prefer, which get locked behind subscriptions. I never implied that games popular with kids aren't intentionally put behind subscriptions, I was arguing that the subscription model isn't actually preferred by kids.

[-] Nacktmull@lemm.ee 6 points 7 months ago

Apologies, I obviously misunderstood your first comment.

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[-] stopthatgirl7@kbin.social 8 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

I was talking just today with some coworkers about how having subscriptions instead of owning is what is normal to kids now - not just games, but things like Netflix and Spotify. So this doesn’t surprise me, but does depress me. Technofeudalism is the new normal.

[-] lolcatnip@reddthat.com 16 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

In my teen years I spent a large fraction of my disposable income on music. A Spotify subscription is a vastly better value than buying whatever I could scrounge from a used CD store. Back then it was common for me to read about some semi-obscure recording and just have to wonder what it sounded like, because I had no hope of finding it in a store, and a special order was way out of my budget, especially for something I had no idea if I'd even like. Now I can listen to damn near anything that's ever been published for less than I spent as a teenager. I find new music by listening to personalized recommendations instead of local radio stations. It's just better in every way (except probably for the artists, but music has always been a cutthroat business so who knows).

A lot of subscription services suck and are just a way to milk customers, but streaming audio and video are not in that category.

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[-] spudwart@spudwart.com 68 points 7 months ago

Here are some relatively cheap games to give kids that aren't fortnite or roblox and dont run on some subscription/internal monetary currency:

Risk of Rain 2
Minecraft (Java)
Tunic
Stardew Valley
A Hat in Time
Baba is You
Fate (Wildtangent)
Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga (Not the Skywalker Saga)
Chip's Challenge 1 and 2
Shovel Night (Treasure Trove)

[-] at_an_angle@lemmy.one 16 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

But I want FortNite V-Buck's! I only have the default skins and people are making fun of me at school!

[-] pastel_de_airfryer@lemmy.eco.br 11 points 7 months ago

Exactly! This is more about the social aspect of these games. Kids are playing Fortnite/Roblox/Minecraft because that's where their friends are hanging out after school.

[-] grue@lemmy.world 15 points 7 months ago

Here are some good Free Software games that cost nothing at all:

Hedgewars
Mindustry
Shattered Pixel Dungeon
Minetest (with MineClone2 mod)
0 A.D.
SuperTuxKart
Freeciv
FlightGear
Battle for Wesnoth

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[-] RGB3x3@lemmy.world 9 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Death's Door
Celeste
Party Animals (you can buy a bunch of skins, but you don't need to)
The Outer Wilds

[-] Cornucopiaofplenty@lemmy.world 8 points 7 months ago

Why not skywalker saga, out of interest? Recently 100%ed it and thought it was a fun game.

[-] spudwart@spudwart.com 11 points 7 months ago

It's relatively more expensive, and requires a bit more modern hardware to run it.

Most every game on this list can run on some 2011 bestbuy/walmart unbranded pc.

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[-] Neato@kbin.social 6 points 7 months ago

I would like to add Outer Wilds to this. No combat, virtually no violence, and adult themes are aimed at mild existentialism. Great exploration game with fun physics and puzzles.

For older kids I'd suggest: Satisfactory. Essentially first person Factorio with mild combat vs fauna.
Astroneer: exploration and advancement.

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[-] setsneedtofeed@lemmy.world 66 points 7 months ago

Too bad. They’re getting copies of Burger King’s Sneak King and they’re going to like it.

[-] rip_art_bell@lemmy.world 39 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

"ESA survey showed" -- not exactly an unbiased report

[-] tacosanonymous@lemm.ee 37 points 7 months ago

That is super dystopian.

[-] Goronmon@lemmy.world 7 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

I wouldn't say its that bad. Various forms of collectibles/cards have been around for a long time. Asking for gametime for a game like WoW isn't exactly a new phenomenon.

I think it's just that there are a few specific examples that stand out. Some aspects of Roblox can be pretty concerning.

But if a kid just wants some money for a skin for Fornite, or to buy a specific world setup for Minecraft, I don't necessarily see that as some scary new thing.

[-] tacosanonymous@lemm.ee 7 points 7 months ago

While I hate slippery slopes, this is an historic trend. They squeeze in little ones that don’t seem so bad. I accept no games with these predatory or greedy models and I’d argue that kids shouldn’t be subjected to them.

[-] andrew_bidlaw@sh.itjust.works 36 points 7 months ago

That's what a lack of street drugs does to the youth, the OG subcription services.

[-] Skwerls@discuss.tchncs.de 34 points 7 months ago

Hot take: this is better than them getting a bunch of plastic crap that will end up in a landfill in 6 months.

[-] deaf_fish@lemm.ee 15 points 7 months ago

Yeah, but that is kinda like saying US healthcare is better than it was 50 years ago. You're correct, but why make the comparison?

It would be best if game developers didn't encourage kids to subscribe to their games. Just buy them like we did when I was growing up.

[-] rbesfe@lemmy.ca 7 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

This presumes that disposable plastic crap is the only gift alternative. I still have most of the books I got for christmas as a kid

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[-] PopOfAfrica@lemmy.world 27 points 7 months ago

Where did we go wrong?

[-] qooqie@lemmy.world 35 points 7 months ago

Most games are free to play and heavily encourage subscriptions. So capitalism?

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[-] Carighan@lemmy.world 33 points 7 months ago

Unchecked "free market" capitalism, if I had to guess.

Companies should never have been able to run outside of a very tight yoke. Yeah sure, capitalism. But not unchecked and especially not unchecked-across-borders so they can start escaping shit by moving legal entities around. Oh and speaking of that, maybe "corporations as entities" is another really really big one we fucked up, allowing the people who make the truly shitty decisions to shirk responsibility for them.

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[-] Jiggle_Physics@lemmy.world 15 points 7 months ago

In case you are wondering this because it seems children actually prefer subscriptions to owning games, they don't. Out of what is offered to them, the most desired choices happen to be subscription models of some form. If those games were something you just bought then the desire would be for games that were purchased in full.

[-] Sterile_Technique@lemmy.world 10 points 7 months ago

We've been hooking kids on gambling since (at least) baseball cards, which -surprise!- were heavily lobbied to convince law makers to let it fly.

Consumers were doomed the instant we failed to torch and pitchfork that shit.

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[-] panchzila@lemmy.world 8 points 7 months ago

This type of games are free to play. So a bunch of kids who are friends can start playing at any time even without money. If some of them like the game, they'll stay as a group for the social aspect.

I don't see any wrong in it. Its just different of what I did 30 years ago.

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[-] AnonTwo@kbin.social 18 points 7 months ago

I can understand the sentiments of the thread to offer alternatives

Just remember whats going to happen based on your own christmas as a kid, when you got "The next best thing"

Given there's a lot of good picks, it's still a tale as old as time.

[-] TwilightVulpine@lemmy.world 18 points 7 months ago

My parents refused to enable me to get into the glorified gambling of trading card games and frankly I was better off for this. I've seen people waking up realizing they had spent hundreds to thousands on cardboard designed to be replaced and deeply regretting it. That is while having cardboard to regret buying. Imagine what happens to these kids if the game they spent all their gift cards on closes down and takes it all down the drain.

Meanwhile there were gifts like games and D&D books that let me have fun for a long time as complete packages without needing additional expenditures to enjoy.

There are things kids can like and dislike, and we should keep that in mind. But as adults we should also take some responsibility for cutting through the bulshit of manipulative marketing. They aim these things at children because children only see their immediate excitement and wonder, but not the sleazy business behind it.

[-] EssentialCoffee@midwest.social 8 points 7 months ago

Meanwhile there were gifts like games and D&D books that let me have fun for a long time as complete packages without needing additional expenditures to enjoy.

I see that kid-you never got into the world of gaming accessories.

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[-] TheMusicalFruit@lemmy.world 16 points 7 months ago

Just dropping a gift recommendation for younger kids with a Nintendo Switch. Kirby and the Forgotten Land. A few years old at this point, but my two younger kids still play the heck out of it. It’s wholesome, and doesn’t have any in game purchases or online subscription.

[-] flameguy21@lemm.ee 13 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Everyone's wondering where we went wrong as a society but honestly a year of game pass during a time of my life where I didn't get new games very often sounds way better than getting like three games for Christmas.

[-] Ibaudia@lemmy.world 13 points 7 months ago

Better idea: Get them a ton of classics from the Steam sale, put them on a fresh acct, and then give them hundreds of hours of good shit for like $50. You could get 5 copies of Undertale for the equivalent price of 1 Fortnite skin.

[-] panchzila@lemmy.world 15 points 7 months ago

I share my steam linrary with my two kids. Gave them 200+ games. They still play Fortnite and Roblox because that is what their friends play. When I was young the biggest games were single player and you shared stories with your friends. Now you play with them online.

[-] Ibaudia@lemmy.world 7 points 7 months ago

It really is crazy how much the cultural landscape of games has evolved over the past decade or so. I'll just be here playing classic singleplayer games until I'm old and gray like a boomer lol.

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[-] Sabin10@lemmy.world 11 points 7 months ago

Strictly speaking, I'm not opposed to monetization in f2p games but the pricing is egregious.

When the le seraffim bundle for overwatch 2 dropped they also put their in game currency on sale so you could get enough currency to get the bundle for $50 instead of $70 and people were calling it a great value.

Even at $50, that's enough for 4 months of humble choice which would net you 32 games and 6-8 of them would be AAA games.

[-] atrielienz@lemmy.world 11 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

gestures at the outside I am not surprised. Outside is a McDonald/Starbucks laden hellscape. There are a dwindling number of places for kids to get enrichment outside their own homes. People in general spend increasingly long times in front of screens for various activities. Gaming is an activity that they can do alone or with their friends that doesn't require them to pay for things to enjoy them. Some of them don't even recognize that there is a real world cost for things like vbucks and so on.

Toy stores are few and far between. We don't watch media that has significant commercials anymore. What did we expect?

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[-] squirrelwithnut@lemmy.world 6 points 7 months ago

This is why we can't have nice things.