Apex Legends developers spark outrage after calling gamers “dicks”, “ass-hats”and “freeloaders”

[Bede-x]

The apologism for devs calling the player base, that they hire psychologists to better make gambling addicts out of, freeloaders is fucking frightening.

It's like the scene from Breaking Bad where Jesse unloads at the self help group.

"You know what - why I'm here in the first place? Is to sell you meth. You're nothing to me but customers."

You know who aren't freeloaders to these devs?

• Kids who run up their parents credit cards without their knowledge.
• Kids who have been manipulated to beg their parents for V-bucks.
• Kids who are ostracized at school because they can't afford a fancy skin in this digital slot machine.

Seriously, fuck this entire predatory industry and their entitlement to people's money via addiction. They aren't creators, they're fucking parasites.

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I don't want to comment on the current situation, but there's a larger discussion here, as to what extend the industry's monetisation strategies influence the overall mood of the industry. Maybe I'm living in a bubble, but I don't think we see this in the same way in other industries. It's become this tug of war between publishers and customers, where the first part is using every trick in the book to try and extract as much money as possible, while customers seem more and more frustrated, some reaching a boiling point where they lash out. It's not that companies in other industries, don't do the same, but selling games in bits and pieces digitally, provides a unique opportunity to employ practices, that would be either impossible or at least hurt the experience in books, films, comics or similar.

It shouldn't be like this, with customers and publishers clashing all the time and as far as I'm aware, it isn't to the same extend in other sectors of the entertainment industry, so why is it happening so much in gaming? What percentage of games from influental companies like EA, Ubisoft, Activision and others, will result in an backlash from influencers on Youtube or similar, making their fanbases voice their concern, some in inappropriate fashion? I haven't looked into it, but just looking from the outside, it feels like it would be higher than what big companies in say the movie industry would experience, but maybe I'm off here and they deal with just as many issues.

But if I'm not, could the monetisation practices that are possible with ever changing digital games, be part of the reason of why this is happening so frequently in the gaming industry?

 

[Sparks]

Fine for the majority of them but having the super rare one just be "buy everything else and then you can buy it", and that amounting to £130, is way past that line imo.

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Oh definitely agree. I thought they gave an alternative to that already?

That whole "we were family!" post is embarrassing.

As is the idea that Respawn has some elaborate plan to make a ton of money off MTX.

The skins might be expensive but if they have data saying that a price reduction would barely move the needle then it's probably the right call. And again, you can show you think it's expensive without being an asshole.

EDIT: and now people comparing it to selling drugs. How can anyone take shit like that seriously?

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Especially how they are just using Fortnites model really. And you never hear shit about Fortnite, I honestly am a conspiracy theorist now, thinking that Epic has a team in place to stir up controversies for their rival games.

Just how hard the competitors get hit is suspicious...

 

[Old Gimlet Eyes]

Not sure what that Respawn rep is trying to accomplish with that comment.

He's painting with a wide brush, and it comes off as completely cold to the community. I know profitability is important, but just keep that crap to yourself.

I hated having my eyes destroyed by the terrible grammar of the gamer response, but devs can't expect to commit robbery without any pushback at all.

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This a a free to play game that nobody is forcing anyone to play. But yeah let's throw around committing robbery sure.

And the other poster comparing to drugs, lol. Respawn is robbing, getting people hooked and failing to send them addiction brochures. The horror.

 

[faceless]

They're not wrong, but you should never say that to the hand that feeds you.

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They're saying it to the freeloaders

 

[Scuffed]

Are they boycotting the Star Wars game

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The outcry about that game completely altered it's design and drove it to the bargain bin within months. You can get it for like $5 -$10 these days.

 

[BabyDontHurtMe]

Gamers, especially on Reddit are always telling all these game personalities and developers to cut the shit and be real, to be more than just a salesman for their games and give some insight into the gaming business and how game developing works, then they praise them as God when they start posting there and being more personable and informed on what the community wants...

But you call some people dicks and all of sudden you whine about how they weren't being professional.

Fuck off, gamers.

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It's hardly exclusive to gaming. It's a common trait in people in general. Consumers are a diverse bunch. There's the casual types, hardcore/passionate types, and sensitive types. My dad is a sensitive type of consumer. If he's inconvenienced in the slightest way, he will let you fucking know about it. He's unapologetically blunt and will ensure that he receives justice. He insults, shouts, and swears like a sailor if he doesn't get what he wants and ensures that the representative of the company feels like shit. I also guaranfuckingtee you that he is the least harsh of them all.

I don't blame my father for getting pissed, especially when money is on the line, so I understand the anger many gamers feel. Those that make situations seem like acts of war are delusional. That reddit post we saw was comically bad but it's unfortunately how many people are. That redditor would that person that bitches and screams like a lunatic until the company works in their favor. Whether you see that parent enter "outrage mode" at a McDonald's when they screw up an order or whatever else, that is behavior that permeates throughout all forms of commerce. Gaming can be nasty. We can and should call it out. However, I fear there's not much we can do to stop it.

 

[Owlet]

Reddits in the wrong, the devs are in the wrong, everyone is an asshat.

 

[DrDeckard]

Is it bad that I'm on the developers side?

 

[Wamb0wneD]

are you saying that f2p has been solved and that it maximizes return based on psychological devices in-game? in a thread where one of the main contentions is that skin sales need to cater to the few that actually buy them and that the vast vast majority of those who interact with f2p don't spend a cent? I don't disagree for a second that f2p is full of insidious elements, but I still see absolutely no proof that these ppl are out here hiring "psychologists" to maximize their return and to make their model as addictive as possible. Again, I'm not saying that f2p models don't promote the existence of whales, or that people don't have their lives ruined off of this shit, just that I have never seen a single thing talking about using psychologists specifically to grift the consumer.

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The methods are definetly set, yes. The way the shops are laid out, the way people are led to them, the way visuals entice people to pay up. All worked out. The only thing that changes is how much pubs and devs lean into it. We had Battlefront II where EA went too far. We had Shadow of War where you can invalidate the entire gameplay loop by paying up. You have documents from Activision where they lay out how to match up people with worse gear with people with stuff they got from paying to entice the guy who is losing into paying, too. Or their "social hub" to increase spending by envy for other people with shinier stuff.

They don't need the psychologists anymore, they just need people that need to evaluate what is acceptable in the eyes in the public or not, and continously shift that level to acceptance to more egrigous levels.

So no, return isn't maximized. It never is.

 

[Wetwork]

I'm not happy with the MTX in this singles mode, so I'm not going to buy any. I might express my frustration with it, but I'm not going to fling shit at Respawn for them. Communities crank their bitching and moaning up to 100 over everything, and I can only imagine how annoying it gets with hundreds of thousands of players. I get enough of it with the one or two customers I have to deal with in retail. Am I okay with the $200 or whatever worth of MTX in the new event? No way, but there are appropriate ways to express disinterest- like not buying it, laying it out in a forum post, or just dropping the game entirely

 

[pants]

Nothing the developers here said was particularly controversial, and I'm absolutely on their side on this one.

Gotta love how those terms are taken out of context in the post title, though! Lets pour more fuel on the fire, surely thats what the conversation needs - more hyperbole and hot takes!

 

[Lindsay]

Is the first dev quote literally old person yelling at clouds?

"I've been in the industry long enough to remember when players weren't complete ass-hats to developers and it was pretty neat."
Could be misremembering things. Maybe, maybe not. But if you've been in the industry "long enough" you've prolly be worn down by stuff like this over a long period of time?

"I forged a bunch of long lasting relationships from back then."
Not suggesting this is untrue but it sure reads like all those people who pine for the days of their youth and how great school was.

"Would be awesome to get back there, and not engaging with toxic people or asking 'how high' when a mob screams 'jump' is hopefully a start."
You're not going back there. Stop interacting with your customers. Maybe way back in the day it was fine enough when the internet was fresh and new and were just genuinely thrilled to chat with a dev. Or when games were made by tiny teams with less pr/publisher/money at risk/etc. overhead involved. Thats neither the time nor the kind of dev you're with now. Let it go. We've seen thread after thread about devs getting frustrated over dealing with their community. Take a sec to learn from other devs an now your own recent experience an fade into the background for the good of your sanity.

 

[SeanBoocock]

Im staying out of this one but I will say that everybody, both inside and outside the industry, really underestimates how difficult it is to talk to consumers in the F2P market

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Likewise. I view F2P games and their in-game economies like I view investment in other hobbies. That is also how a lot of the more engaged players in those games value the experience. There is a clear disconnect between how people view investment in these games, and navigating that divide is as you say, very difficult.

 

[Soj]

I understand the dev's frustration. It's a free game and gamers can be dicks.

Can't argue with people calling out the predatory monetization in Apex either.

 

[dreamlongdead]

Judging by this thread calling out toxic gamers is the perfect tactic for corporations to take from this point forward since people are clearly willing to paper over your scummy behaviors as long as you validate their distaste for certain people.

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It's seems like some of the responses are simply drive-bys by people who don't even realize that there's a legit MTX controversy going on here.

 

[Herey]

Or you know, the people sputing toxic shit and the ones not liking the get called freeloaders, or don't like getting lumped in with these assholes just because they complained about something, are different people. Can't be though. The monolith "the gamer" is running rampant yet again.

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I read the "freeloaders" comment as tongue in cheek and I don't think they should've done either, but you have to empathise with the devs. They face walls of text, a lot of which will be negative feedback, and a decent portion of which is vitriolic. Toxic comments always drown out positive ones even if the latter outnumbers the former.

I mean just look at that heavily upvoted Reddit post. "Gamers" even if they're a small portion don't deserve the benefit of the doubt.

 

[Lowrys]

They were right to call out the abusive poster. But they also implemented bullshit monetization and only changed it after being called out.

The two things aren't mutually exclusive.

 

[SecondNature]

Whoa now. We've diverged here slightly and are beginning to wander into what-if territory. I'm arguing against purely cosmetic loot boxes such as in your Fortnites and Apexes. COD boxes that incorporate game-changing items are pure trash and actually deserves harsher criticism than they may already be receiving. I understand where you're trying to go with it but we can only really address Apex's system as it is currently. Purely cosmetic, which is functionally harmless to the game itself and to those that choose not to engage in monetization schemes.

Is it exploitative? Sure. A lot of things in life are. However, COD's exploitation is far more egregious than Respawn's. I also think that responsibility takes a role in here somewhere. Either by the adult end user or the adult responsible for the end user.

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It's not "what if" territory though.

Lootboxes at $7 is representative of EA pushing the boundaries on what's acceptable as normal. Fans are not taking issue with even buying $18 skins upfront (at least nowhere near the backlash of the current system).

The overall tone regarding skins is "If I can spend $18 to straight up buy what I want, Im happy with supporting a F2P game this way"

Fans are not okay with "I need to spend $7 at a chance to get something behind a lootbox". Fans HAVE seen this before with EA games, and other games.

Again, Im not sure why Respawn got the biggest flak for this. But it's clearly a boiling point with games constantly doing this.

There's no guarantee that this wont turn into gameplay advantages -- not with Apex-- but with other EA/Respawn games. No one expected it out of Treyarch, yet here the Black Ops 4 community is, detesting the company for what they are doing.

What is the difference between the folks at Treyarch, who say nothing about their exploitation, and Respawn? they're all people in the end, but one group blatantly exploits fans without budging, while the other apologetically tries to mend a relationship with the fanbase, which further incites backlash because some fans have decided that the apologies are transparent.

"Is it exploitative? Sure. A lot of things in life are."

You admit it's exploitative but undersell the harm of that word. We're talking about purposeful systems put in place to completely take advantage of certain spenders.

It's not freeloaders that make them money. It's a certain group of spenders, many of whom will talk to you about being addicts. These people need help, but there's no system-- legal or taken upon by the companies-- to protect them.

Yes, it's just skins. Yes, it's a F2P game. But this is a tried and true method of normalizing prices in such a way that allows these companies ways to further exploit a demographic.

 

[freakybj]

I have never bought a micro transaction before but 18$ for a skin. Holy shit man.

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I don't really have a problem with charging $18 for a skin. It was the loot box scheme that obfuscated how much money you'd have to spend that was problematic.

And calling players freeloaders was completely unacceptable - playful jab or not. I view this as a developer trying to guilt trip people into spending money on a free to play business model that they themselves implemented. That's low key trying to stigmatize the folks that don't buy microtransactions while giving praise to those that do since they are the people that allow for the game to continue to be developed and new content to be added. It's why they went off in that subreddit because they knew that people who were complaining were the "freeloaders" and not their real customers anyway.

 

[Village]

I mean that's just the industry as a whole at the moment. Capitalism works this way. I'm not saying respawn are virtuous or anything, but I still favour them over people shitting over them constantly whilst they try to make a good game. Also people thinking that respawn implemented the prices all themselves with no persuasion from EA are just a little bit naive.

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One no is saying that Respawn did it themselves, no one. I feel for anyone in a creative position getting shit they have no control over. I think I mention in another post that noawadays due to the nazi's that exist unfortunately can be used as a vessel to harras POC's, LTBHQ+ and women. However , respawn is owned by ea. And thats's a company literally lobbying to sell gambling to children. And I don't think " well that's just the industry and capitalism " and throwing your hands up is productive. I'm on the side of the devs , harassment is shitty. But the greater context is EA's....everything. And while respawn isn't the EA execs , they do work for them and produce a product that outside of reasonably has people upset. Those people are expressing their frustration in shitty ways in some cases, but the core of this problem lies with in the evil corporate giant that paints the context of this conversation. Which doesn't allow me to be on a side besides " Don't harass people you fucks " which i think is a good side to be on.

 

[Deleted member 364]

Devs are starting to realize they've fucked up by ever apologizing and ever bending over backwards for gamers these past 5-10 years. Must be awful having to type up fake apologies for lowlifes who spend their free time shitting on your game and your studio until they get what they want.

 

[Toxi]

It's seems like some of the responses are simply drive-bys by people who don't even realize that there's a legit MTX controversy going on here.

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We realize there's a legitimate controversy. We just also don't think the dev comments in the OP are unwarranted.

 

[Dr. Mario]

So, I'm usually on the side of the dev. And I came in reading it and was like yeah they're right. That reddit comment is the typical aggressive and condescending post that dev's don't need to put up with.

But then I thought about what was being complained about. And honestly I'm kind of here as well:

I dno I'm with the "toxic" gamers on this one. If your business strategy is legit psychological warfare designed to defraud people from as many of their "whale" dollars as you can get you deserve this sort of pushback. You can't subject people to this F2P exploitative, abusive, and borderline fraudulent nonsense and then roll out your OMG we're just poor developers why does everyone hate us spiel without expecting some sort of response.

I dno it's awfully hilarious to me when they're making a free product and then calling people freeloaders when they don't pay for it. lmao. Maybe they should start selling polaroids infront of tourist destinations.

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It's not nice calling people scum to their face and you shouldn't perhaps do it, but you know, much like that reddit guy is a dick, that part is also pretty much true. If you don't want to be called that, don't act like it. So the way that community manager said "didn't read lol" also betrays a lack of self reflection over their scum practices.

At this point, much like news sites closing down their comment sections, I think both game developers and consumers should stop with the community outreach, and gamers should just deinstall the game immediately if they feel so strongly about it.

 

[SinkFla]

This is why Ed Boon doesn't respond to people spamming "Where MILEENA?!" on RIP tribute tweets or petitions to have NRS staff fired for not including their favorite characters, as much as those fucks deserve a good verbal beat down. I can't disagree with the devs at all in the case, even if I do think what they were going for (before walking it back) was predatory microtransaction practices.

 

[EdgeWilder]

where's the lie tho

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Came here to say this

 

[CO_Andy]

i wouldn't expect the vast majority of the people who play military shooters to hold a civilized online conversation

snubbing them wouldn't be prudent, especially when they've got a valid complaint

 

[Premium]

Spend 10 minutes reading ERA and you'll find yourself in agreement with the Respawn dev.

There's a very loud, obnoxious contingent of gamers that spend their time complaining and whining rather than just enjoying their hobby.

Social media has now given them platforms to spew hatred and vitriol at every perceived slight. It's the no-lifers taken to the extreme (big surprise).

 

[kiguel182]

Not liking the monetisation of the event doesn't allow you to be toxic towards the devs.

You can dislike something and not harass someone. It's a concept that seems hard to grasp but it's possible.

 

[Wamb0wneD]

I read the "freeloaders" comment as tongue in cheek and I don't think they should've done either, but you have to empathise with the devs. They face walls of text, a lot of which will be negative feedback, and a decent portion of which is vitriolic. Toxic comments always drown out positive ones even if the latter outnumbers the former.

I mean just look at that heavily upvoted Reddit post. "Gamers" even if they're a small portion don't deserve the benefit of the doubt.

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There is nothing tongue in cheek about that. Someone made a comparison to how Trump said "I love the uneducated" that is pretty apt. Putting a "we love that" after your derogatory term isn't making it tongue in cheek.

I agree about the rest, negativity always drowns out positivity. But that doesn't mean devs (or a lot of people on here looking at the thread) should lump all negativity together. If there's criticism to be had it should be adressed (and in this case not being made fun of after it was adressed. Like...what?). If the dev couldn't handle the sometimes vitriolic backlash on a personal level that's an entirely different issue, but the PR guy shouldn't have typed what they typed, imo.

Oh definitely agree. I thought they gave an alternative to that already?

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They did after people complained. Now they call the people that complained freeloaders. A+ PR right there.

 

[SparkleMotion]

I am kind of a freeloading asshat, so Respawn got it right on the money.

 

[SecondNature]

I read the "freeloaders" comment as tongue in cheek and I don't think they should've done either, but you have to empathise with the devs. They face walls of text, a lot of which will be negative feedback, and a decent portion of which is vitriolic. Toxic comments always drown out positive ones even if the latter outnumbers the former.

I mean just look at that heavily upvoted Reddit post. "Gamers" even if they're a small portion don't deserve the benefit of the doubt.

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The very definition of freeloaders is: "a person who takes advantage of others' generosity without giving anything in return."

It's not at all surprising why fans dont take that as tongue-in-cheek, just because the dev softens the blow in the same sentence with "but that's okay, we love you too".

It seem as if the dev is frustrated, and I dont blame them. It is 100% human to feel attacked and overwhelmed and he/she needs a well needed mental break, but that term is going to be seen as throwing shade

 

[Deleted member 8696]

But he's right

 

[The Wraith]

Both sides suck. Completely predatory practices at Apex with crazy expensive loot boxes got called out and decided to charge crazy expensive prices on their skins.

Gamers speaking like dick heads to the devs, when no one deserves to be spoken to like that. Stop playing the game and that's how you get their attention. Acting like an entitled bag of shit doesn't do anything productive.

 

[Toxi]

The lesson from this is that public interaction with your players is not productive and creators should stop bothering with it. Any form of communication should be one-way.

 

[benzopil]

What they're saying is that the demand for a given skin doesn't increase as the cost of the skin goes down.

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It doesn't increase because a discounted item costs 1200 coins instead of 1800 but you still have to buy 2000 coins because other options don't exist. So basically the price doesn't change. And this guy definitely understands that but uses this argument as a shield thinking that it'll work. And it unfortunately works.

 

[xch1n]

You're reading something very specific into their words that isn't really there.

What they're saying is that the demand for a given skin doesn't increase as the cost of the skin goes down. That can include whales, but it isn't necessarily whales. Plenty of other audiences can be included in that—think of a Wraith main who is only interested in Wraith skins. When the event comes out, she likes the new Wraith skin, so she's going to buy it regardless of whether it's $10 or $18. Non-whale. Total money spent on Apex Legends: $18

You can play this game a hundred different ways. They're releasing 24 skins for their game's characters and a lot of its most popular weapons. It seems like you're arguing that the only people interesting in any one of those skins would necessarily be interested in buying all of them, which doesn't really make a lot of sense to me. There are plenty of people who might be interested in one or two skins from this event for specific reasons, who are not under any reasonable definition 'whales.'

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I'm going to assume that you're arguing in good faith, and trying to get me to see another side of this, which I appreciate. I think that the way and manner in which the community has aired their grievances has been at best immature and more realistically, harmful and unacceptable.

But to go back to your first point: You couldn't do that until the temper tantrums encouraged (forced?) Respawn to make each item purchasable. You HAD to buy $7 packs until you got the one you wanted, if your end goal was to get the single skin you wanted. And if you're a Bloodhound main who saw that trailer for the event and loved the axe? That's $168 for 24 packs and another $34 on the axe. This is the mechanic that they started this event with, which is what precipitated this thread.

Also, small nit, you can't buy $18 worth of coins, so you're going to be spending more than $18, and then you'll have lost money sitting in an account that you can't cash back at (yet another brazenly exploitative practice that I don't get how is legal but everyone does it so I guess it's fine).

 

[Sparks]

Well first of all you can charge for a battle royale game, PUBG costs a base price and it is still one of the biggest. And second, maybe the combination of having bad looking skins (imo) and the high price for some of them is what causing this uproar, I'll admit I never liked the Apex characters so I never had a reason to spend money on a skin for them, doesn't mean I didn't like or wanted to support the devs.
I guess the alternative is to make stuff that people actually want to spend their money on, that event was not it.

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But people are buying skins? I don't understand your point I guess.

 

[Dogenzaka]

I dno I'm with the "toxic" gamers on this one. If your business strategy is legit psychological warfare designed to defraud people from as many of their "whale" dollars as you can get you deserve this sort of pushback. You can't subject people to this F2P exploitative, abusive, and borderline fraudulent nonsense and then roll out your OMG we're just poor developers why does everyone hate us spiel without expecting some sort of response.

I dno it's awfully hilarious to me when they're making a free product and then calling people freeloaders when they don't pay for it. lmao. Maybe they should start selling polaroids infront of tourist destinations.

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The apologism for devs calling the player base, that they hire psychologists to better make gambling addicts out of, freeloaders is fucking frightening.

It's like the scene from Breaking Bad where Jesse unloads at the self help group.

"You know what - why I'm here in the first place? Is to sell you meth. You're nothing to me but customers."

You know who aren't freeloaders to these devs?

• Kids who run up their parents credit cards without their knowledge.
• Kids who have been manipulated to beg their parents for V-bucks.
• Kids who are ostracized at school because they can't afford a fancy skin in this digital slot machine.

Seriously, fuck this entire predatory industry and their entitlement to people's money via addiction. They aren't creators, they're fucking parasites.

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Yeah I don't get why everyone is rushing to the defense of Respawn over this. Some of the comments they're getting are harsh but they poked the bear in this instance, multiple times.

 

[Giever]

The psychologist thing is such a distraction anyway when you realize that these practices are exploitative regardless. We have numerous cases and examples of people having their lives ruined as a result of being susceptible to this stuff. The idea of these companies hiring psychologists to design systems like these is silly when you consider that the player bases often dwarf the sorts of sample sizes psychologists get to work with anyway. You don't really need a psychologist on retainer when you have a huge population of consumers you can experiment with for over a decade to figure out maximum ROI (with little or no regard for ethics).

 

[Deleted member 4494]

From where I'm sitting, the *point* underscoring both attitudes is correct. "Toxic" gamer yells, rips at hair, but ultimately has a salient-if-whiskey-driven argument that isn't far off from the usual (totally correct) arguments someone like Jim Sterling would have. Meanwhile, angry and offended devs are, well, they're right about a lot of gamers. Maybe the one they're engaging with, too, but if they think for a second that the relationship and dynamic between them and this particular poster is the result of a healthy industry that isn't bleeding people and taking advantage of their minds and wallets, well, they're being stupid.

The larger business here -- the one that doesn't *have* to be outside, customer-facing, but rather internal and shareholder-facing -- is forcing everyone else to have combative relationships. This turns into, unsurprisingly, devs trying to screw people just as much as people are out trying to screw devs, if not more.

So, welcome to exasperation land, where both devs and the players of their games clash directly and we discover that behind those screen names are just ordinary people who get mad and call shit out how they see it, whether it's true or not. It sucks that this is the kind of shit we'll see more and more as industry level abuses continue, and gamers become more and more defensive and aggressive. But hey, that guy in the back room counting up the MTX cash who doesn't even know Reddit is a thing is doing okay. Lucky.

 

[MillionIII]

But people are buying skins? I don't understand your point I guess.

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"The amount of people who spend is crazy low" what did the dev mean then?

 

[Deleted member 18944]

Playful jab? Why? Because he follows it with we love you? So if he said the players were asshole but we love you, that's playful too, right? So long as you follow it with we love you it's all in jest.

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It's really not that hard to see that in essence he's saying many people don't buy anything from the marketplace and that's okay.

I'm not going to entertain the false equivalence, you know you're trying to enter the conversation in bad faith with it.

 

[Dekuman]

There's also a disconnect here between all the market research they apparently had and the repeated walking back of montizaiton from these companies. EA specifically which apparently haven't learned anything despite continually indicating they have learned something. I have no doubt the analytics Respawn has was given to them by EA which has was more experience in the space.

It's kind of bizarre to implement a terrible lootbox system, rile up the community, walk it back with an expensive MTX scehem then vent on reddit about it.
To top it all off, when asked why the price is so high, cite research that lowering prices won't affect sales, and say in no uncertain terms almost everyone is a freeloader (love you guys though). If they have the research, why not go for the 'correct' monetizaiton to begin with rather than drag their community and themselves through this,.

The schizo tendencies of AAA publioshing seems to suggest what Jim Sterling has often suggested and that is they are always testing on what they could get away with rather than what they should price something at. So if no one complained, the expensive lootbox cosmetics was going to stay in.

 

[faceless]

It's seems like some of the responses are simply drive-bys by people who don't even realize that there's a legit MTX controversy going on here.

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What is the controversy? That only a select few whales will pay $170 for a round of cosmetic items in a F2P game and tons more want them but the devs suspect that they would never spend money on them based on market research?

 

[flkRaven]

I get it, some gamers go way to far and behave terribly.

However, I am shocked and embarrassed by the amount of people in here defending Respawns remarks. The majority of the critiques being highly upvoted were completely on the mark. This event was bad and tone def in 2019 with everything swirling around about loot boxes.

Even if Respawn feels this way, it's alarming that they don't even have the discipline to be tactful. This is coming off the rails.

 

[IvorB]

Such a weird industry where producers speak to their customers like that and other consumers defend them for it. Imagine someone from Disney speaking to their customers like that.

 

[Sparks]

"The amount of people who spend is crazy low" what did the dev mean then?

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I think that's always a given though yea? Most people aren't going to pay for things. Regardless of what they are offering.

 

[Toxi]

Such a weird industry where producers speak to their customers like that and other consumers defend them for it. Imagine someone from Disney speaking to their customers like that.

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If someone at Disney responded to a post like the one in the OP by calling the person a dick, I wouldn't hold it against them.

 

[VeePs]

God just reading that thread on reddit is hilarious.

"Hey man! Atleast you don't work in retail. Grow up and learn to endure assholes"

Or you know, the devs should just leave the community.

 

[Deleted member 4413]

Not wrong about toxic gamers, but their monetization scheme still sucks. Might as well sell the game for $60 at this point if they are going to charge $20 for a skin.

Lol what have games come too that $20 can seem normal for a fucking skin of all things.