10 Ways The Video Game Industry Has Gotten WORSE This Decade
5. The "Freemium" Model
Mobile gaming and apps are definitely the red-handed culprits here, but the rise of people gaming on phones has lead to some very questionable practices and the birth of a business model pretty much unique to the video game industry.
The term “freemium” probably wasn’t on too many peoples lips at the start of the decade, but games like Candy Crush, Clash of Clans, and almost every game ending in the word “Saga” snuck their way onto people’s phones and slowly eroded their hard-earned cash within just a couple of years after inception.
With regards to the landscape of “proper” gaming, EA gave us a capitalist’s utopia when it came up with the idea of Ultimate Team just before the start of the decade.
While not wholly Pay2Win, FIFA gives you a not so subtle nudge in the direction of buying and spending FIFA Points, rather than earning normal coins to purchase packs.
Ubisoft’s For Honor got severely stung over this too, as players worked out it would take around $700 to unlock all the content in the game. Developers can create their own economy, but there HAS to be a delicate balance properly tested and put in place.