EA invents new microtransaction nightmare as it breaks paywall promise on Skate: rent a playable area for 24 hours or buy a premium pass, bucko
3mon 25d ago by piefed.world/u/Agent_Karyo in games from www.gamesradar.com
Skate players were explicitly told map areas would not be "locked behind a paywall"
My brain just shuts off when I read stuff like this.
Man, I dunno. Fuck AAA gaming, I'll go play something else.
Indies are where its at. Or classic games, especially with mods
Games are a modern media and I think suffer from a lot of modern engagement mechanics.
We need to stop viewing them as a constant stream of "new content" and more as an established library.
Absolutely the problem. They've stopped trying to make fun and started trying to exploit psychological weaknesses and hijack our internal reward systems to rinse us of both time and money.
Fun is no longer the driving factor, and it makes me feel not quite angry or nauseous, but somewhere around those emotions.
They've stopped trying to make fun and started trying to exploit psychological weaknesses and hijack our internal reward systems to rinse us of both time and money
Exactly, and the fact that Jeffrey Epstein was pro microtransactions really tells you the kind of scum we're dealing with here
I shifted to that view a long time ago. I have a selection of "classics" I play on rotation and I add a few indies or modern ports every now and then.
The multiplay scene went in a direction I don't intend to follow. Some old friends are thinking about hosting a retro lan party, but I'm going to make it clear that I'm walking if they try sneaking in any modern shit.
Thinking about it now, I haven't bought any game with EA's name on it since Dead Space 3.
Man, remember back in the day when you just went and bought a game and then played it?
In American-style neo-liberalism, everything must have a price tag. If it doesn't generate a profit, it can't exist.
Then people should stop buying, otherwise nothing will change. People complained about Nintendo switch 2, yet they bought it.
This is actually good advice... in isolation. Encouraging people to spend their money more wisely can bring awareness to an issue but it ultimately does little to implement change. Sure, you and I (and the Fediverse as a whole) might be hyper-vigilant about these kind of things but the average consumer isn't. Continuing with your Nintendo example, Nintendo has decades of brand recognition and a zealous fanbase to satisfy the demand. An eager gaming press will gladly take free hardware from Nintendo for positive coverage.
Real change won't happen until the tap is turned off, so to speak. These companies are taking advantages of gaps in the law that permit them to get away with this. Antitrust law in the US dates back to a time when steam-powered trains were still common and the last breakup involved a telephone company. When AT&T was broken up, the home computer (desktop in modern parlance) was just starting to take off.
So, yes, we should spend our money elsewhere when we see this kinds of corporate abuses but until you starve the beast, keep expecting these kinds of behaviors.
People aren't playing or paying for stuff in Skate. The player count drop off has been substantial.
I understand the sentiment here but let's note that you do not go buy Skate. because it's free to play.
Remember when free to play meant free to play?
I remember shareware.
But... shareware was literally designed to paywall the majority of an application or game until you paid for it. It was a free shareable demo.
Free to play games are similar to old shareware though... You get to play some of it for free then pay for the rest.
I still just buy games and play them.
They're just 99,99% not 'triple A' games but from developers or publishers who care about games.
An important detail is that this rental option is paid for in grind currency, not paid currency. Yes, "for now".
Yeah, that's just to normalise rentable levels. Once it has been begrudgingly accepted, there'll be one that requires premium currency. Never buy EA.
You'll still be able to buy them with ingame currency, but itll be days worth of farming or BEST VALUE 4.99.
They'll still be able to hide behind an ethical "no mtx required" label.
Why days worth of farming? To help give the player a sense of "pride and accomplishment" of course.
People are still playing EA games after the take over by Saudis/Jared Kushner??? Sorry, I feel no empathy for these gamers.
there's no moral consumption under capitalism so many people just don't care
idk. I've heard we can still consume pussy.
That poor cat, are you forcing it to play EA games?????
Animal Humane Society operates the primary animal cruelty reporting line in Minnesota: 612-772-9999 or report online at investigations@animalhumanesociety.org.
The cat is being eaten brah
thank you
while you're at it, i have also been making this lion watch infowars nonstop for the last all of its life and it is very gay.
i know, for my persuasive argument let me start with
you are just a piece of shit humanbeing
yeah, a bit too extreme take from me. I'm just so annoyed about people who apathetically keep supporting things that make our world worse or that are produced from suffering of others.
at what point does understanding become endorsing
when you are aware of the things company is doing and still continue buying from them. Though if the company has monopoly and you are dependent of the product, then its a bit different.
What kind of sucker buys from EA?
Split Fiction and It Takes Two were pretty great.
Add Mass Effect, Dead Space and Star Wars Jedi series..
But yeah I wish all of these were DRM free, without any online connection and on GOG.
I only bought Split Fiction because it didn't come with the EA launcher. It seems to be a recent decision of theirs to not include it on some games on Steam, but they're not doing it retroactively. It Takes Two I played on Game Pass for a dollar, because I'm not willing to put up with EA's additional DRM.
It Takes Two actually removed the EA App in a patch a while back.
I think they allow studios they only publish for and don't own like Hazelight the freedom to remove the EA App DRM now, but EA won't pay for the dev time for their back catalogue.
Thanks for the link, though the store page does still say it requires an EA account. Is that just outdated? Dragon Age: The Veilguard also doesn't have an EA app requirement, so this is a thing they're doing with studios they own too.
IIRC it still requires an EA account for online play, but not if you play offline.
I have it takes two, played the whole thing on steam without EA launcher. Was on my steam deck, so maybe linux dodged that somehow?
I believe it's still running in the background and makes it an extra pain in the ass to play without internet. I ran into that one with Jedi: Fallen Order when trying to play on the train (I only paid $4 for it and still felt ripped off). The store page still lists that it's there. It's why whenever I get around to the Dragon Age games, I can play the first one on GOG and the fourth one on Steam (no EA launcher), but unless something changes, the best option appears to be pirating 2 and 3.
EA gives their studios the ability to decide their own revenue models.
This change likely came because they weren't as profitable as predicted so they had targets to make up for.
This is a great example for the moral justifications of piracy. The bytes for the maps are on your hard drive, why the fuck should you not be allowed to play on them? When someone playing a pirated copy has a better experience than someone on a bought licensed copy something's not right.
Uh...Jared Kushner owns EA now, so I don't know why this would be relevant to anyone.
Along with his Saudi oil tycoon buddies.
I don't know why EA would be relevant to anyone for the past 20+ years, but here we are.
because they have exclusive rights to making an NFL video game
The fun part is..I tried the newest one on game pass recently. Aside from roster updates it’s the same game I bought on disc 20 years ago
lol if it was the same game from 20 years ago itd actually be pretty good. that would be madden 05 era which some say is the peak of madden
Well, I was looking forward to a new Mass Effect, but playing something like that made by Kushner and the Saudis would probably make tears in reality. Like, I'm pretty sure the paradox will make serious issues.
After all these things, why are people still buying anything from EA? Just boycott them.
Skate is free to play, nothing was bought.
Apparently the cosmetic microtransactions didn't make enough money. So now they are putting locations behind a paywall.
Majority of people are NPCs
We're now expected to rent imaginary spaces for our characters to play the game we already purchased in?
Is advocating people be burned at the stake against the ToS here? Because I'm advocating the fuck out of that.
Nobody purchased Skate, it is free to play.
They just promised not to lock locations behind a paywall, which the executives decided to change.
I see a clear correlation between the decline of tar-and-feathers and riding people out on a rail and the rise of terrible business practices.
Yes. Remember when we burned people at the stake? Whatever happened to that? Just live stream a few billionaires and child rapists being slowly burned as an object lesson to the rest and I imagine things would change fairly quickly.
Remember when we burned people at the stake? Whatever happened to that?
Climate change and the rising cost of fuels is what happend.
Someone really needs to start an eco friendly, low carb, gluten free, vegan burning-at-the-stake materials company.
Yet people have zero self control and keep giving them money.
Exactly. EA do it because enough people allow them to do it.
I really don't understand people like that, though. There are plenty of great games that don't have predatory monetisation. Yet millions and millions opt to get fleeced. This shit won't stop as long as people keep falling for it.
let them I'll keep adding more hours to megabonk.
EA literally had one job:
- Make Skate 2 but with a new area and updated graphics.
And EA went and fucked it up being greedy. And they wonder why Steam is killing it.
I would settle for Skate 2 without the soundtrack so they can release it again. No improvements. There is a glitch where you push a few buttons(throw board, turn right, jump, force pull board and grab board before landing) and go flying while the game physics shits the bed. It was great for getting to places that were otherwise inaccessible or not yet unlocked and for getting real high Hall of Meat scores. Imperfections like that are what make a great game perfect.
I would say this tracks for Saudi Arab-EA, but they did this kind of shit before the Saudis owned them.
Honestly from a business perspective, EA is one if the smartest publishers out there. They made a game and stripped away most of the functionality and then sold it for full price. They then slowly added the content back in content packs and people gladly paid. That was The Sims. And it’s had like three sequels, all monetized the exact same way. And people keep paying them.
I still have Skate 3 installed on my Xbox for those times when I just want to chill for an hour. It makes me a little sad when I see what its become nowadays...
The suckers who buy this trash and pay for it deserve it. There's so much good gaming to be had, at this point it's a choice.
I don't think that's really fair, especially considering this game was popular among kids & teens who don't have the lived experiences we have
This is the gaming industry, though; their primary target market is children. They're naive because they're children. Maybe there's some masochists out there volunteering for the abuse, but this is really adults failing to protect kids, by allowing it to be legal to use psychology tricks and gambling mechanics on minors.
EA invents a new way to assure I never purchase their products. Ever.
The fact anyone has bought any of their products in the last 15 years is why they can keep doing this stupid shit. Stupid things for stupid people.
It's EA. Anyone who's surprised by this either is an idiot or hasn't been paying attention.
I absolutely hate the whale hunting that developers go through these days.
It's more profitable for them to find a few whales spending $10,000 on their game every year than making a good product.
Paying for a game you don't own, only to have to rent the gameplay inside the thing you don't even own to begin with. Presumably all content also being locked on company servers meaning it will get EOL'd and inaccessible at some point in the future.
Immaculate.
Skate is free to play
I was moreso talking about the future of gaming monetisation.
first time hearing about EA in years, and they're doing this shit. kinda nostalgic really
I looked on EA's games released over the last 1.5 years and it is a bunch of sports game, the Sims, Battlefield 6, Plants & Zombies remake, Split Friction (EA is publisher), Dragon Age: the Veilguard and Tales of Kenzera: Zau (EA is publisher).
It is difficult to understand how EA can be valued at 55 billions of dollars with those releases over 1.5 years. And in the list for upcoming games it is only one game, Star Wars Zero Company, that is listed.
Soooo, the metaverse paid plots? I swear, every company with even an inkling of a 3d environment now just wants to “build” and sell worthless plots as if it’s real land, and literally nobody who uses these actually fucking asked.
Usual reminder:
If you know a parent who is not an active gamer, remind them to never buy games for their kids that have microtransactions, passes, or any form of post-purchase payment. They often will have no idea what they are contributing to as it is not part of their 'bubble' to be aware of what these things do to their kids, their kids' friends, and the industry and society as wholes.
Obviously ridiculous.
That said I dunno, it’s very easy for me to just play the game and never give them a dime.
All I want from the game is to dick around from time to time and it gives me that for free.
Every time I play I just find things to launch my ass off over and over. I just accept the free shit and play occasionally.
Obviously not going to defend EA for this decision but I dunno, it’s still maybe blown a little out of proportion. I guess it depends on how invested in the game you are as a player, and as someone who has Skate 1-3 still and had good fun with them when they came out, the current game gives me what I want in a way that I don’t have to pay for so I’m fine with it.
That's on part of EA, look at sims 4, you have to spend 1000€ to buy all DLCs.
I'm glad I dont need to pay that much to play all the DLCs
I don't buy anything from EA, but I'm curious: Is it difficult to acquire their games via the high seas?
Their permanently online (until their inevitable shutdown) DRM slop games? I bet it is quite difficult.
Unrelated, but when did all Magazines start faking youtube thumbnails as the meta image..? I bet times are desperate, but I mean at what point do you understand that it's all the deceit and desperation that drives literally everyone away to the media they imitate?
In this one case EA is to blame, but I do know what you mean. I think it's just that YouTube videos have had a large impact on the form media takes, and that's trickled out towards other forms.
I think of this practice as a tax on herds.
You want to belong in a trendy group, you board the hype train and pay the tax to belong in the herd.
Same logic as “Lottery is a tax on those who didn’t pay attention in math class.” And I agree.
EA lies more than Trump. News at 11.
What's Andrew Rousso doing in the image? Seems completely unrelated to the content of the article.
I was wondering the same thing...
That's really disappointing. I have already completed all of the major challenges in this game and it was really great. I'm pretty disappointed to hear this is the direction they've went off to since I last checked in. I would say that if you miss playing the old skate games you can either get an Xbox series X and play them on backwards compatibility mode. Or you can give this a shot because at least it's pretty fun for quite a while without any spend.
works well in emulators too or skater xl https://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/store/skater-xl/9PFM3WM299H6is the true spiritual successor
Does anyone remember how Skate 2 was the best one and they won't release it again? I suspect it is because of the music.
Music is the bane of all the 2000's games that dared to use any form of musical experimentation. Copyright strikes galore.
It really sucks that all it would take is George Lopez letting them use the theme song to his show.
Is the game not ass anymore at least? I'd rather play the OG THPS without any qol additions added by the good remake than this game after I had tried it.
I tried it and it’s shitty compared to skate3. SkaterXL is a better option and has better controls but a lot less content.
But SkaterXL has mods. Soooooo many mods.
I came here to say "the good news is this game sucks anyway." Coming from someone with literally hundreds of hours in the first three games.
Now I just play Session.
Sense of pride and accomplishment
Fucking lol.. This is the Metaverse with extra steps.
EA is for gaming like popcorn is for haute cuisine.
Wait, I made a mistake. There is good popcorn.
Welp, uninstalled.
Using in game credits to rent content? Not exactly new, I remember that being the entire business model of EA's Battlefield Heroes (circa 2009). That was only 3 years after Bethesda was first selling horse armor.
So when fps games do dlc maps it's fine. but when a skateboarding game paywalls a map its crossing the line? What am I not getting here?
- They said they were never gonna paywall parts of the map. 2. It’s not DLC. It’s a 24 hour lease. 3. The game is early access and all early access games paywalling features get slammed. Most do it thru DLC but I guess EA found a way to make more money than selling a one time purchase.
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If the DLC is permanently owned and pays to the artists who made the map, that's fine.
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Even if it is "permanently", but tied to a server that could be shutdown, it's not permanently owned. Fuck that
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If the DLC isn't permanently owned, but "rented", that profit only goes to the executives that probably fired the artists. Fuck that.