450°

Diablo 4 armor prices are so high they rival MW2 and Overwatch 2

Diablo 4 armor prices are giving Modern Warfare 2 and OW2 competition, so you might want to save up your currency before kitting out your best Diablo 4 classes.

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theloadout.com
SullysCigar348d ago

Seems they learned a lot from Diablo Immoral..

Old McGroin348d ago

They're just cosmetics though, right?

GhostTurtle347d ago (Edited 347d ago )

Yes, theyre 100% cosmetics. The article even contradicts itself:
"However, equipping some of the best Diablo 4 armor sets won’t necessarily be cheap in the Blizzard Entertainment RPG. With the Diablo 4 Season 1 release date approaching, many players are discovering that the game’s cosmetics are as expensive as Modern Warfare 2‘s and Overwatch 2‘s more sought-after skin bundles"

The fuck is this journalism? Armor sets and skins arent the same thing...The saltly down votes are hilarious.

Bobertt347d ago

Every time Blizzard launches a game the Blizzard simps come out and say it's just cosmetics or not pay to win and that they learned from the last microtransaction issue. Then after the launch reviews come out saying there aren't bad microtransactions fooling people into giving them another chance they update the game and add them like they always planned. Activision and Blizzard are trash game companies and run by shit people stop enabling them.

Sonic1881348d ago (Edited 348d ago )

This is what I was concerned about. Activision has been doing this for years. This is one of the reasons why Microsoft wants to buy them. Basically put it on gamepass and let the gamers by microtransactions, Gaas, and paywall for longevity. COD, DIablo, and World of War craft is perfect for that. Activision abused it with Diablo Immoral 🤔 the prices were insane on there and basically pay to win

just_looken348d ago

Saldy we are back to the capacom days were 25% of the game on your disc is locked behind a pay wall.

take a look at how many armors are behind the store front
https://www.diablofans.com/...

For those that do not remember or were not born yet here is a 2012 on disc dlc article
https://www.eurogamer.net/c...

Kosic347d ago

If those are the graphics of the cosmetic items in the store. Then they are having a laugh at laziness for a high price tag. They all look like crap.

just_looken347d ago

The image source is from data miners so good chance that is what we will see for sale

gerbintosh347d ago

@Sullyscigar,

Or they learnrd it from Fortnite. They have skins in the $20 range, people still buy them and Epic makes billions

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 347d ago
Kaozz1979348d ago

You don't have to buy them. It's cosmetic bullshit with nothing added to the gameplay.

PhillyDillyDee348d ago

A tired argument. Just because they dont affect gameplay doesnt mean they arent an important part of the game experience. Your argument empowers these companies to keep doing crap like this and it brings the experiences we are having down.

If you dont believe me go and play a game that has no MTX and unlockable skins and tell me it isnt awesome to unlock and play with those new cosmetics. Spiderman is one that comes to mind.

NotoriousWhiz348d ago (Edited 348d ago )

Games cost more than ever. And this one will have constant development with regard to new seasons, quests, etc. If they need the extra funds from someone else to support that development then that's fine with me. It also could have been a one and done game with no purchasable cosmetics or post game content and tbh, I would have been fine with that too.

dumahim348d ago

Important? In what way? For those few pixels your character takes up on the screen, these cosmetics are important?

DarXyde348d ago

NotoriousWhiz,

I think there are ways around increased costs that don't involve MTX.

1. We need to be okay with smaller budget titles being the norm and build up to bigger games periodically throughout a generation. There's a serious financial risk involved when budgets are too big and there are concerns about a game's commercial performance.

2. Execs can stop patting themselves on the back by giving themselves raises. Give the bulk (or all) of it to the workforce and keep them happy and inspired to do bold things.

3. I've said this before, but I think if you beat a game, it would be cool to allow you to tip a developer the way Spotify lets you tip an artist. A lot of a little is eventually a lot. With that, I think a modest price drop on base price is a great way to get people on board early. It's deeply psychological, but if you have a $70 8-hour game that's a 7/10, that same game at $50-$60 might score a bit higher. Thus, the game's critical success can help commercial success and incentive tipping.

Magic_Spatula348d ago

@NotoriousWhiz

That's a tired excuse also. Yeah, sure, games are more expensive to make nowadays, but these AAA developers make mad money year upon year. They can afford to spend the money on making these "expensive" games because the massive sales makes up the money invested. I'm speaking about AAA developers/publishers. They make millions off of the sales of the games alone. CoD, Madden, NBA2K, etc. make these companies millions ever year and yet they shove in these microtransactions and $#1t, they're even $70 now and they're essentially the same game year after year with minor updates and they still charge full price for them. The reason why they push microtransactions is because of the extra revenue which these companies don't even need. It is always and will always be down to greed alone. Didn't Activision make like a few billion off of microtransactions alone last year or something? Or it might have been Epic but that doesn't change the fact that these AAA companies will keep pushing other avenues of making extra money when they don't need it. GTA 5 keeps selling, probably one of the most sold titles ever but they keep pushing those Shark Cards cuz it brings in extra revenue they really don't need. Madden, NBA, and sports game are essentially the same game every year with minor updates and they push the hell out of microtransactions and even in game advertisements now and those sports titles alone sell very well. Microtransactions never needed to be in AAA games. They were added because of how successful they've been in F2P mobile games.

persona4chie348d ago

I agree, I’ve found a shit ton of costumes in totk with lots more to go. And obviously Zelda isn’t the only game to still have in game unlockables/costumes it does make me sad that not many games do anymore. And usually the ones that do, don’t offer many. Literally Spider-Man and Zelda are the only 2 games I can think of that I’ve personally played over the last few years that have had a lot of in game costumes.

Michiel1989348d ago

for me it's really gonna depend on how good the base game + battlepass cosmetics look, I won't be shelling out 10 euros+ for a skin. paying 10 bucks for a battlepass every 3 months is fine, but the armor better looks at least good.

Extermin8or3_347d ago

People commenting on here have bo idea. Just this past year games have technically decreased in cost by about 5-10% in real terms because of inflation. Games approximate value in terms of how much they cost has decreased over the past 25 years. During that time games development costs have ballooned and big budget titles now sit in line with blockbuster movie budgets. Businesses need to make anprofit they aren't charities. Movies have the box office but games don't so unfortunately they need new ways to make money. I personally think they take the piss with the prices of Microtransactions however. I would rather they charge reasonable prices for extra skins and thus more people got them than a minority of people waste such large sums of money on them, but whatever.

+ Show (4) more repliesLast reply 347d ago
neutralgamer1992348d ago

While I see your point and agree with it too do you also have to understand that not long ago we were getting these things simply by playing the game the way we wanted to

By simply saying nothing, and accepting whatever the greedy publishers, do nothing will ever change.

That is why a company like Ubisoft will go out of their way to make their games more grindy and repetitive so then they can sell us XP boosters in single player games

There was a time we could play the games we wanted the way we wanted and especially in single player games if we wanted do use cheat codes to unlock stuff we could. Now those same things are being sold to us as micro transactions.

I remember back in the day, playing sports games with my friends and they were cheats available to turn the players heads big that was just fun non-something like that is extra

Also, on a serious note, there are way too many people in the world right now who simply say it doesn’t affect me when it comes to everything and one way or another it does affect them

Old McGroin348d ago

@neutralgamer1992

" also have to understand that not long ago we were getting these things simply by playing the game the way we wanted to

By simply saying nothing, and accepting whatever the greedy publishers, do nothing will ever change."

I've been seeing people say this since Oblivions horse armour back in 2006. The horse has well and truly bolted by now buddy.

dumahim348d ago

The horse armor is a bargain at this point.

Surt348d ago

So your saying you want to pay the $250 for a game upfront. Its amazing at how many think development costs stayed the same as in the 1990s while keeping prices of that era. Remember Phantasy Star 4? $90 for that game. Batman and Robin for genesis back than was $79 at toys r us.

shinoff2183348d ago

Your first few lines. Remember mortal kombat I think Armageddon for ps2 and Xbox. You played and played got those coins and was able to unlock stuff from the crypt. Extra outfits, even characters oh my

Great times for gaming then it went online. Patches are nice, although a double edged sword but everything else brought with online is rubble

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 348d ago
Omnisonne348d ago (Edited 348d ago )

No but it does give the impression that they cut out content that could've otherwise enriched the base game, and sell it separately instead. Wether that's the case or not we'll never know, but it's not a great move to win over your fanbase.

Chriswynnetbh348d ago (Edited 348d ago )

I mean Kaozz is right. Nobody is required to buy these. If you simply pretend they don't exist, it doesn't change your experience at all. Companies aren't going to all the sudden stop putting mtx in games, especially games that require as much maintenence as an online multi-player experience like diablo. If you don't like it, don't buy it. But for people that wanna throw money at the game for a cool hat, let them because that will fund the updates and dlc that people who don't will still benefit from.

-Foxtrot347d ago

Every time you ignore something and say "You don't have to buy them" you are basically just letting them do what they want until they get so bad they do something that will p*** you off but by then it will be too late

Horse Armour DLC
Cut content
Lootboxes
Online Passes
Online Only
MTs
GaaS

So on...

Chriswynnetbh347d ago

No we just live in reality and know that even if 10,000 people choose not to buy it for those reasons, there are still hundreds of thousands of people that don't give a shit that will. In context, many of the things you listed are fine or even preferred for certain types of games. It isn't some never ending slippery slope that will ineitably get worse. All of those things are here to stay and cosmetic mtx that are completely ignorable are hardly the most egregious implementations of any of the above.

+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 347d ago
MetroidFREAK21348d ago

I'm getting this game, but avoiding PvP/all battle passes and MTX. Just playing the story/co-op content

Blastoise348d ago

You can buy full games for that much. Humanity and Hi-Fi Rush for example are $29.99. These aren't even microtransactions anymore

Knushwood Butt347d ago

Humanity is excellent, and the user created content is free to play, so potentially endless gaming there for your investment.

MetroidFREAK21347d ago

I wish that game had a physical version so bad

NotoriousWhiz348d ago (Edited 348d ago )

Who cares? I don't go into a store planning on buying the whole store. You can progress all the way to the end of the game without purchasing a single piece of cosmetic armor.

jznrpg348d ago (Edited 348d ago )

Yeah but they make it so it takes much longer than it would have in the past to encourage you to give in and pay for it. Le

Lets see what else I hey add in the near future it may be more than cosmetics

NotoriousWhiz348d ago (Edited 348d ago )

It takes just as long. Buying cosmetic armor doesn't help you progress any faster.

Wait as long as you like. In the meantime, I'll be enjoying a well made and well received game without buying a single piece of cosmetic armor.

shinoff2183348d ago

Soon those cosmetics will have Stat upgrades. Please don't support this shit yall

Show all comments (68)
150°

Diablo IV is Available on PlayStation Cloud Gaming - Beats Xbox to the Punch

Diablo IV is now available to play via PlayStation Cloud Gaming! Still not available to Play on Xbox Cloud Gaming.

We ran our script again and found 15 other PS5 games (a lot of popular ones!) that got PS5 Cloud Gaming support within the last month as well.

Read Full Story >>
clouddosage.com
Hugodastrevas7d ago

Not for me, I'm 100% physical media all of the time.

jwillj2k46d ago

I hate that I have to keep calling this out, but your physical disks mean nothing if the game code attempts to connect to a server prior to playing.

Hugodastrevas6d ago

And that happens when? I'm playing completely offline here, stellar Blade to be more precise.
I'm sorry but I've never run into that imaginary problem you're talking about, I'm not saying it doesn't happen, but it has never happened to me.

jwillj2k46d ago

You not running into the problem yet has no bearing on my argument. You’re acting like the medium is the shield for you being able to always play your games when it effectively is not. The game code itself can try to connect to a server or the console you’re playing on may receive an update that requires that game to connect to a server. Just because you haven’t ran into it doesn’t mean anything lol you don’t own your games no matter how you try.

Hugodastrevas6d ago

So I have never run into the problem you're talking about and your answer is an hypothetical? Look I can play any game of my library offline right now without issue.
That issue is in your mouth and alone.

Crows906d ago

Actually...there's an easy way...don't connect. If it doesn't require a connection and you don't connect...the code can't update...obviously....confused why you don't get what he's saying.

outsider16246d ago

Hold on..lets say i dnt have an online connection, can i atleast play the game offline though. Was thinking of getting this

jwillj2k46d ago

None of you use your brains.

OK, let’s explore this playing offline. not talking about Diablo specifically just gaming in general.

Are you going to buy two PlayStations? One offline one online? If not, moment you want to play something that requires a connection you’re cooked.

Does game experience you love so much stay the same offline?

Is the game even playable offline?

The whole point of my argument is that we don’t hold the keys anymore. The gatekeepers are the developers and console makers regardless of whether it’s digital or physical. You altering your play style for a lesser experience is not a workaround, it doesn’t solve the overall problem.

None of this matters since the move to the cloud is inevitable.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 6d ago
spicelicka7d ago

So you have to buy the game and can only stream to the PS5 devices using PS plus premium? What is the point of that. Much more useful when you can stream to other devices.

MrNinosan7d ago

Works great on my Portal while at work 👍

spicelicka6d ago

That's streaming off your PS5, not from the cloud. This is specifically referring to cloud gaming.

CrimsonWing697d ago

Can’t you, uh, do this on your phone?

Tacoboto7d ago

Sony doesn't yet have a web or app-based solution to stream games off their cloud service, the closest you may be able to get would be Remote Play if they allow cloud streaming during a Remote session.

And yes this applies to the Portal too.

Einhander19726d ago (Edited 6d ago )

Tacoboto

Please stop talking about PlayStation Streaming, you don't know what you're talking about.

I just explained this to you the other day where you were telling people that remote play was their only cloud solution, because apparently you didn't understand how PlayStation Premium works even though PS Now was a thing since shortly after the launch PS4..

You can stream to PC and Mac, and they had mobile clients for it in the past but probably for the same reason Microsoft is fighting Apple and Google PS Now wasn't allowed on App stores. Which is why it's not on iPhone and Android still.

And to be honest, I am glad they are trying to keep it on the console, all their moves away from the console seem like a step in the wrong direction, which isn't working so great for Microsoft...

anast7d ago

Blizzard is shoving this game everywhere. Diablo 4 is going to take an even bigger hit soon. Path of exile 2 is coming out and it looks insane.

Crows906d ago

Well they're about to release the next season...I think that might be way they're pushing the game again.

anast6d ago

I mean I get what you are saying, but D4 isn't doing that well either.

UnbreakableAlex6d ago (Edited 6d ago )

I completed it on gamepass. Thanks God I dint pay it full price. It plays like a lazy mobile game. I am not a pro diablo gamer (Diablo 1 was the only one I completed) but D4 has no atmosphere, no creepy feeling and soundtrack like the first one and its so easy, I managed to not buy any weapon and had 4 Million Credits on level 55. I always used the same 4 attacks from the beginning and died maybe 10-15 times. It's so easy, wtf. I remember D1 to be pretty hard.
WTF happened? Is Diablo 3 also that bad?

jwillj2k46d ago

Diablo 3 was my first Diablo game. I had to use the mailbox cheats to keep it interesting.

Crows906d ago (Edited 6d ago )

Diablo 3 was really hard at launch....then they made it easy.

They love scaling difficulty though.

anast6d ago

D2 is the pinnacle. I still fire it up from time to time.

GrmpyolGamer 6d ago

Considering that the PS cloud steaming is garbage compared to XCloud and is limited to certain devices this isn't something to brag about. Wake me up when Diablo is on PS plus

240°

Huge new Diablo 4 stats are super encouraging for Xbox Game Pass

Xbox Game Pass and Diablo 4 are a match made in heaven, with the hellish RPG series blazing a path for ActiBlizz’s future on the service.

Read Full Story >>
theloadout.com
Lightning7717d ago

“Last month we added our first Activision Blizzard title, Diablo 4, to our Game Pass service,” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella says during the company’s latest earnings call. “Subscribers played over 10 million hours within the first 10 days, making it one of our biggest first-party Game Pass launches ever.”

Sarah Bond announced this a few weeks back. That's the gamepass effect I suppose.

Zeke6816d ago

So 1 million players tries the game for 10 hours each and quit -check on that... 🤷😉

S2Killinit16d ago

Lol but how many bullets were fired?

Lightning7716d ago (Edited 16d ago )

If that was even the case since you don't know anything, let's entertain that it's no different than 1 million ppl buying a game and playing for 10 hours and quitting. Though it doesn't matter to the pub since they bought the game for 70$ they don't care if you throw your disc like Frisbee. Same with subscription, they got the money so a completion rate doesn't matter. 50% of the ppl didn't even play past the first lvl in Baldurs Gate. What does that mean?

If you troll me you get put down I don't put up with that just FYI, not sure if you're new or not I'm just letting you know.

@S2 No different than HD2 killing 1 billion bugs or whatever.

Zeke6815d ago

It was a joke. "Why so serious??" 🤣🤣

S2Killinit15d ago (Edited 15d ago )

@Zeke68
Im not sure why they get defensive. Its a fair assessment since this is a service. I also wonder if they round up the hours. Say I only played it for 10 minutes to try it out. There is no telling how they come up with these.

Zeke6815d ago

@Lightning77
"If you troll me you get put down I don't put up with that just FYI, not sure if you're new or not I'm just letting you know."

If that was for me , I joined this site at least 5 years before you.
And put down? Is that a threat for my life?
Not sure if I should report you to your local police or invite you here to my country for a real paratrooper knifefight?!
Last man standing kind of fight 🤷😉
Just an advice, watch out behind your keyboard challenging people you don't know anything about. Someone might pick you up on that offer.
So many different kinds of people out here in the real world. Just saying.
Take care. 🙂

Fonsecap15d ago

That was exactly my case, and find it quite boring... I rather play diablo 2 remastered. The game is all grind and all about the end game, you level up so quickly that I think it's pointless, they should let you choose the skills from the begining of the game, it's all about the loot anyway so what's the point of the level up system?

Crows9015d ago

@lightning

Huge difference...can't believe you actually think you outsmarted anyone.

The big difference which you mention but ignore is that one is successful and the other not necessarily.

Also a big difference here is genre. 10 hrs of another game could mean it was completed and everything was done...whereas 10.hrs of diablo 4 doesn't amount to much.

S2Killinit15d ago (Edited 15d ago )

@Lightning

Lol that comment was so cringe. You are going to “put him down”? Haha please do show us so we can all have a laugh.

+ Show (6) more repliesLast reply 15d ago
Ps5conehead15d ago

They would not be in the mess there in if they sold all those copy’s of games instead

TheEroica15d ago

Sony fans are salting everyone's fries today... Lol 🍟

Crows9015d ago

You don't have to be a fan of another platform to see the obvious.

UltimateOwnage16d ago

Guess they had to find at least one glimmer of positive news to combat the poor Xbox hardware sales trends. GamePass stats on game from a 1st party studio that they spent $70bn to acquire are kind of useless IMO, especially when other than Act/Bliz the entire XBOX division was flat. I hope that spike on Diablo 4 was worth having to the XBOX brand go multi platform for.

Lightning7716d ago

You mean with out ABK they would be flat with nearly no growth.

They actually made allot of money only because of ABK. With out it they would suffer and slowly be obsolete.

Xbox Content & Services Revenue +62%

- Gaming Revenue +51%

- Revenue $61.9 billion +17%

- Operating income $27.6 billion +23%

- Net Income $21.9 Billion +20%

- Cloud Revenue $35.1 Billion +23%

- Xbox Hardware -31%

shinoff218316d ago

Without abk it was negative not flat. It's said so itself. They were negative.

TheEroica15d ago (Edited 15d ago )

ABK is Microsoft.... Sonys profits have dropped from 12% to 9% to 6% three consecutive years... At this rate they will also be unprofitable in just a short while. Games cost too much to make because people are drunk on visuals and performance instead of innovative gameplay ideas. Games are all going multiplatform to the benefit of developers and gamers.... Only corporation lusting gamers are still shilling for the exclusive model.

jjb198116d ago

They probably all fell asleep due to severe boredom and left their consoles on overnight.

RNTody16d ago (Edited 16d ago )

I really don't get the obsession with these stats. So what? Is always my response.

If 10 million people bought the game, it doesn't matter at all how long they played it for. It's irrelevant. The sale is made, the revenue is earned. The person can take a year to finish the game for all the developers care.

If 10 million played the game on a sub, what does it achieve? They could play 1 hour and delete it as quickly as they downloaded it. I've done this with games like Need for Speed Unbound or Immortals of Aveum, I just don't have the time for every single game.

Unless Games Pass generates developer and publisher revenue for every hour spent, this is meaningless.

sagapo16d ago (Edited 16d ago )

In case of a gaas game, hours played is an important indicator for the succes of the game imo. The game needs to generate money AFTER purchase (when bought) or when the game is on a sub.

RNTody16d ago (Edited 16d ago )

This is a non-point, because in-game purchases generate revenue and can be tracked. Number of players is a meaningless statistic unless you're talking about a PURE multiplayer game. Otherwise you can make that point about any game that has DLC or microtransactions.

It's irrelevant how many baterangs are thrown in Arkham Knight or how many hours people spent playing The Witcher 3. A sale made five years ago or a sale made now is a sale.

Michiel198916d ago

why are you even comparing witcher or arkham to d4? They don't have the same business model. Your punchline "a sale is made" is cool and all, but d4 is not an offline, single player rpg. It has a battle pass, cosmetics to buy and by the look of it yearly expansions. Every 3 months the game gets changed up and they try to incentivize you to buy things because the cosmetics you can earn ingame look dogshit.

Your logic is super flawed, diablo 4 is a gaas game.

Lightning7716d ago (Edited 16d ago )

"They could play 1 hour and delete it as quickly as they downloaded it. I've done this with games like Need for Speed Unbound or Immortals of Aveum, I just don't have the time for every single game."

So you just proved it doesn't matter if it's on sub or bought full price, half price whatever, you still deleted those games, allot less ppl beat or stick with games unless it's LS like Fornite, Minecraft etc you always here about a backlog of games. That's just a world we live in, doesn't matter if it's sub service or bought anymore. It's made worse with sub because you have access to many other games of course but the metrics are still not that distinguish from sub to fully own since backlogs are a growing issue regardless.

People don't beat games like they used to that's just facts.

RNTody16d ago (Edited 16d ago )

Did you read my comment? Your response is literally nothing to what I wrote? I got Need for Speed Unbound and Immortals of Aveum off PS Plus, I paid nothing for them. Me playing them for an hour generated nothing for the developers. However if I had bought them, even for a dollar, my playtime would be utterly irrelevant because a sale was made. People not beating games is exactly the point - if they bought it, it doesn't matter how long they played it for. Hence, hours played is a meaningless statistic, yet Microsoft keeps peddling it.

It literally does matter if it's played off a service or bought - you're buying into Microsoft philosophy now. Game Pass monthly sub revenue goes to Microsoft, it isn't going to lead to better games unless it's a small indie studio getting a payout from MS.

On Diablo IV, if I buy it off Steam for 50% off, developers get revenue. If I download it from Game Pass and then delete it after an hour, worthless statistic and nothing else.

Diablo IV generated over $600 million in revenue from sales. Do you think MS' compensation package would match this if it was released exclusively on Games Pass and nowhere else for sale?

Crows9015d ago

Not true yet again.

It matters for the success of a game. A sub does not equal a purchase.

It matters depending on type of game...10 hrs of gas means little but 10 hrs of a single player means much more.

People do beat games...there's a huge pool of additional gamers compared to before when gaming was much less popular.

Backlogs aren't really an issue. People will put down whatever they're playing unless they were truly enjoying it. You couldn't have paid me to put down hollow knight for instance...

More gamers means the percentage that used to beat games gets smaller.

RNTody16d ago (Edited 16d ago )

@Michiel1989 As per my comment above: "in-game purchases generate revenue and can be tracked" That aside, however, Diablo IV generated millions in revenue from sales and was a huge financial success, which is a metric that can be measured. I reiterate that the hours it was played on Games Pass means nothing. If they tell me that millions of $ was spent on in-game cosmetics, that obviously means something.

My point is little other than Microsoft repeatedly peddling worthless statistics and they've been doing it for months. They won't tell you how many Xbox units were sold (until financial results forced this), but they'll certainly tell you how many locusts were killed in Gears of War.

By the way, I'm not comparing Diablo IV and The Witcher 3 or Arkham. I'm comparing the difference between playing a title on Games Pass for some time and buying it at any point it's on sale.

I don't get why people argue this. I bought A Plague Tale: Innocence and enjoyed it. I then played A Plague Tale: Requiem on Game Pass and cancelled my sub soon after. Which scenario helped the developer? I don't see the long term sustainability of the Game Pass model, and adding all these high profile triple A games to it from mega publishers is going to come crashing down in the next few years unless Microsoft releases its games on all platforms, which they're clearly setting themselves up for.

Crows9015d ago

Requiem is fantastic. Beat it on Gamepass...you're right...Ive been meaning to purchase it in order to support them but haven't gotten around to it...since I've already gotten to play it for free.

RNTody15d ago

@Crows90 Absolutely! Requiem was one of my favourite games last year and the only reason I subbed to Games Pass for a month. I'm in exactly the same boat as you are. I have it on my wishlist to buy it at a discount to support the developers, but haven't been in a hurry because I played it on Games Pass.

Pity because it was a superior sequel in every possible way, and playing both games in French was a treat for the story.

Lightning7715d ago

"I got Need for Speed Unbound and Immortals of Aveum off PS Plus, I paid nothing for them. Me playing them for an hour generated nothing for the developers. However if I had bought them, even for a dollar, my playtime would be utterly irrelevant because a sale was made."

You made no mention of getting of Plus not like it makes a difference because those games come with your subscription. Those games are part of your paid subscription, so Sony gets your money and whatever cut they're giving to Immortal and NFS devs. These things aren't for free and devs aren't going bankrupt from it either.

Plus you literally just made my point. When you said play time is irrelevant when a 70$ transaction was made. Which is 100% true.

"Hence, hours played is a meaningless statistic, yet Microsoft keeps peddling it."

Attach rate/console engagement is important to MS. Having high attach Tate means more will spend in the echo system that's why they track that. They have high console engagement but can't sell Xbox's they have to pick their battle.

"Game Pass monthly sub revenue goes to Microsoft, it isn't going to lead to better games unless it's a small indie studio getting a payout from MS."

I dunno HB2, Indy Stalker 2, Avowed look pretty good this year and they're all on gamepass this year.

RNTody15d ago (Edited 15d ago )

@Lightning77 Well I thought it was pretty clear I was talking about a sub service there based on the paragraph you're quoting, but if it was unclear I'll take it, it's been clarified.

You need to understand the difference between putting a game on a sub after the sales dry up, or putting it on a sub day one. You also need to understand the difference between having a sub as a supplementary offering and having it as your MAIN triple A selling point. Then if you can understand those differences, you'd realise what I'm saying when I state that it's not sustainable.

Personally, the only sensible ways these sub services can work is promotion of indie titles, where the compensation can benefit the developers who don't cost or pull triple A numbers, or putting games on where sales are flatlined.

Take Diablo IV. It generated $600 million in revenue from sales. Let's say Diablo V releases day one exclusively on Games Pass and nowhere else. Do you think play time will compare to the profits noted above? Do you think Microsoft will pay Blizzard $600 million as a compensation package for putting the game on Games Pass? How do they recoup the cost and turn a profit? There logically can only be two ways: release on other platforms where sales are made and get your cut from owning the publisher while the developer gets sales revenue, or monetise and incentivise microtransactions or in game purchases. Without that, Diablo VI becomes dubious as an investment.

You're bringing up games that have already been in development before the acquisition. And since we're on that note, neither Starfield nor Redfall appear to be phenomenonal successes, at least not near expectations. Do you seriously think The Elder Scrolls 6 and Fallout 5 can follow the same model?

Put it together with Xbox hardware sales being massively down: there aren't enough Xbox consoles out in the market to justify the mammoth investment required in triple A monsters like Call of Duty and Elder Scrolls. They have to release on other platforms - it's simply not sustainable to keep the PS market out indefinitely taking into account the kind of sales numbers these games pushed before the acquisition.

Microsoft is trying to have its hand in every pie, earning revenue through ownership. That's the point of these acquisitions. They don't care if Call of Duty releases on PlayStation, they care that they get their cut. They don't care about making GOTY titles, they care about their Game Pass revenue.

And no, high attach rate at best means a higher PROBABILITY that someone will spend on the game, it certainly isn't a guarantee. Again, "attach rate" is worthless. Because I am part of the "player base" and "attach rate" of Need for Speed Unbound and Immortals because I downloaded them off a sub and played for an hour. I played High Fi Rush on Game Pass for a couple of minutes too. I'm part of a statistic for those games, not part of the sales or contributors.

The Game Pass model will not result in better games or higher quality games. I'll be glad to eat my words, but don't think I will.

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anast16d ago

A bunch people played a game for two seconds and they added up the hours.

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70°

Hurry Up and Get Diablo 4 on Steam Discount For Half the Price

If you are considering getting Diablo 4, Steam offers an incredible discount, so now is the perfect time to do it.

anast17d ago

Still not worth it, especially with Path 2 around the corner.

Firebird36017d ago

Poe2 is a long way off. 2025 at the earliest.

Firebird36017d ago

Great game, patches have fixed alot of the initial problems.