[gameswithgo]

I think it is largely "casual" gamers and or gamers who can't afford the upfront $50 or $20 for a game and are lured in by the "Free" game and then of course addiction kicks in and they spend $100 or more on it. Sad state of affairs, and something that has only gotten worse with app stores. I don't know if it is causal but they certainly haven't helped stop it.

[russdpale]

Studies show the vast majority of the purchases on those apps are whales. Like 90% or more IIRC. If it weren't for whales those games would make no money.

[throwawaylinux]

Do you have any of those studies at hand?

[rrdharan]

https://deltadna.com/blog/how-whales-spend/

https://www.pocketgamer.biz/comment-and-opinion/72369/mobile...

[paulmd]

a skin in some of these games is $10 or more. Even as someone who might conceivably be tempted (I've bought stuff for TF2 before), there's a point where it's just an obviously bad use of your money. 20 bucks is a nice dinner out, I'm not spending that on a skin.

Maybe I am just stuck in 2012 but $2-3 is about the limit for me for a skin. "Unusual" hats (particle effects) in TF2 are basically the original NFT, they are unique items with a very limited number in existence, and they are worth more, but I'm not going to pay $10-20 for the same skin as a million other players.

Of course that's why they've started tying them to gameplay, like Rainbow 6 Siege and Battlefield 2042 "operators"... it's taken studios a long time but they've finally gotten us to bite on "pay to win" by framing it as player choice.

(although I guess DLCs/expansions having OP weapons that beat the base game is nothing new, but charging $10 or $20 a pop for each unit is new.)

[bigger_cheese]

I play Path of Exile. I've sunk 1000's of hours into the game at this point. I discovered PoE because I was so disappointed in Blizzard and Diablo 3 (which had terrible monetization problems - real world money auctions etc.)

I buy in game cosmetic items like skins occasionally. Are they bad value? Yes, however I don't consider that when I make the purchase. I've played this game so much and gotten so much enjoyment out of it I see the cosmetic purchases as a donation to the dev team for their time. If paying $30 for some fancy armor every so often helps fund ongoing development I'm happy to do it.

There is a line between "Pay to win" and "Purely cosmetic" microtransactions. I'm happy with the later but try to avoid games with the former.

[paulryanrogers]

Star Citizen has taken unit monetization to a whole new level. It's basically art as a service: buy these ships that are unlikely to ever render during gameplay. And now they can't stop. If it stops expanding the whole thing will collapse under its own weight.

[usrusr]

Star Citizen discovered a way to sell the imagination of being fully engaged in a game to people who don't actually have the time for playing that much (but have fond memories of wasting countless hours). It's a rather brilliant discovery. I wonder though how much of that has already been ruined by whatever beta versions exist.

[antifa]

> Maybe I am just stuck in 2012 but $2-3 is about the limit for me for a skin.

Even this is way overpriced for me, I've never in my life paid for a DLC of a skin or item.

[jamesgeck0]

I bought a few skins for my favorite character in Heroes of the Storm after I'd played the game for free over a hundred hours. I kinda felt like the developers had earned by money by that point.

[antifa]

That's at least more respectable and reasonable then what's going on in fortnight or the average android game.

[mbg721]

Or kids who don't have a credit card at the ready, but can ask after they get attached to the game. (Which makes it that much worse.)