Okay. I’ll bite on the game tipping thing (less than credible source aside): 1. This conversation is different if we’re talking about indies or public companies. I would do this for indies often. But for AAAs… 2. What assurances would publishers give that this would help devs?
3. In the wake of nearly every AAA company raking in huge revenue and laying off in mass numbers, what trust and incentive should ANY player have to do this? 4. You have mechanisms to do this already: sell pre-order bonuses as standard practice, sell deluxe upgrades as routine.
If your game is good enough to warrant the “tip,” public companies, then it should be good enough to inspire that kind of value-based up-sell. 5. AAAs, make smaller, shorter games at lower price points and people will be able to enjoy and therefore signal boost more experiences.
6. AAA games aren’t $60 or $70. They start there and go up to a whopping $130(!!!) We’re ALREADY tipping. There is a nugget of a good idea here, but if the unemployed exec who floated it thinks it should apply to AAAs… well… I said what I said.
(Clarification re deluxe upgrades and pre-order bonuses. I mean that these should be sold routinely AFTER launch. You can choose: capitalize on FOMO or trust that your game and the offering are worth the purchase for people happy with the experience.)
@Futterish @catacalypto The season pass content is gonna be dope, though.
@Futterish Ding ding. It takes a huge amount of good faith to pay double cost for expansions that aren’t out, sometimes for months or more. It’s already a scummy way to give you early access and regular content pubs cut so they could sell it at a premium