EA Pushed Too Far...

Try Rocket Money for free: www.RocketMoney.com/bellularnews #rocketmoney #personalfinance Sponsored by Rocket Money. The Apex Legends community are enjoying EA's latest attempt to their game's finances around.
Sources:
www.ea.com/games/apex-legends...
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/ the_bp_changes_finally...
/ alright_guys_im_out
/ get_fkd_respawn
x.com/MatPiscatella/status/18...

[@BellularNews]

Try Rocket Money for free: www.RocketMoney.com/bellularnews #rocketmoney #personalfinance Sponsored by Rocket Money.

[@randomstuff9005]

I think everyone should-take a long-deep think on if this product-is right for you, if there is one saying, it is NEVER trust a finance product-sponsored by an influencer.

[@famoussession7426]

14:30 Theae are multiplayer games dipstick. Its not meant to be taken seirously.Why the fake gamer talk?

[@DiabolicCrusher]

Good thing i avoid paid subscriptions like fire.

[@Euphamia]

Remember, if you double your price its "acceptable" to lose 50% of your customer base. But if you lose 40% then you made a 10% profit.

[@googlsux6305]

actually that's 20% profit (without accounting for the decreased server costs, which will make profit increase even bigger)

[@olencone4005]

And they can just axe a few devs to bump that up a few more percentage points, too. After all, the suits in corporate say they can just recycle the same assets with a new color skin using AI, so they don't even need devs! And EA (plus even more companies just like them) wonder why no one likes them. 🤣

[@NihongoWakannai]

That's not how online competitive games work. Reducing the playerbase increases queue times which makes more people leave which increases queue times more etc. You can quickly end up in a deathspiral til you have no players.

[@n3xus236]

​@@NihongoWakannai He knows, the point here is the profits and sales focus are short term instead of long term. They don't care if they lose players as long as the numbers look nice for the shareholders during their meetings.

[@MattZaharias]

Apartment buildings are doing this. Rents so high they have huge vacancies but they won’t lower the prices because so much money is made on the captives who remain that it doesn’t matter.

[@TheRogueWolf]

Executives just can't resist the urge to kill geese that lay golden eggs.

[@Cluesman]

i mean, if you behead the goose and there's the slightest chance both the body and the head regenerate to a full goose again...why not?

[@beazle86]

@@Cluesman taking the chance of a big pay out, while risking complete ruin over a consistent, and steady payout. i love people like that they are the reason I don't have to pay income tax.

[@AsmodeusMictian]

@@beazle86 If you're in the states......I get the feeling that it's more your income level that is the reason. There's _zero_ logical reason to cheer unmitigated and destructive greed. Even if you're untouched by it immediately, EVENTUALLY it's going to bite your ass. Again, I get the feeling you're not connecting those dots.

[@lilbigbozo]

That goose meat must be INSANELY delicious, cause you need to be insane to kill the geese that lay golden eggs.

[@beazle86]

@@AsmodeusMictian oh no, I get it and I was being facetious. no one pays income tax where I live, It nothing to do with my income bracket and everything to do with people willingly throwing their money away trying to hit the big one. but I grew up here and know better. that's all.

[@Pwnopolis]

Stopped touching EA, Ubi, and Blizzard games over a decade ago. I do not regret my decision.

[@jakospades7184]

I keep getting burned, hoping they will change back to the way they were. No longer!!!

[@bonsai4658]

Too many amazing games to be playing games from these shitty publishers. Im also tired of every game being live service from these publishers

[@delayed_control]

Same. I don't buy their shit as a matter of principle.

[@CharterForGaming]

I love Overwatch's gameplay when playing with a friend, don't give a f about the cosmetics though, that definitely helps.

[@chucknya1448]

We're sadly the minority... even though more people are getting more careful about those kinds of shenanigans

[@tierghan5433]

40$ for a battlepass that is not renewable with in game currency is insane. Just go buy a actual game with that cash instead of a battle pass. There are tons of games that are priced less than 40 that are much more worth it.

[@TTaP_Cappa]

Like project zomboid for example

[@rajindotu]

I bought FIVE games for 30 bucks, this is wild.

[@mediabrandslife]

@@rajindotu Same lol

[@CdrChaos]

$40 would but you several months of Game Pass. And they have Resident Evil 2 on there now.

[@sirpaladinknight5491]

For 40 dollars I can buy a pizza and still have left over for a few amazing indies

[@DagothDaddy]

I'm so happy to see EA go from this devil we had to deal with because they owned so many games to a shitty publisher that only makes content for one or two games.

[@zetsumeinaito]

I'm not, cause that's a lot of dead studios to get to that point. Studios I use to buy and play games from.

[@fladagreat]

​@@zetsumeinaito Those studios sold their souls to a corporation(EA) and paid the price, it's their own fault.

[@dmt472]

​@@zetsumeinaitothere's exponentially more indie studios now that aren't beholden to EA

[@balsalmalberto8086]

They still own many games and hoard the IPs. I think the trend of multiplayer/freemium just screwed up any prospect of any new games because it's their cash cow, samething is happening with valve, rockstar and epic.

[@livamyyo]

@@dmt472 Indies are garbage, equally rife with the modern audience and leftoid garbage

[@tiktikboom2371]

It’s mad how live service games have no actual clue. They have this insane idea the same stale shit will retain the same amount as it started. Worse they think it will constantly go up, they’ve no grasp on reality.

[@supersaiyn41]

its what happens when soulless suits try to make a game lol

[@jcozyyt]

It's unfortunately very obvious. They see the data we don't. How many players they are retaining and especially how much money people are spending. They don't think about being greedy because they see how much players are willing to spend on the game. Even if their audience is getting smaller, they will still get plenty of money from the whales. They will actually make more money because they don't need as many servers for all the f2p players that don't spend money

[@lolxd-bp5td]

Well, they think that because it's working. They have the numbers. And if this idea flops, they will have another one. The amount of people who have nothing better to spend their money on can't be underestimated.

[@RamenFuel7700]

I know a guy who spent more than 2500$ USD on apex and he still tends to keep playing the game and invest on lootboxes(Cosmetics) but just the ones he finds cool. I know for a fact there’s more like him out there and they will make this greed work flawlessly even after all the backlash. The only way to fix this is to rally again like the infamous battlefront Lootbox fiasco.

[@MoonLitChild]

Exactly. I keep going back to the fact that last year, Hasbro/Wizards of the Coast ran the numbers and realized they could lose (not exaggerating) 90% of their player base because the 10% left (DMs) would pay whatever WotC asked them to. Greed and nostalgia are ugly bedfellows. And the number of people willing to vote with their wallets can never outweigh the whales because the whales, generally speaking have the kind of money to be targeted as whales, while the rest of us are anchovy at best.

[@FINKnATOR]

I’m not sure I’d agree that spending money on loot boxes is “investing”.

[@boldnotbald3705]

@@MoonLitChildbut WOtC alienated a bunch of DM’s that were paying them. So many have been leaving DnD and more will as the new game alternatives are being created. Get greedy and treat people like objects they will leave. I did.

[@lycanwarrior2137]

@@MoonLitChild It's the old 80/20 Pareto principle. I've read stories from people who were supposedly former customer support reps for companies like Activision and Take2 say that if you aren't a whale or at least someone who buys on a regular/frequent basis they don't give a damn about you.

[@k3v1nkuu15]

Probably won’t happen since apex has been around for so long that there are dedicated whales for it already unlike battlefront which was a new game.

[@ittadakimaho]

This line go up stuff: recently i have met one of my customers major stakeholders/managers .. and the person spouted nonsense like: give me numbers, even if we have no experience what to expect, just supply me numbers as a forecast. So this person asked the partner agency to make up numbers/calculate something out of nothing .. and as such, those numbers hold no meaning to begin with, so you might as well not have them. What then usually happens the moment anyone throws a number: this gets reported upwards, this suddenly becomes a truth and anything that is too far from that BS number .. is either super success or total failure. Because why, in modern industry should anyone face reality and say: okay, lets see what we get here and use that as some base. Also be very aware that we are working with human customers, so part of that is: humans are not calculatable constants. Mood, economy, atmosphere, world situation whatever plays into decission making. Very basic truths the modern management has forgotten exist. The big issue here is: if that mismatch has a consequence, people get laid off, jobs and lives get endangered. But management goes about thinking themselves as awesome saviors and elite soldiers of economy. I am just so utterly disgusted by our bullshit way of conducting business..

[@MorkandGork]

Gotaa give em a reality check with a bat in Minecraft obviously right?

[@ryanhefner2011]

Remember to thank the Dodge Brothers for suing Ford way back when. Also remember to thank the supreme court for ruling that companies owe a fiduciary duty to their shareholders. So the shareholders can sue if they don't get better than a 5% return or so. Buying games from publicly traded companies is a joke. I've put almost 1000 hours into Apex and haven't spent a dime too. Fuck EA.😊

[@Techmaster7032Official]

No wonder devs go Indi and/or choose valve/steam for their games to be published.

[@NeskaProGaming]

My friend spent over 200$ for that dumb sword .. and he doesn’t even play anymore 😂

[@Mikach066]

Great example of why shouldnt pay 200 whopping dollars on an ingame cosmetic am i right?

[@AlexPatterson-co4gh]

EA won. That is why they keep doing this. You're friend may have quit, but there's always new customers coming of age every year to rip off.

[@everyone1liesd459]

This is why I feel 0 shame making fun of people who say they have a gambljng/microtransaction addictions Spending stupid money on lootboxes will get 0 sympathy from me 😂

[@ReaVen443]

@@everyone1liesd459 Well my problem is Gunpla and Modelkits sooo... yeah there is poison everywhere

[@Caoshunter23]

If EA keeps this up I hope I can see EA get another "Worst Company in America" award.

[@warlynx5644]

Blackrock and Ubisoft are giving EA some pretty stiff competition

[@slapthedidgyr9769]

@@warlynx5644blackrock wouldnt even be mentioned in that because they wouldnt allow it

[@garetht677]

@@slapthedidgyr9769 hahahahaha so true that. They would bury that and anyone with a voice that dared to stand against them. this is not a suicide note...seriously I'm not even joking. evil corpo's are evil.

[@sirpaladinknight5491]

Take your pick, pretty much any big company in America can be considered the worst these days. While EA is greedy and treats their employees poorly I'd argue they are tame in comparison to companies that are so consumed by greed they won't give affordable prices for houses, those companies are worse than EA by a Longshot

[@EclipseEH]

“Premium+ battle bass can be made cheaper because of these changes” Does EA think we are stupid? It was $30 before and now it’s $20 x 2. If they think we are dumb enough to fall for their fake ass argument is absolutely insane

[@OutLanderUSN]

Plenty of people will pay it.

[@ceu160193]

Enough people are bad at math.

[@ivoryowl]

I'm afraid a lot of people will miss that "little" detail. The new pricing is for half a season, not the full one, so they will indeed be paying extra now. Still, the fact that people are in an uproar about this is hopeful.

[@VoxAstra-qk4jz]

Yes, yes they do.

[@johnc7389]

People often complain about AAA games being managed/designed by non-gamers, but every year it looks more like the companies aren't being run by businessmen; or what businessmen they have were used to the 90s, 00s, early 10s EXPLOSIVE markets, and now that they're in like a normal, ebb-and-flow market, they're stuck on MAKE ALL THE MONEY, ALL THE TIME, OR YOU'RE FIRED!!!

[@milii113]

That's capitalism baby! Infinite growth is a complete sham and realistically most of the people at the top are completely willing to sacrifice the company as a whole to make enough growth to justify their set in stone bonus, because if they can keep it up for a few years then they can likely leave with a cushy severance and move somewhere else and do the same thing! Public companies are practically legally required to squeeze their customer base dry which yes inevitably leads to their downfall but for everyone involved in the decision making process who's making millions a year? Would could care less?

[@omegagilgamesh]

@johnc7389 For me, this is a fundamental, universal problem with public companies: the realities of business, especially those that are fundamentally entertainment arts like video games, is that their profit margin is unable to be reliably predicted or consistent, especially if a product takes 3 years to reach the market. Consider that a LOT of "investors" are actually investment firms using other people's money, so for both their own profits as well as to avoid widespread claims of theft, (which WILL happen, no matter how many legal waivers are signed saying "I recognize there's no guarantee the markets will provide a return of investment") they want to go with what seems to be the safest bet. Thus, major businesses need to do everything they can to have dips in quarterly earning reports be as infrequent as they can, or else they can conceivably end up being forced into a continual downward spiral where, no matter how much cost saving measures they throw at their staff and how many more purchases they foist onto their player base, they fail to make the necessarily operational funds and thus fail to make profitable quarter after quarter and that deficit only gets bigger and bigger. Such CEO's and executives won't get a severance pay then because there won't be money left. Thus: short-term profits are usually the ONLY viable path. This is why it's estimated that as much as 23% of major business CEO's have psychopathy or psychopathic traits (keep in mind, modern psychology terms make a difference between psychopathy and psychotic breaks), by lacking a sense of remorse, having no problem exploiting others, and not caring about the welfare of others unless it directly involves themselves, such people are much, much better at handling the stress of these jobs than most people.

[@JohnSmith-xq1pz]

When doesn't Evil Arts mess up?

[@x8Ghostyx]

😂😂

[@MrBluman999]

Evil Farts*

[@balsalmalberto8086]

Entry Anus games

[@YouraverageFPSplayer]

Damn that was good

[@BE.OFFICIAL]

I prefer "Electronic Ass"

[@anialator1000000]

We need more games that make "permanent" battle pass style systems, where you can just choose which one to have active and your general xp count towards until you finish it.

[@prestonwinters9656]

Yes halo infinite actually got that right

[@dmt472]

It's insane imo that it's not the norm. There's still the fomo of ability to purchase it but denying you something you paid for should be treated as a scam and be illegal

[@pauperslament3467]

Lose money? Preposterous!

[@TheManOfTheHourEveryHour]

The one thing Halo Infinite actually did right 😭

[@tylersmall634]

It took them a bit to realize this unfortunately. Helldivers2 is similar no fomo/discontinued passes.

[@kyoai]

If you hare handing out "legendary" items to everybody, the items are no longer legendary.

[@kurtfrederiksen5538]

Reminds me of something I told my boss when he gave me a bunch of tasking and when I asked which was the highest priority he said everything. "If everything is high priority, nothing is high priority"

[@remliqa]

Calm down , Syndrome !

[@zerg0s]

Isn’t “legendary” these days just the amount of work devs put into a skin? So a rare skin is a recolour and legendary has flashy new bits? I don’t see how everyone getting them changes that.

[@olencone4005]

@@kurtfrederiksen5538 haha! I once had a boss that did the same thing... eventually, everything was a "rush" -- so they added "priority rush" to escalate one rush above another... and later, after everything was "priority rush," they added "top rush" to escalate the rush of the rush to an even higher rush. It was so ridiculous... none of the staff even paid any attention to any of that, we just grabbed the first job in the stack and moved on with our workday :P

[@TheYear-dm9op]

@@kurtfrederiksen5538 Oh, didn't know we were co-workers.

[@DeaD1te]

EA doing EA things, i wonder if it gives them a sense of pride and accomplishment...

[@zztzgza]

Considering that their CEO walked away with 25 million dollars last year, I would think that they're very proud of what they've accomplished.

[@olencone4005]

@@zztzgza It's sad that failure pays so well with our money :(

[@AnomieDomine]

Why are you giving them money ​@@olencone4005

[@bibby659]

This isn't aggressive monetization... this is a flat out declaration of war on the gaming community in the name of their endless growth strategy... I honest to god hope one day EA goes bankrupt. They do not deserve any amount of success they continue to get.

[@polca4love]

Horse armor was a declaration of war. We were destroyed from the inside. XD. They pull things like this because they know that at worst people will be satisfied with a small step back.

[@vodamiinurl1337]

They're not successful, it's a Ponzi scheme that's being propped up by the government every time it almost breaks. Blackstone and other financial institutions take untold sums of millions of dollars in first world tax revenue, and redistribute it to pump up companies like EA and Blizzard who pander to them and their every desire even when it's not economically viable.

[@clownofwar]

I doubt people nowadays even know or still understand what the horse armour dlc even means without looking it up online. But i remember and yes the toxic spread there. Thnx Bethesda 😏

[@sirpaladinknight5491]

​@clownofwar Thanks Todd Howard!

[@clownofwar]

@@sirpaladinknight5491 nah Howard is only the face of the parade horse its Pete Hein that makes the decissions atleast back in the day howard used to actually work nowadays i think hes just a lying con man sales person.

[@fitz394]

0 faith Apex players will actually stop throwing money at them en masse

[@STARSRav3n]

They're all fucking drones.

[@Telruin]

EA seem to be doing a bunch of "push-your-luck" strategies where they slowly push the limit until they go to far. They even have some of those that are ongoing but the "rubberband" hasn't snapped yet. It's weird to see people just accepting things even though they know it is a problem. (We se a lot of this with sport games I think) It's... the slow boil... and looking from the outside, you just have to wait until something happens. It used to be frustrating, but I have realized that this isn't for me to solve. I can only wait.

[@sirpaladinknight5491]

Just get the popcorn and enjoy the show, there's nothing else you can really do except avoid giving any money to them.

[@SpottedHares]

It's the classic dilemma. they want to achieve more growth, or the shareholder will fire the ones on top and find some one else who will try, but their at such a high market saturation theirs little they can do. Increasing game budgets doesn't bring in more proportional more players, they can't push at a new Ip with the same aggression as that's money that could, in shareholder theory at least, gonna to a higher ROI product. so you just gotta squeeze your current products for even more money, and while yes "gammers" has a whole tend to be meek punching bags and will take continues abuse, but they don't take it forever.

[@dmt472]

But while they do take it it's free money. Gaming is very easy to turn predatory and of course there's no regulation to stop it.

[@zztzgza]

This change to apex Legends won't actually matter and people will end up giving their money to EA. Maybe some will leave but, how many times has stuff like this happened with live service games so far. There's a change, people get outraged on the internet, nothing significant actually changes, and everyone continues giving EA money to repeat this process over and over again.

[@TheDawnofVanlife]

👆this. People are like “I’m so outraged, but also so far in I refuse to walk away.” - company keeps doing what they are doing. The sunk cost fallacy is a fallacy, walk away!

[@RemyBeast]

I think streamers are a large part of the issue. They're profiting heavily off of these games so they may say they're outraged but they don't want to take a hit to viewership and money. In turn their followers which are often highly suggestable individuals will do the same as the streamer. And then a lot of gamers are just delusional and find a way to justify the fact that they're being taken advantage of. The common thought process I see from people is "If I stop playing nothing will change so it doesn't matter". The funny part is that's what everyone says...

[@SponsoredbyPfizer]

I already walked away from apex because I didn’t like things in it like hit reg and footstep audio, and lots of other stuff. I’m not your average gamer, I have conviction and a strong willpower. Most gamers and whales will fold and just gripe while they play the game. For me and other gamers like me, this makes sure I never touch apex again.

[@tylersmall634]

Streamers, whales, and children who steal/bully money out of their parents fuel this. The average and casual gamer will bail. The people who dont care arent the ones in forums/chats/comments other than to instigate fights or troll. Why waste time here if you're enjoying whats on offer

[@Sniperbear13]

we seen this song and dance time and time again. Outrage only goes so far. plus some people might genuinely think this is a good change.

[@YouraverageFPSplayer]

I swear EA and Activision have to be in a speedrun competition to destroy their cash cow and playerbase

[@thefiresworddragon927]

And Ubisoft

[@sirpaladinknight5491]

​@@thefiresworddragon927Ubisoft is already not doing too well and has been on the decline for years

[@jamesallen1563]

“Ea managed to break the trust of its players.” That is certainly new news indeed.

[@pumirya]

Outrage is one thing, but backing it up by not playing the game and or spending money in said game to prove your point is another.

[@topnotchindeed1536]

if i choose to continue playing as a freeloader wouldnt that cost them more money since they they have to run servers? would people boycotting just save them server costs?

[@DamienCloud]

@@topnotchindeed1536 you boost their stats of active player you're helping them, if you want things to change uninstalling after negative review is your strongest shot

[@_Mutt_]

@@topnotchindeed1536i wonder this same thing. Just boyoctt Mtx as a whole, I think, and we can fix the industry. If we stopped playing they'll just move on to making software for slot machines or something

[@Shadeaflame]

40$ for a battle pass 40$ for Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree 3 month limit for the battle pass You own Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree* I'll take 4 copies of Shadow of the Erdtree every year over their battle pass, and i'm not even getting any new for the extra copies. Until the steam servers shut down or you lose access to your license, lot more stuff.

[@MorTphyr]

Live service is the death of video games

[@Droooooski]

They removed the bloat like sprays and trackers and replaced with apex packs. So I can open apex packs and get bloat like sprays and trackers. Nice “value” 👍🏻

[@darrenm5797]

I would never consider going from 500/500mbps service to 1000/100mbps service an upgrade. Gaining 2x upload speed (that is often not used beyond 500mbps due to server limitation other then for speed tests) to give up 80% of your upload speed is a step backwards for anything productivity wise.

[@Kalinskiya]

i agree for example 1gbps and 500 mbps is perfect if uploadfing/streaming actively

[@apollodingo3583]

I’m honest glad they are doing this. I can finally get off the train. 4.3k hours. It’s so good that I decided to uninstall the game last night. It wasn’t even hard. I was appreciative.

[@TheExileFox]

Welcome back to the sane land.

[@zetsumeinaito]

Half a dozen different money modes? ThAt'S nOt CoNfUsInG nOr MoNeY gRuBbInG.

[@BaaadJuju]

That’s funny, I was just about to reinstall Apex when I saw the large number of negative reviews that made me change my mind.

[@cyxceven]

Some suits never learn. They just mechanically go through the motions over and over again with each product strategy. Their quest for money inherently dehumanizes them. Reduced to a doomed existence as repetitive automatons.

[@Sorain1]

Sounds like a job easily automated to me...

[@GnarledStaff]

They are skynet. Its been here all along.

[@W0lfenstrike]

Players: Apex has some of the worst F2P rewards, I can't see how it could get worse. EA: I am altering the deal, pray I don't alter it any further.

[@TheExileFox]

Feels good to never have picked this one up.

[@TheSavageB]

Boycott. Things change when share holders are not making money.

[@Battledongus]

In other news water is still wet. I haven't touched anything EA or blizzard have made in years with the sole exception of overwatch which i stopped playing a year ago. The PvE fiasco permanently cured me of ever buying anything from Blizzard again.

[@potatoeking5684]

I've never spent a dollar in the Apex shop but I play enough to complete the challanges and get one of their currency rewards that lets you unlock Legends for like 12-24k. I played for about 4 months 2 years ago and I still have enough of that currency to buy the next 4 Legends. Since Legends are the only thing that affect the game (not skins), I perfectly happy. I wonder how many people play that way too, where the BP is never something we would ever care to buy.

[@cometnight0]

I bought the game when Horizon released and haven't spent a dime since. I'm with you on not caring at all about the cosmetics. I have more than enough rewards gained through gameplay to unlock any legend they plan on releasing in the future. So this whole thing about Battle Pass plans doesn't affect me, I have never cared about it. I don't particularly understand the people who do care about the battle pass, but the impression I get is that these are kids or adults who truly believe that cosmetics matter.

[@STARSRav3n]

The problem is they still make money on you just playing. That's why I uninstalled years ago. I refused to let them make a dime off of me

[@Spika94]

I don't play skill-based matchmaking, it sucks.

[@Dumb-Comment]

"Didn't they learn?" Well they learned, they learned that gamers have the shortest attention span and they are going to spend money no matter what shit they throw at their mouth

[@om58499]

$70 games

[@luckyducky7819]

I think the "boycott MW2" thing was different because dedicated servers aren't that big of a deal to most. Basically, it was a bunch of people stomping their feet for something that's relatively petty. Monetization changes are a bit different because it directly effects a players wallets, and people work hard for that money. That'd make it easier to say "I literally cannot afford this anymore" and walk away.

[@leoSaunders]

10:30 that's the same issue Helldivers 2 will have (not sure now if they have p2p servers, I think so). it doesn't pay for companies to allow unlocking of monetization items. It might work when you're smaller to keep people playing but when you're big and servers get saturated, what's the point.

[@snickle1980]

Ya know... The more i hear about these EA fellers, the less i care for them. Now some of you might not know the history...but there was this studio called MAXIS back in 2005 that made simulation games. They put out a hype video in 05 for a fun science game called spore where you could simulate THE GALAXY. There wasnt anything like it out there. Not even close. I walked through the BLOOD AND THE BONES to preorder that game...and EA turned it into a cartoon. They dumbed it down for mass appeal and there hasnt been another game to sucessfully attempt an evolution sim on that scale since that googlevideo reveal in 2005. Never forgive. 🤨

[@bartolomeothesatyr]

Spore was an even bigger victim of overhype than Daiakatana. Such a letdown.

[@burnt-reynolds]

I don't trust your sponsor I'm never going to give them my banking information or other private data in regards to my habits and spending and whoever I subscribe to because that's exactly what it exists for. You are the product.

[@xandrixcreed]

Your phone does that for you for free without you knowing anyway. I agree Rocket Money does the same and it's pointless, but yeah. People need to be just more aware of their spendings. That should be the first priority.

[@colemix1852]

I've never missed OW1s monetization as much as now.

[@Montesama314]

This isn't simply doubling the price for one battle pass period, this is requiring players to pay another bit of money every season, whereas beforehand, you only needed to pay once and recur that cost through battle pass grind and earning the digital currency. So what might have been a one-time 10-dollar entry fee has become a 20-dollar quarterly subscription.

[@kvproductions2581]

The thing is, double the in-game rewards for double the price isn't even a fair trade considering in-game items are just numbers in a computer, it's not like they're MAKING double the content they're just letting you EARN double the content, so they type "2" instead of "1" on the program and expect you to pay double This whole system is absolutely gross

[@Dark_Jaguar]

Battle passes... Oh how I loath them. I hate time limited events in digital experiences with a passion. That FOMO stuff basically means that I won't ever get around to any of these things "in time", not to mention it turns me casually just wanting to enjoy a video game into a years-long "career".

[@tylerward6723]

When EA removed NHL hockey off the PC in 1994 i stopped buying their products. The next year microtransactions came into the game. Haven't bought a EA game since.

[@vengefuldevil5195]

The giants are falling, long live the new giants.

[@crashzone6600]

I wait til their games eventually go on sale for like 10 bucks and then buy them. Right after I check how much DLC they are selling. Ironically, around 4-5 year after it's release is around the time I can get a AAA game with it's full experience for around the 60 dollars it should've been on it's release.

[@vvitch-mist20]

"Line go up" is not a good business model, and I'm gonna get a PhD in Business to prove this point. Stability. The "plateau" that everyone fears is something that you should relish, because if you can get a high customer enter, and return rate then you've won. Infinite profit is right there. You keep your workers happy, and healthy. You keep your customers engaged. Fun little bonuses sprinkled in for both, and you'll keep people happy. Too much of a concept for any CEO or Business Tycoon.

[@svoloch125]

Next year - Premium X, then - Premium EXTREME, then - EXTREME Plus, etc. Aren't you all excited?

[@JayHernan]

Damn. I didn't think about that. You're right.

[@diestormlie]

Interesting thought about [I'm sure you gave his name, but I've forgotten it already]. Is there a point where he started becoming a "Net Negative" player for EA? I mean, he put in his tenner 17 seasons ago. At this point, so many seasons later... Is he now losing them money? EA might well have decided that they want a smaller playerbase with a higher percentage of people who play monthly. Because I mean... They've already got yer man's tenner. He wasn't giving them any more money- why would they *want* him to stay?

[@LitoMasters]

Because the game needs to look alive

[@slimi_jimi]

Last season they removed splits, this season they are doubling down on splits with BP... what's the damn vision?!?

[@jasonj890]

My gf plays sims 4 and I can attest to the greed of ea. 40 dollars for a pack of dog and cats. Every pack on sims 4 is 40 dollars and it’s mostly just cosmetic and never really change the game in significant ways.

[@TheExileFox]

The worst part is how much of a downgrade it is compared to Sims 3. Sims 4 is literally just "Sims 2 Mobile HD" with a better set of tools to design a house. (because smaller maps, missing features and etc)

[@gh0stly-flicker]

thank you for covering this.

[@djmandrick]

Hanging around with the wrong crowd long enough will change your values and wreck your previously good reputation. Even if you break free you'll still carry the stigma of being guilty by association, making trust building to those same prior levels, nigh on impossible.

[@MaxSchmidl]

Disney Speedstorm did this exact thing earlier this year. Split season, twice as much cost.

[@Spika94]

I feel like Apex legends spits on casual players (Skill based Matchmaking is trash). I basically got bullied out of the game because I just kept getting queued into diamond/master/pred games when I only had 50 hours into the game, and I barely even knew the name of half the guns. So after another 50 hours (100 total) I couldn't play anymore, it was just not fun at all. The games were so unbelievably sweaty. And eventually during those last 50 hours, people kept leaving the game the moment they got downed. Even though I somehow managed to win the fight, there was no point continuing, because I would be alone against these sweats. This was a while ago. It would be nice if this has changed.

[@Talon97]

Lovin that Rin Shima pic.

[@Spika94]

@@Talon97 ☺

[@milesph6905]

So I'm a Valorant player primarily and my boyfriend is an Apex player primarily. I used to buy the Valo BPs and he would always complain that the scheme was dumb. I agreed, I just liked the passes. Well, now he's REALLY pissed that our main games have the same BP system. Especially when he was also one og those guys who'd grind the BP to buy the next one.

[@thecatattheend2250]

Sounds familiar... 🤔"We're increasing value. Pray we do not increase it any further."

[@dany_fg]

4:51 a new cape design what is happening with all those irl "review bomb the game" quests ?

[@alineskeii-4262]

I think it is interesting that bungie has been doing the EXACT opposite with the new act and episode system. They drag out the season with a month of intermission between major story events and set it so that calendar activities like guardian games, solstice and dawning happen in the interum.

[@johnmcshane4463]

apex died when the first unlockable champion was released in p2w form, making it a fucking chore to unlock or just paying money. however many champions later.... its not worth it. worse than the league unlock economy, which is a HIGH bar to clear.

[@Gabriel-it5jy]

Thrilled to see you cover this, ex wow player now deep into apex ea makes blizzard look saintly😂

[@theghost8914]

is no one gonna talk about the fact that the highest tier has exclusive items and forces you to buy level skips? are you fucking kidding me? so in order to get all the skins i have to skip 10 levels? they are clearly just trying to jack up the price even more

[@xcheesinatorx]

Simple solution. They do what Minecraft Dungeons did. The Battlepass is always available for purchase and can be switched around at any time to any other pass you have unlocked but not finished.

[@STARSRav3n]

The fact anybody trusted them at all after their first "collection event" is pitiful.

[@MarineCorpzor1]

My friend wanted me to pick up playing Apex again, I saw the recent negative reviews and told him, "nah I'm good."

[@honaleri]

The thumbnail is actually hilarious!

[@barcode-nr5we]

I think the majority of the push back for this new BP is mainly due to the current situation of Apex. Essentially, the new BP system is the straw that broke the camel's back; currently apex is riddled with cheaters and major game breaking issues like input balance, audio, server issues (ping, increased tick rate), sbmm etc and they havent done anything about it other than release a new BP system...

[@HowdyHowdy_]

I take really long breaks between jumping back in and I've been hoarding free premium currency for a season pass that actually attracted me. Being unable to buy the pass with those coins now, I highly doubt I'll ever come back now.

[@Jdrunnin]

They didnt double the price, it went from a one time $10 purchase that let you renew the battlepass each season so long as you reached far enough into it every 90 days to $20 every 90 days.

[@Bodharas]

20 dollars is twice as much as 10 bro. Lol.

[@bartolomeothesatyr]

@@Bodharas And if they continue to charge that $20 every 90 days indefinitely, it is *_infinitely_* more than $10 *_once,_* bro.

[@shoOoterlegend]

Someone in the office had to have said "guys this is not a good idea"

[@wnxdafriz]

huh... this might have killed apex for me / literally the only battle passes i get are the ones that i can complete with apex coins only thing... due to bait and switch of model i hope this cracks down on fake digital currencies each game makes

[@cjsayers3346]

Great reporting as always

[@Stepatee]

Agreed

[@TsunamiWombat]

So many self owns today. I know it's way outside your Wheelhouse but can you look into the Wizards of the Coast/First Edition D&D anniversary debacle? Where they got publicly called out by the last surviving creator?

[@wingsofthunder170]

Been with apex from the start, stopped at around season 13 and now it's just genuinely sad to see it continue going downhill.

[@X-PCK]

ea being ea

[@VastoLorde1234]

If you're playing games like Apex, you absolutely deserve this.

[@mattw6705]

How so? We deSERVE this? I've spent $10 on the game once over the several years I've played for the BP that will (used to) let me unlock the next for free and so on and so forth. We deserve this because we like Apexs core gameplay? How so?

[@SlimeySludge]

these crotch shot pfp commentor bots go wiiiild.

[@DamienCloud]

Says the guy with a hentai picture

[@SlimeySludge]

@@DamienCloud its called anime, ya weirdo.

[@DamienCloud]

@@SlimeySludge Been pretty silent since I caught you lying and being an hypocrite

[@bartekkurkowski1516]

the primary issue with apex, the one that causes it to be less profitable now than at it's peak is the fact that updates have stagnated significantly. It used to be that each season meant a huge content drop with a new unique character, cool weapon, map and mode changes etc. whereas now a season basically boils down to new purchaseable cosmetics. The game got stale which is the primary reason why most of the people I know, including me, left it behind. Less players = less revenue = more drastic steps

[@themikead99]

Unfortunately this type of shenanigans does not surprise me. An example of this exact thing is Rainbkw Six Siege, obviously prioritizing new battlepass features and items and skins and monetization instead of dealing with the issue of ludicrous amounts of cheaters. It's pretty obvious where their money should have been going even before they started losing players.

[@nicholasjohnson6279]

If you're going to sell cosmetics do it similar to darktide (I know they need to improve too cus of their store rotation). Cheap cosmetics that you can buy for a few bucks

[@arif8967]

They went from a very expensive but a ok collection event to a gacha system. And now this.

[@frikabg]

I keep on noticing how the damage that these companies are doing is made by themselves to themselves. There aren't any competitors out there and the moment a game gets more famous these huge corps just can't help it... they have to start milking their players until the players LEAVE! Well gj :) I hope you are proud of yourselves devs lol

[@lbzen]

If they removed the premium currency in favor of just labeling items with a dollar ammount, thats a great W. Premium currencies are often used to obfuscate the value of what you actually buy and force you to give them $10 when you want to get something worth $6.

[@TheDarkness5]

Every Madden every year is the EXACT same. Hasnt been good in over 14 years.

[@hedlund]

That they pushed I'll grant you, but too far? I doubt they ever could, seeing as any old shite sells, provided they can induce enough fomo over it.

[@Loreofw0rlds]

As a Titanfall veteran... this just breaks me. These aren't the people who made my favorite series man...

[@FReset_Frisk]

The high seas are rather *_appetizing_* nowadays

[@MHGFTW]

Our main issues were lack of updates, increase in cheaters and teamers, and lastly server issues. I season 1-11 we got 9 new weapons. In season 16 we got another one. We're in season 22 now I think? They had an excuse that they didn't want to saturate the loot, but Fortnite seems to not have this issue. Then there's the maps. We got a new map in season 0, 3, 7, 11 and 15. It used to be every 4 season, or around once a year. Again, where's the new map? Me and my friends expected one in season 19, and said each next season "Maybe this time...". Once we hit gold early on in the season, or plat later in the season, we start running into cheaters. It gets even worse when one of us hits diamond. Blatant 6 man groups running around. People using single fire flatline with some mod to make it shoot faster than the auto one. Straight up headshot only aimbot. This last group is rare, but I don't even want to know how many people are using a cronus to have an easier time controlling recoil. Lastly the servers are just crap. If we play 20 games, we have to assume 5 of them are guaranteed losses. One or two of them we crash with a code tap or code leaf. More often though, we just get a game where one of us at random just can't play. Their ping is horrendous, they have "loss" which is supposed to be at "0" normally. We've confirmed that it's not on out end. We're in our party hat just fine. It's the game that does something to make one of us lag. It's actually crazy how often we go "It's my turn this game boys. I can't play. I'm just gonna put my controller down.". Maybe if they fixed these issues. Added content regularly, did enough about the cheating issue, and fixed the servers. Perhaps then people wouldn't be mad about taking their battle passes away from them. Still, I think people will be mad regardless when you take something away, much more then when you add something they dislike. The latter they can ignore, but if you take something away, people will know it's been taken from them. Me and my friends are active players who finish the pass every season. We sure as hell aren't going to pay real money for some skins.

[@joshua7551]

The entire draw of the Apex battle pass system was that so long as I remained engaged with the game, I didn't have to spend more money. I paid them in the time I spent grinding out the battle pass every season instead of the time I spent earning money at my job. Now they want me to give them both the time I spend on the battle pass AND the time I spent earning money at work?! Fuck em.

[@OutLanderUSN]

As of May 12th of this year, Apex had earned Respawn/EA 3.4 Billion. That's an average of 680 million a year since release. This move is nothing more than a shameless cash grab. And there are a bunch of people who will bitch and moan, all while continuing to play it and buy into it. They were doing just fine with those players who put a tenner in back during season 1 and hadn't bought anymore since then.

[@matbroomfield]

They're not "rewards" if you're paying for them - they're purchases. Worse still, they're randomised purchases. So just another variation of loot boxes.

[@goblin3810]

Who cares? They ruined titanfall let them ruin the thing that ruined it. It will only make me smile

[@zerg0s]

How did they ruin Titanfall? Titanfall 2 was a really good game!

[@6cmcnc6]

@@zerg0sit was mainly do to bad release timing and almost no support after launch. Then they completely lost interest when apex came out.

[@topnotchindeed1536]

"they ruined titanfall" "let them ruin apex which is what ruined titanfall" PLEASE make up your mind.

[@6cmcnc6]

@@topnotchindeed1536 it wasn’t that hard to follow.

[@saltieboi4687]

They player base who enjoys the core gameplay but not the greed around it does

[@Chevy64w]

I’ll never understand what happened to video game business executives, at some point they seem to have lost all business sense that you see in every other business sector, so many other “greedy corporations” are perfectly ok with marginal gains in profit, and even just sustaining current profit levels it seems, but for some reason in the past decade video game executives decided that the only acceptable outcome for a game publisher is exponential growth endlessly, and they have to constantly take up more of the market. It’s insanity and it was not always this way, and in more mature industries it’s also not the way it is now even

[@Jameshefrog]

The reason fortnite can do the brand deals they do, is them making sure that they have an in world reason those characters are there. Lots of the game is based around reality altering events and space time rifts. Its pretty neat how they managed to make humdreds of brand deals fit in

[@OneTato]

The b pass paid for its self and my bro has paid for it like this for years. Gonna be a lot of apexers pissed over that