NBA 2K19 Gives You a Choice to Grind for Unlocks or Pay Real Money

cageymaru

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NBA 2K19 senior producer Rob Jones clarified the studio's take on microtransactions in the game. When questioned about changes to the in-game currency in NBA 2K19 called VC, he had this to say, "VC is an unfortunate reality of modern gaming." "Every game, at some point, in some way has currency and they're trying to get additional revenue from each player that plays the game." He goes on to lament having to make players grind their way to the top by stating the the long grind is a "choice, and not a force".

We know nowadays that most people don't have the patience to work their way to the top. They just wanna be there right away. So, you know, we look at it as, oh it's an opportunity for us to allow you to skip the grind, but then if the grind is too long, like some people felt last year, they're gonna sit there and they're gonna go 'well, you knew the grind was too long to begin with."
 
While I find the comment 90% BS, I will say that I'm sure it's harder on publishers knowing the games have been $60 for over a decade, and factoring in inflation, margins have significantly shrank.
 
"VC is an unfortunate reality of modern gaming." "Every game, at some point, in some way has currency and they're trying to get additional revenue from each player that plays the game."
Yes its so unfortunate. They dont want to gouge their customers, they're being forced to do it.

He goes on to lament having to make players grind their way to the top by stating the the long grind is a "choice, and not a force".
He wants pity for having to rip people off witth a minor incremental update for NBA 2k18.. or was it NBA 2k17 or NBA 2k16 or 2k15, 2k14, 2k13, 2k12, 2k11....

The long grind IS a choice... made by 2K Sports to increase profits.
 
Plenty of games have offered this choice.

Almost always it’s.... pay $5.00 for this unlock, or grind in game for approximately 33,623 game hours.

Sure.... it’s “possible”.
 
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Plenty of games have offered this choice.

Almost always it’s.... pay $5.00 for this unlock, or grind in game for approximately 33,623 game hours.

Sure.... it’s “possible”.

More like pay 15 bucks for every ~10 hrs of grinding. At your ratio it would make sense for everyone to just pay the extra 5 bucks, and we can't have that can we ;-)

Course soon they will start charging you 15 buck monthly subscription fees to be able to play in monthly playoffs etc.

Not to mention costs of new skins.
 
The hell type of content would you grind for in a sports game anyway? Alternate uniforms? Michael Jordan?
This is what I was thinking. Ultimate team bullshit like in madden? Only the teeny bobbers do that, the rest of us play online against friends or franchise which you can manipulate however you wish...
 
While I find the comment 90% BS, I will say that I'm sure it's harder on publishers knowing the games have been $60 for over a decade, and factoring in inflation, margins have significantly shrank.

but volume of sales has surged , and continue to rise y-o-y, way above inflation.

but so is stockholder expectations of stock price increases q-o-q. just look at the ridiculous eps..
 
The hell type of content would you grind for in a sports game anyway? Alternate uniforms? Michael Jordan?
Unlocking special players and boosting your create a player stats. It is p2w model. You can pay a $1000 on day one and get a team that will dominate online. They been doing this for their sports games for years. IDK why it get accepted by the sports game crowd but gets huge backlash from the BF2. People need to start fucking waking up and stop supporting this shit.
 
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While I find the comment 90% BS, I will say that I'm sure it's harder on publishers knowing the games have been $60 for over a decade, and factoring in inflation, margins have significantly shrank.

Gaming has also grown enormously, effectively becoming an economy of scale now.

As sales numbers increase the normal direction for sale price is downward, lightbulbs no longer cost a week's wages. Now I know software isn't the same as consumer goods, but profits in the video game industry have not been falling. Quite the opposite.

I think this is just another case of prioritising the milk of a few whales over trying to expand your market.
 
While I find the comment 90% BS, I will say that I'm sure it's harder on publishers knowing the games have been $60 for over a decade, and factoring in inflation, margins have significantly shrank.
Their margins haven't changed a bit, as someone else said, their volume has increased significantly to offset any inflation, then they get a huge bump with every game having some kind of DLC and/or season pass on top of that for gravy. And now these guys want to add pay to win into the equation lol. They aren't hurting for profits, they just want higher and higher profits to boost their stock prices for their shareholders period.
 
Their margins haven't changed a bit, as someone else said, their volume has increased significantly to offset any inflation, then they get a huge bump with every game having some kind of DLC and/or season pass on top of that for gravy. And now these guys want to add pay to win into the equation lol. They aren't hurting for profits, they just want higher and higher profits to boost their stock prices for their shareholders period.
Yes it is hurting their profits for not having p 2w shot in games. The FIFA game alone brought in almost billion dollars last year alone from this same kind of system. That is more then the game sales. That is the sad truth. I will never buy another EA game. they going to push this shit on to every game. The BF2 deal cost them a bit but they still making out in the end.
 
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"You know, the question has to be when does it feel like it’s a straight money grab versus when does it feel like it’s value added, right?"

Always.

"...you won’t feel like you know, ‘oh this is how they’re getting me.’ "

If I were working on the code to provide just enough, but not too much incentive to the average player to encourage them to pay extra money to unlock content in the game, I'd seriously reevaluate my life choices.
 
While I find the comment 90% BS, I will say that I'm sure it's harder on publishers knowing the games have been $60 for over a decade, and factoring in inflation, margins have significantly shrank.

Heh, I've never paid $60 for a game. I have no problem waiting for a year or so for the game price to come down. As it is, I've got a huge backlog of Steam/GOG games to play before I'd even get to a new one. I also never buy a game until it's on a good sale.
 
Their margins haven't changed a bit, as someone else said, their volume has increased significantly to offset any inflation, then they get a huge bump with every game having some kind of DLC and/or season pass on top of that for gravy. And now these guys want to add pay to win into the equation lol. They aren't hurting for profits, they just want higher and higher profits to boost their stock prices for their shareholders period.
I'm talking about margins without DLC or micro transactions. Because the price has stayed the same, i think that's why we are seeing more DLC and MT's than ever before.
 
https://www.2k.com/myteaminfo/be/

"We will be continuing conversations with the BGC in order to explain our view on how NBA 2K and MyTeam pack purchases already comply with local laws. If you agree, we recommend that you contact your local government representative to communicate your opinion."

Grassroots campaign to restore MyTeam purchases in Belgium!
 
Men like grinding, just not from video games. I am sure most guys here get my meaning. :p
 
Plus as a Dubs fan why do I ever need to buy a new one

I mean if you are a dubs fan you would get it to play your new all star starting five. Must be nice to have a My GM team as a starting roster.
 
This is what I was thinking. Ultimate team bullshit like in madden? Only the teeny bobbers do that, the rest of us play online against friends or franchise which you can manipulate however you wish...

A big game mode that a lot of people play including me is MyCareer on NBA 2K games. You create your own player specialising in a specific skillset and dominating the league as you level up improving your abilities and gain better stats. It’s actually pretty fun since you can play for your favourite team and online with friends with their own created players.

Sadly it’s gotten way harder to level up over the years and we’re inclined spend more money on VC. I’ve spent 300 hours on 2K18 and I’m still a level 90 where the cap is 99 (I have never bought VC btw). That’s simply too much of a grind so the fact they’re giving this excuse knowing full well that they can tone the grinding down even just a little bit is disgusting.
 
I mean if you are a dubs fan you would get it to play your new all star starting five. Must be nice to have a My GM team as a starting roster.
If you had to be a warriors fan your entire life and watch your team get crushed by the lakers continually — it would still be worth it. :eek::D
 
The biggest red flag was when they removed the difficulty multiplier. So now you're barely getting any VC per 48 minutes of play time. At best you were getting 1.5k/game with HoF. Now it's like 1k/game tops. Even at 5 min quarters for 1k, that's 30 mins play time. So 2k/hour, and you need like 150k VC to max out 1 character. So 75 hours of play time for a single character...
 
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