Icarus's blog: "Just South of Blue."

Monetization is an ugly word. Especially in video games.
Back in the day (2003 and earlier) you used to pay retail (or less if you bought a game used), and got a WHOLE video game.

100's of hours of entertainment. A complete story/challenge/ladder for basically $50.

These days we have locked paid content on launch. "Pay to win" competitive modes. Pre-order exclusives. Alternate game modes like "zombie hunt" and "survival mode" (which used to just be included) for $15.00. Map packs. Equipment packs. ETC.

And now:

Every major console will have a paid subscription to access online content.

There are games that are now 100% online content.

That shit was FREE for decades. I'm not going to start paying my books 99 cents to turn to the next page! I'm not going to pay 25 cents every time I log in to my email account (check out the legislation being proposed about net neutrality, they want to start throttling and charging just to access google/netflix/amazon/facebook/twitter per page access)

and I am NOT going back to paying per text.

I understand that it costs money to release a AAA blockbuster every 6 years, and you gotta pay, and that server farm in the middle of the ocean that hosts my games costs money, and you gotta keep JUMPING THE DAMN SHARK, but games like Undertale and Minecraft, Terraria, and Shovel Knight were made by extremely small teams, using 1990's tech, and they sell like fucking HOT CAKES because they're based on unique design, massive concepts, and good story telling.

You don't need to hire a voice actor for your protaganist,  it turns out we fucking love silent protaganists.

You don't have to reinvent the wheel every six months, you just have to NOT SUCK AT WHAT YOU'RE DOING.

And yes, this is a god damned indictment of free to play, pay to win, paid online access, vertical scaling, and self-bankrupting triple A studios.

Your consumers are not the problem.

We are bored.
We will buy your game.
We will play your game.
We will love it.
We will hate it.

But STOP
with the fads (Skyrim wins game of the year? QUICK EVERYONE GO OPEN ENVIRONMENT!!!)
the overpriced gimicks with three games after a $500 additional invstment (VR, motion control)
the copy paste (CODBOWTFHAX XXXVI!)
The endless skinner-box bleeding (need THE THING! here's 10 chances at .0001% chance of getting THE THING for $30)

We're watching.

We're not just bored. We're pissed.
You're not just entertaining us. You're fucking us over.

Your industry is failing, your studios are closing because you keep overreaching into our pockets, overworking your designers, and refusing to take good advice (often from your consumers).

When I go to a restaurant and I say "great coffee, but you keep burning the edges of your fried eggs"

fucking fix it or I'll go somewhere that doesn't continue to fuck up.

I have other shit to do, other places I can spend my money, and if I have to

I'll pirate my own video games from the 90's to preserve them, and emulate them.

You peaked at PS1 guys. It's time to start looking backward instead of forward.
Because the answer isn't watching a setpiece of special effects and partical explosions, or baiting me into a pay-to-win scheme for E-sports, or convincin me I'd rather watch a professional play a video game than play a video game.

The answer is in esoteric, arcane, unique, new, and beautiful things.

And you've shut your eyes on them in a mad dash to grab cash.

>>
was that in iambic pentameter?

Whatever:

Point is, my 90's games are still good.
I have a billion books to read.
Stop fucking up.
Stop making one good game (as an industry, not as a studio) a year.

And for fuck's sake, bring back free online support.
Fucking misers. I don't want to have to finance a new game engine every year by you assholes picking my pockets.