Developer lets loose on gamers' 'double standards'
Cliff Bleszinski, former game designer at Epic, has come to the defence of EA for its decision to make microstransactions a core part of its business going forward.
A swift storm of vitriol followed EA’s announcement that it intends to make microtransitions part of all its future games. This reaction annoyed Bleszinski, who has now written a lengthy defence of the publisher and its ‘business’ actions on his personal blog.
“The video game industry is just that. An industry. Which means that it exists in a capitalistic world. You know, a free market. A place where you're welcome to spend your money on whatever you please...or to refrain from spending that money. Those companies that put these products out? They’re for profit businesses. They exist to produce, market, and ship great games ultimately for one purpose. First, for money, then, for acclaim,” he wrote.
“I've seen a lot of comments online about microtransactions. They're a dirty word lately, it seems. Gamers are upset that publishers/developers are ‘nickel and diming them’. They're raging at ‘big and evil corporations who are clueless and trying to steal their money’.”
Bleszinski didn’t stop there. He went on to express his frustration at the different standards player hold for games companies.
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“I’m going to come right out and say it. I’m tired of EA being seen as ‘the bad guy’. I think it’s *** that EA has the ‘scumbag EA’ memes on Reddit and that Good Guy Valve can Do No Wrong.
“Don’t get me wrong – I’m a huge fan of Gabe and co most everything they do. (Remember, I bought that custom portal turret that took over the internet a while back and I have friends over there.)
“However, it blows my mind that somehow gamers don’t seem to get that Valve is a business, just like any other, and when Valve charges $100 for an engagement ring in Team Fortress 2 it's somehow "cool" yet when EA wants to sell something similar it's seen as ‘evil’. Yes, guys, I hate to break it to you, as awesome as Valve is they're also a company that seeks to make as much money as possible. They’re just way better at their image control.”
You can read more of Bleszinski’s thoughts on his personal blog.
The difference between Valve and EA we all know:
Valve is a distributor/marketer.
EA is a Publisher and jail for developers.
-Valve takes big cuts and deals with developers over Steam and distributes their products and does marketing and this is where their relationship ends. Developers are henceforth independent, their creative direction and talent, as well as their system of operation and staff constitution, are their own to manage and Valve can't order or have anything to do with them.
-EA takes big cuts and deals with developers and distributes their products, it buys out developers and acquires them, it replaces all of the original staff that made a developer what it was and turns them into crap. It makes them milk out products based on the reputation of the former original teams that made the developer worth anything and it does it as quickly as possible before fans and communities notice this.
It distorts the soul of the developers and corrupts it, it dishes out "wider audience" crap and makes games into movies.
Instead of developers making money to make greater quality games in the future, they are making low quality games in big amounts to make more money, 2 different philosophies that each have a different impact.
They retain a philosophy announced in the past already of "innovation being risky" and it is so risky that they would rather retain and keep all the innovative IPs ever locked.
When they have milked a developer name (at this point it is just a name as nothing original including the staff exists) they close it down.
The vicious circle of corruption and gobbling continues.
And then they start doing political jerking about supporting the LGBT thinking that this gives them moral high-ground so they can continue ruining the industry and TALENT unnoticed. That this somehow justifies them.
And we all consumers are a bunch of stupids who can't think deep enough and are oblivious to all these games and charades so we can't feel that our intelligence is being insulted by this conglomerate of destruction which has been destroying a once genre rich filed with variety industry for a good decade or so.
Well i've had it and next to EA, Activision and Ubisoft are on my black list.
I've had it with this so called "business".
I hope that the union of Steam, Kickstarter and the free marketing that social networking provides renders these cancerous Publishers obsolete and kills them for good.
I hope to see the day where TaleWorlds and Egosoft and Star Citizen chaps and all of those independent and not owned by Publishers, attain through quality games loyal fanbases and through time acquire revenues that push their projects towards AAA levels while retaining their independent workings, staff and talent instead of being taken in by these grinding machines called "Publishers".
And that's an end to my rant.
I think most people worry that the game player will be hobbled if they don't use in game purchases; rather than let the player buy frivolous extras most people expect EA to shaft them and make games that basically require in game purchases to compete.
EA is going to milk players for items that win the game - pay to win. Else you're welcome to the world of never ending grinding and farming.
Valve is selling vanity items that don't affect a game's outcome.
So who is the baddy?
I don't play EA games and I don't play Epic games so I'm siding with the free-2-play games that don't charge at all. These business minded people don't realize the future reality of underground gaming. Games are in the imagination state right now and we don't have to fight for the right to play a game. Don't charge people who live with their parents and go to school money that could be used for their education. You as developers should idolize that not to take away from others to get ahead.
