• JaredLevi@lemmygrad.ml
    ·
    3 months ago

    Based! As a game dev myself, having to watch this industry fall from the small hobbyists into the hands of mega millionaire, brain broken bull shit has been very difficult. I hope he is correct but I really don't know if American game companies will stop having microtransactions in games just because China banned them. It's probably more likely that they just release an inferior product here in the west. It's even possible that they dubbel down on predatory game mechanics to siphon more wealth from western audiences. But who can say.

    • sweatersocialist [comrade/them]
      ·
      3 months ago

      new western game mechanic: you buy a physical copy, then when you open the case, there's a code. you enter the code on a website, and you have a 75% chance of getting the game you paid for, but also a 25% chance to get nothing. the game is nonrefundable as the code that was in the box has already been used by you.

      • ComradeSalad@lemmygrad.ml
        ·
        edit-2
        3 months ago

        You joke about it, but many physical game boxes don’t have discs in them anymore, in favor of redemption codes. Those codes have a fairly high chance of not working, forcing you to go through endless customer service help options to get the game you paid for simply added to your account.

    • OrnluWolfjarl@lemmygrad.ml
      hexagon
      ·
      3 months ago

      I guess we'll see. I also think web pages work differently to games, in regards to the money that goes into developing them, and the expected revenue. Western companies would be perfectly willing to make 2 versions of the same game so they can keep milking Western audiences and keep selling to the Chinese players. But logistically that might lead them to dead-ends, such as trying to balance PvP between a European whale and a Chinese player.

      It also means that now there will be data available to compare youth development, gambling addiction etc, between China and the West, which might hasten existing similar actions in the EU, UK and US.

      • JaredLevi@lemmygrad.ml
        ·
        3 months ago

        "But logistically that might lead them to dead-ends, such as trying to balance PvP between a European whale and a Chinese player." naw fam just region lock the servers!

        "It also means that now there will be data available to compare youth development, gambling addiction etc, between China and the West, which might hasten existing similar actions in the EU, UK and US." When that paper comes out all the libs will say its based on junk science by an authoritarian government so the data cant be trusted.

        but I totally agree with you, for our purposes it will be nice to see what the differences are.