Are Battle Passes and Microtransactions Ruining Games?

[Totally]

Almost every big game now has some form of battle pass, skins, or paid extras.

Some people don't mind as long as it's optional. Others feel like it changes how games are designed.

Instead of focusing on gameplay, it sometimes feels like everything is built around keeping players spending.

Do you think this is just the new normal, or is it making games worse?

[QuantumDay]

As long as it's cosmetic only I don't really care

[VB]

Too much gambling like fuelling addiction

[codeberg]

Definitely affects how games are designed now

[Quanta]

Feels like everything is built around monetisation first

[One-One-Five]

Almost every big game now has some form of battle pass, skins, or paid extras. Some people don't mind as long as it's optional. Others feel

That is pretty much it. Story of my life that.

Appreciate it

[MiniElliot]

As long as it's cosmetic only I don't really care.

Yeah can't really argue with that. The price matters more than it used to, I am much more selective about what I buy full price.

Let me know what you think

[MayanHan]

A lot depends on who is making the claim and what they are trying to sell. It is worth looking at who benefits from a particular framing before accepting it.

That is my read on it anyway

[Demi-Q]

Definitely affects how games are designed now.

The stats do not back that up. Cannot wait for the game to settle it

[VidiTechnica]

Couldn't agree more. Proper useful that

[Quanta]

Worth checking that assumption before committing to it. The key is not to change too many things at once or you will not know what actually fixed it.

Should sort it if the basics are fine.

Some of the best games I have played were ones I started with no expectations

[DotEXE]

Almost every big game now has some form of battle pass, skins, or paid extras. Some people don't mind as long as it's optional. Other

That reading works but it loses something in the reduction. Happy to keep discussing this

[PlanetOftheApes]

Same here. Ha, fair enough.

[TommyB_20]

I would push back on that hard. We will know soon enough

[SGHolly]

That is interesting, I had read something that seemed to contradict it. Cheers for the explanation.

[Zero-Point]

That matches what the more reliable sources are saying. I try to find two or three different sources before forming a proper view on something like this.

Worth keeping an eye on

[Neil57]

Yeah that sounds about right. Let me know what you think.

Atmosphere carries a game further than mechanics in my experience.

[Zach91]

That is the part most people skip over. What I find interesting is what it chooses not to include as much as what it does.

I find these conversations more useful than reading reviews

[Northernah]

Cheers for that. Cheers.

The first hour tells you whether a game is going to hold you or not.

[WhatUQuant]

Same here. Ha, fair enough.

Feels like the right read on it. I will update this thread if anything significant changes

[SwiftQuarry]

I might be missing something but that feels off to me. It is the kind of thing where the more you dig the more complicated it gets.

That is genuinely useful

[Forge45]

Yeah that sounds about right. Let me know what you think. Atmosphere carries a game further than mechanics in my experience.

That works until it does not. Worth ruling out the simple stuff before going further.

Start there and see if it makes a difference.

Atmosphere carries a game further than mechanics in my experience

[Shane_8]

I think microtransactions became an issue when they started creeping into full price games. If I'm paying full price upfront, I don't want to feel like I'm being nudged to spend more every time I open a menu.

Free to play games I can tolerate it more because at least I know what I'm getting into

[Outlaw]

Hot take: battle passes aren't the problem, it's how aggressively some games implement them. When the game feels like a storefront first and a game second, that's where it goes wrong.

I've played games where the system was actually pretty fair and didn't bother me at all

[Marcus95]

I miss the old days when you just unlocked stuff by playing and that was it. No seasonal timers, no FOMO, just play the game and get rewarded.

That said, I get why companies moved this direction. It clearly makes them more money and keeps players coming back

[BigDog92]

Honestly I think people mix up cosmetic monetization with pay to win too often. A battle pass that just gives skins doesn't really affect gameplay in my opinion.

But I do agree that when every menu is pushing you toward a store, it does break immersion a bit

[KnotKnull]

I don't think battle passes are automatically ruining games, but they definitely change how games feel over time. Everything starts to feel like it's on a schedule instead of just being there to enjoy.

The problem is when progression systems get designed around retention instead of fun, that's when it gets frustrating