There are a lot of debates going on in the video game industry right now, but you could argue that none are more important than the one about microtransactions and Loot Boxes. Publishers will release Free-to-Play games, but then input items that can only be gotten via cost. This has led to titles like Battlefront II and others that spammed these and got a lot of backlash for it. And now, legendary video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto has spoken out and noted he doesn’t like this model.
Miyamoto went to talk with Bloomberg about many things, and this came up. He noted that in his eyes, fixed-game prices were a much better model:
“We’re lucky to have such a giant market, so our thinking is, if we can deliver games at reasonable prices to as many people as possible, we will see big profits.”
This is the model that was used for their first mobile game, Super Mario Run. Although, Miyamoto admits that this wasn’t the best example of the pay model.
“I can’t say that our fixed-cost model has really been a success,” he added, referring to the relatively unsuccessful Super Mario Run model, “But we’re going to continue pushing it forward until it becomes entrenched. That way everyone can develop games in a comfortable environment. By focusing on bringing games to the widest range of people possible, we can continue boosting our mobile game business.”
Shigeru Miyamoto feels that microtransactions and Loot Boxes are making the game developers and publishers of the world “greedy”, which is why he doesn’t like them very much, regardless of the profits that they make.
He’s not wrong in many aspects, and a fixed model is better for gamers financially. But developers will often go for profit over 100% customer happiness, so it’s unlikely that his words will resonate with everyone.
