A lesson in Bundles

Games Halo Infinite
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The following is a bit sarcastic and satirical. For those who don’t find me funny, here’s the tl;dr:

  • Allow purchases of single items, but at a higher rate, incentivizing bundles
  • Open up the store, Stop rotating items, Let players see what you’re selling
    *Lower the prices, They’re absurd

On to my bad jokes…

I understand 343’s trying to make money, but they’re not even good at it. Let me explain:

We’ve got a $20 bundle in the store right now. The Anubis Armor Set. Looks pretty cool. I want it, but I’m not buying it. Why?

Because $20 is ridiculous.

So how do you get a consumer like me to buy it?

Great question!

SPLIT. UP. THE. OFFERINGS.

Right now the Anubis Armor Set offers 8 items for $20. AKA each item is worth $2.50.

“B-b-but if they sell each individual piece for $2.50, players will just pick and choose what they want instead of buying the bundle!”

Yes, they will, which is why 343 needs to sell individual pieces for $3.
3 x 8 is $24. So, anyone who can do basic math will realize that the bundle is a discount (by comparison), and they may feel more inclined to buy it over single pieces.

“B-b-but what’s the point if they just buy the bundles anyways?”

Good Question!

Some people, like myself, only want SOME items. In my case, I only want the Helmet, Helmet attachment, Armor Coating, and the Shoulders. If that were the system in place, I could get everything I want for $15.

And the best part? It should be a $12 purchase, but 343 is selling shoulders separately, so shoulders essentially run at $6, or double the price of anything else.

BUT WAIT! THERE’S MORE!

What if some time from now, I decide I actually want the visor, Stance and knee pads?

GREAT QUESTION!!!

Guess I’ll just have to fork over that last $9 and pay an overpriced $24 dollars instead. Guess I should’ve just got that bundle, huh?

BUT WAIT! THERE’S EVEN MORE!

Because we have to use an in-game monetary system instead of straight cash, I’d have to buy $25 worth of coins instead of $24!
*Note: The 2,000 cR bundle sells at $18 right now, so I’d actually only have to spend $23.

BUT WHO CARES!? You just made me buy 1 extra dollar of coins I didn’t need, and it would be SUCH A SHAME if those coins went to waste! To bad there’s nothing being sold at $1. Better buy 200 more coins to even out my wallet at 300 and buy an extra coating or something.

OOPS!

The cheapest coins 343 sells run at $5 dollars. Guess I’ll just have to buy 500 more to land me at $6.

WHEW! After buying 2 more items I didn’t even plan to buy, I’m finally back at 0 coins. And 343 just scammed $28 out of me.

So what did we learn today?

A player like me, who isn’t willing to spend a dime on these overpriced bundles, may be more willing to spend small amounts on items here and there. In other words, this system may actually get money from a player that was NEVER going to spend it. In even more different words, you managed to make $15 AT LEAST from a player where you used to have none.

If you’re going to be scummy with Infinite’s monetization, at least take some pride in your work and be good at it.

*note: I probably effed up some math in here. So pls don’t flame me, my feeling are sensitive ._.

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I would argue they should keep the roating store front… BUT ONLY for discounted items.

Like have a regular store where you can pick up things but then have a rotating offer of discounted items to incentivise purchase.

This is as basic as basic goes, a time limited discount of items, sure you can still get them later, but at this price?

See how it works, you get to keep some FOMO but at the same time not completely screw over the consumer.

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What about in game currency. Why can’t I earn credits by playing the game. I know it would take longer than just putting my hand into my wallet. I would rather grind and earn 2,000cr than spending $20 but there is no option for this!!!

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That’s even better ngl. I might even buy something like that too. Get, say, $10 from a player that may have not spent anything? The current store is too greedy for it’s own good. Plain and simple.

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I have a great solution for that too, if you’re interested.

Players who buy the campaign unlock the ability to earn in game credits.

BOOM!

$60 from players who were only interested in the F2P multiplayer. And the best part? Now that they have the campaign, they may like the story and be interested in future installments.

BOOM!

MORE PLAYERS! MORE MONEY!

But real talk tho, they could even make this so gaining credits is “slow” but, rewarding. Here’s how:

10 cR for completing a match
10 cR for winning
10 cR for a “good performance” (X match score)

This was usually pretty easy to accomplish unless you had an abysmal game, so it would take roughly 30 matches (assuming you win) every single one to reach 1,000 cR and unlock a bundle. This is slow enough that players may cave and buy a $5 pack just to get them over the threshold.

But here’s the best one:

Titanfall had this system where you earned “Merits” (basically credits) for weapon kills. The requirements were on a scale, so it would start with:

  • Get 1 kill with the R-201

Then,

  • Get 2 kills, then 3 and so on.

But it would cycle over at (I think) at 10 kills and you would have to get 1 kill, then 2, etc. Basically they were sort of like Commendations. This would incentive normal play, the use of any and all weapons, and general active participation in games.

They could even offer a base payout for completing achievement, like beating Legendary or find all fo the skulls.

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OR…

They could replace those challenge swaps and XP boosts with cR bundles and the total you get within the BP equals 900 cR. Enough to buy a small bundle, but not enough to buy the next BP, so player would have to fork over $5 to get them to 1,400 cR then spend the last 300 on a chest piece or something. Or just spend that 900 on 3 items, then buy the next $10 BP.

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That would be better since I did but the campaign. At the moment 343 aren’t really that clear if people bought the campaign if they would get anything from it?

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Yeah, I’m not a big fan of bundles or not showcasing every item you are going to sell at once. First one forces you to purchase items you may not want at all if you only want an item or two in that bundle. If you’re going to do bundles, let the person pick each item in the bundle.

Showcasing some items will incentivize people to buy stuff, then see something else they like better later in order for them to double dip. Instead, let us see everything at once so we can pick what we want. If we choose to change our minds later that is now on us.

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Couldn’t agree more with separating the bundles. It works perfectly in [GENERIC BATTLE ROYALE GAME] so why not just copy the formula?!

And while they’re at it, copy the battle pass formula too when it comes to the earning credits part. 100cR every 8 levels or so giving 1200cR per season, allowing people to earn enough cR to buy the next battle pass with a little spending money left over.

“Oh look, I’ve got 200cR left from last season, and that helmet I really like is 600cR, better spend $5 on another 500cR so I can get that. Oops, I’ve got 100cR left over, what else do I like the look of and how many cR do I need to buy to get it?”

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The problem is that they’re essentially selling the campaign for double. And then are touting it around as “the biggest Halo ever”. Halo campaigns are usually 6-8 hours on average I’d wager, so “biggest Halo ever” could mean something as short as a 12 hour campaign (I doubt this, but it’s still worth noting). Other single player only games can last for 50 hours easy, so this campaign has a lot to live up to.

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I doubt 343 would give out enough cR to buy the next pass since it doesn’t expire and they need people to keep buying them. So I’d bet a system that is less annoying for the player and still profitable for 343 is to give 900 cR (enough to buy some merch, but not enough for a BP) would work. And if you want the BP, buy 500 cR and be left with 400 cR that you need to off load somehow.

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I truly love this line

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Yep, it’s not really a bundle if you can’t “unbundle” it.

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Hahaha, thank you.

But I’m serious. The best con artists are the ones that shake your hand while the other is in your pocket… or something like that.

So, how did you feel about all of the points I laid out?

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I think my topic “343i, are you high?” sums up how I feel about your points.

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Lol that was you?

I’ll have to reread it.

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343 locked part 2, so here it is.

Class in is session 343.

To put it bluntly, the store bundles are bad. Very bad. I’d have to buy a lot of stuff I don’t care about like stances, or emblems. The only stuff I truly care about is armor and colors.

So how does 343 get a player like me, who has specific tastes and a stingy wallet to buy their bundles?

By making DIFFERENT TYPES OF BUNDLES.

The store is currently selling 4 armor coatings, but all of them are in different bundles (Arctic Void in Anubis, Scarlet Wake in Scarlet Medic, Milspec Stack in Enigma and Splinter Desert in… Splinter Desert). To get all of these, I’d need to drop $50 dollars.

Good job 343, now you get nothing from me. But don’t fret, it’s not over yet, you REDESIGN THE BUNDLES into categories.

“W-w-what categories?”

Great question!

Well you see, I actually WANT those coatings, but I don’t want most of the stuff that’s being sold with them. Looking at you Splinter Desert. So I might buy an ARMOR COATING BUNDLE.

But guess what.

It’s doesn’t just have to be coatings. It could be helmet bundles, shoulder bundles (at double the price because left and right are sold separately), Visor bundles, effect bundles, emblem bundles, and much, much more!

And like we learned in part one, you could sell these separate bundles at higher prices to incentivize buying the regular bundles instead.

Heck! Allow the players to make their OWN bundles. Create a cart system.

BUY 10 GET 1 FREE!

BOOM! $30 from the promise of a free coating but you tricked me into buying up to 10 things I didn’t necessarily want.

If you put your minds to it, can be almost as good as EA!