Thanks for providing a link to this truly insightful speech. One interesting aspect about his speech is that progression is usually the part of the monetization system that creates most money. If this is true, then the most profitable part of the monetization system in Halo Infinite is the purchase of challenge swaps and xp boosts or other boosts in order to ease the process for completing the battle passes or ultimate challenges.
However, I do unfortunately have no expertise in this field and this example may not necessarily be true for Halo Infinite. Something else that would be interesting is to look at the sales data to see if the system has been successful or not and to compare it’s success to other monetization systems seen in Halo or other Halo games like MCC.
They’re predatory by using tactics like a daily and weekly rotation for cosmetic distribution, it’s oppressive towards players who either will not or can not spend cash to pay for cosmetics that shouldn’t even be monetized ( coatings ) for example, to mention as you already have the price tag involved. The point of saying it’s predatory is defeated when you look at it from a literal perspective, the cosmetic and customization system in halo infinite is gross put blunt but people,
( the same people who say the system is predatory ) turn around and buy cat ears…
Well rather than enticing players to actually play the game and earn their armor they specifically designed progression to revolve around tedious challenges that eventually grow so tiring and frustrating (both for the player completing them and the poor teammates who now have a player ignoring the objective putting them at a disadvantage) that it essentially forces players to just drop money into the game to be able to do basic customizations that used to just be a base mechanic of the game… For god sake they even introduced cores to be able to sell the same colors multiple times… and split shoulder pieces into two separate unlocks to further pad the battle pass. AND made it so even if you get an emblem for weapons or vehicles that it only applies to specific ones rather than all of them.
They’ve essentially EA’d it and taken a full product, diced it up into teeny pieces and are now selling them back to the player for $10/$20 each…
Yes I get the argument games should be able to be played for fun but a lot of players grew to enjoy being able to customize their Spartan’s to make them their own. Imagine playing Halo CE or 2 and having to pay $10 for each different color or emblem option…
The older systems even allowed for players to create their own emblems combining shapes and colors but now are forced to wait for one to pop up on the store that they’ll settle for.
and yes FOMO tactics are also in use with the daily/weekly swapping out of items in the store. I myself almost caved and spent more money than a decent meal on a chest piece with a knife ripped from halo reach because I don’t know if I’ll ever be given the chance to earn it myself in a battlepass… they’re preying on fans nostalgia and giving them fomo of never being able to unlock that armor they had way back in the day again. (still to this day am yet to see it reappear in the store)
I think a big problem I’ve not seen mentioned before is the normalising of paying for this stuff.
Nearly every ‘content creator’ for this game is fully kitted out with paid gear. As sad as it is to say these people do have influence and they’re promoting it.
People will feel inadequate when they see them and think fudge it.
Also others games give players the ability to earn their in-game currency. They also give xp for playing but that’s a different topic.
Nearly every ‘content creator’ for this game is fully kitted out with paid gear. As sad as it is to say these people do have influence and they’re promoting it.
People will feel inadequate when they see them and think fudge it.
and they certainly won’t be complaining about the painfully slow and tedious progression since they’ve just paid to completely skip it altogether making the players who actually put effort into the game feel like they have nothing to show for it since they’ll be stuck with lame gear until they eventually get toward the end of the battlepass which by then will be underwhelming since it’ll all be old gear that’s already been seen a thousand times on the people paying for it making it impossible to tell if someone’s actually put effort in to attain it…
It’s not predatory it’s a shop just like any other. I would say the Apple store is a bigger rip off with over priced items.
However people expected a Halo multiplayer experience and this isn’t that at all. They’ve basically released a demo that you need to pay for through customisation.
Although you can just leave the shop and take your business somewhere else if you get bored with the experience.
It’s a bit like going to a safari park but then realising there’s more merchandise stores than animal exhibits!
Or
Going to a theme park buying a day pass for the rides but when you get in most the rides are closed for maintenance.
It’s not predatory though, largely because none of the items sold have any mechanical effect on gameplay. The prices are stupid, yes, and the way that the cosmetic system is implemented needs an overhaul, and base colors should be available for free. These are all things I agree with. But selling non-gameplay items is not predatory, regardless of the price.
They absolutely need to change their pricing, because it’s bad, but it’s not predatory. They’re not tricking you or forcing you into buying things. You know exactly what’s available. And there is zero downside to refusing to buy.
As a counter example, let me point you towards typical TCG/CCG games, which require you to buy the pieces in order to play the game. The purchasing models in those games, even in the ones that make an effort to be genuinely F2P, are much more predatory. Halo Infinite is just an over-priced hat shop.
It’s a bit like going to a safari park but then realising there’s more merchandise stores than animal exhibits!
More like going to a safari park then realizing you have to pay to see each individual animal… and then paying again if they want to see the opposite gender version of them (because they’re a different core of the original animal)
You could say that regarding the customisation but I was probably thinking more about the game and what’s available and how the shop has took priority over experience.
It’s not predatory though, largely because none of the items sold have any mechanical effect on gameplay.
No but they have a mental effect. A player who’s dedicated hundreds of hours and can wipe the floor with the enemy team with one hand behind their back will be forced to look like a noob unless they’re willing to pay for their armor.
There’s no option to earn A tier gear by putting in the work to get it, the battlepass has some good armor but that has to be purchased (which is fair enough) but they’ll purposely save the best/most unique gear for the store so people will then have no choice but to purchase it rather than earn it.
You could say that regarding the customisation but I was probably thinking more about the game and what’s available and how the shop has took priority over experience.
Yeah that’s fair… but personally armor customization over the years has become almost equally as impactful as the gameplay itself (there’s still players to this day who go back to reach & 3 to work toward maxing out their rank and unlocking all the armor in the game before the servers shutdown but with how infinites system works who’s gonna do that)
That’s the one thing I don’t get. Maybe it’s just me.
But before I get to it…
(The only idiots are the ones with the ears. No offence intended I support a bit of Xmas joy. But we all do look like idiots sitting around with Xmas hats on.)
However my point…. Apart from when you see yourself at the start of the game - you don’t see yourself at all unless you die a lot. But not enough to think I need to look cool otherwise people will think I’m a noob.
It’s pretty pointless. Or a bit of fun. Extras… which always cost. If you care about fashion it’s not cheap never has been.
See, I just disagree. Cosmetics are neat, but they aren’t important to gameplay. So what if the top 500 Onyx player has default armor? Who cares?
Would I like to see in-game tracks to earn certain armors, especially the core Halo armors that were staples of older games? Sure, absolutely. The sort of things that I like to see in the store are things like the Cat Ears and the Pizza Slice weapon charms. There’s definitely things that they can fix about the system. But that doesn’t make it predatory.
If I was never able to have anything but the default armor as long as I live, I would not love this game any less. Saying that not being able to dress up your Spartan all special without paying for the experience has a negative “mental effect” seems dubious at best to me.
However my point…. Apart from when you see yourself at the start of the game - you don’t see yourself at all unless you die a lot. But not enough to think I need to look cool otherwise people will think I’m a noob.
It’s pretty pointless. Or a bit of fun. Extras… which always cost. If you care about fashion it’s not cheap never has been.
This has been another complaint of mine and others… pre and end game lobbies have been just completely yanked from the game… prior to a game starting or after its ended players used to actually check a players armor/stats/fileshare out but now we just get the little intro/outro cutscene and thats it… which really doesnt make all that much sense to me when you’d want to allow players to show off their armor more enticing players to want to get their spartan looking sick for bragging rights making these items in the store that much more tempting to purchase.
Personally I just find it lame that we can’t look at a player and be able to tell right off the bat whether or not it’s a brand new player or someone who’s put in a bunch of hours into the game. I guess once they add proper ranks then we’ll have that but it was still nice reserving the cooler armor for those who have earned it, not purchased it…
That’s what I mean by Demo - can’t even look at your stats in game, let alone check out the players you are against.
The shop isn’t predatory it’s just the main focus - further supporting this - no xp system, just a paid battle pass that supports the shop.
Edit - you could replace the word demo with advert.
Edit - you could replace the word demo with advert.
We already had a 6 month flight… then the early release “beta” did we not also give them an extra 12 months of dev time already as well… I think we need to stop being so lenient when majority of the past halo’s had these features on launch.
It tires me seeing most games these days use the term “beta” as a way of pawning off laziness and poor decision making.
That’s an addiction issue - mental health.
Or an example of a game being designed so well that players still get enjoyment from going back and reliving nostalgia and progressing in a game well past its originally intended shelf life. They said infinites meant to be the halo of the next 10 years so… they probably should have taken a few more notes from the older games playbooks.
(it’s 3am and I’m probably rambling on at this point but thus far infinite has severely rubbed myself and from what it appears a lot of others the wrong way)
also a side note they didn’t even reward players armor unlocks in the campaign mode, just really lame coatings and basic emblems that probably no one will use… further forcing players toward having to buy armor from the store.
But the HCS money making machine needed to be out and about -
how could they have started their HCS season with no game. I wouldn’t be surprised if the only reason they released the multiplayer was to be able to start these competitions. Which I understand completely.
But if they marketed the game purely for HCS you wouldn’t get the revenue it needed.
It’s not, people just love to complain and then hop on that train and let it crash into the ground.
AMAZING how they call this predatory when ROBLOX literally has children making games on there for free with -Yoink!- devs and enticing them to “make money”. More like gamble and spend their money away. To children. ROBLOX is actively grooming children to be financially irresponsible.
AMAZING how they call this predatory when ROBLOX literally has children making games on there for free with -Yoink!- devs and enticing them to “make money”
I highly doubt anyone on these forums would argue roblox is anything but utter garbage or that halo is nearly as bad as it. However compared to the standard this franchise has set infinite is pretty darn bad…
It’s not predatory it’s a shop just like any other. I would say the Apple store is a bigger rip off with over priced items.
Yeah but apple didn’t have basic apps like the calculator or camera app come standard with the phone to then later on down the track charge you $10 per photo or equation