Sorry for the cynical title but f2p is a cynical business as you know it. Please remember South Park season 18 episode 06. In fact all this post will feel cynical. It’s intended this way just like this game’s design.
I am not going to tell how it is scandalous that the game released with this monetization and that Microsoft ( I am not saying 343 on purpose) perfectly knew what they were doing. It has been said again and again.
But recent announcement about xp is definitely a step in the right direction. The average player, the one that plays a little and spends little or not at all has now a better feeling of progression. But What you want is for people who play a lot and spend almost nothing to buy something from time to time and people who play a little but spend enormous money to keep paying. How do you do it?
Simple answer. Drop prices a bit. Don’t give xp rewards for challenges but a small amount of credits so players who complete all challenges get a free skins per one or every two months. This way the average player will be more tempted to also buy a skin the normal way from time to time because it will feel more fair. And you get to keep your whales because it will still feel too slow for them because they need to spend money anyway.
This way everyone is happy. Average player get something and you keep abusing people that have a mental illness (depression, oniomania…etc) because this minority is 80% of your revenu anyway. In short how about giving the illusion (keyword here) you are not scamming everyone with your skins that basically cost nothing to produce? Surely this world sounds wonderfull where whales keep paying and average players are more tempted to spend a little from time to time ; )
Sorry I don’t have a realistic proposition to protect whales because it’s litteraly on them that Halo Infinite makes money. Remember South Park “It’s about finding the most heaviest users”.
Halo f2p was a terrible idea from the start from a consumer point of view. F2p games are designed to be ‘barely fun’. Luckily this game gameplay is great.
Thanks for reading. I’ll play Witcher 3 tonight. At least it reminds me of a time I believed gaming had a chance of getting back on the right track.