Micro transactions

Games Halo Infinite
1

I have decided to make a breakdown of micro transactions and how to get them out of Halo Infinite.
The Reason for their existence
Note: I am leaving out Halo: Reach from the calculations as simply there were more influences created from Bungie leaving
Prices Adjusted for inflation:
Halo: Combat Evolved: $71.28
Halo 2: $66.20
Halo 2 Map Packs (Total): $26.48
Halo 3: $72.78
Halo 3 Map Packs (Total): $48.52
Halo 4: $65.91
Halo 4 Map Packs (Total): $34.05
Halo 4 also had some cosmetic micro transaction items to increase revenue
Halo 5: $63.80
Halo 5 used REQ Pack (Loot Boxes) to increase revenue
My point from this is that the goal is to get roughly $90+ adjusted for inflation out of the average consumer
Option 1:
They choose to keep loot boxes because they increase revenue while also allowing halo to be cheaper for the average person.
Drawback: Grindy and unsatisfying
Option 2:
They offer cosmetic items as micro transactions to obtain that revenue.
Drawback: Locked customization irrates people that want to earn items
Option 3:
Season Passes or Map Packs to get up to that price range
Drawbacks: Restricts the gameplay opportunity of some players and divides the playerbase
Option 4:
Price increase on the base game to $90
Drawbacks: Everybody has to pay for it

Personally, I believe Option 4 is the best because it creates cohesion of the playerbase while also making free dlc and meaningful progression. Please let me know what you guys think.

2

343 has already stated that Option 1 isn’t going to happen. Infinite will not contain paid lootboxes, nor will it contain premium currency used to buy in-game lootboxes.

3

I hope Option 2 does not happen. I like earning things by grinding for them. You know what you’re getting instead of hoping you get it in a loot box.

4

Option 3 sounds okay, but yeah it would definitely make MP difficult for those who can’t or don’t want to purchase map packs after they shelled out $60+ for the mainline game

5

I don’t like any of the options you gave. Honestly, 343 just just needs to keep doing what they’re doing. The problem with Halo 5 was more that so many of the armor customizations were either clones of each other or horrendously ugly. If 343 can put together a better suite of armor offerings, I’d be happy with that for the most part.

6

I would 100% go for option 4 but if I had to choose one of the micro options I’d choose option 2, that’s the least harmful to the game itself.

7

There really is no way to avoid microtransactions in a game in this generation other than raising the base price like you suggested in option #4. However, that’s leaves the problem of having a game cost $80-90 sitting on a shelf amongst other games that cost the regular $60 and below, so psychologically most players are going to avoid a high base price, and market strategists know this, and it’s exactly why Fortnite became so ridiculously profitable. Players were able to play the game free at first, get hooked, and then eventually spend so much money on microtransactions they’re completely unaware that they’ve technically payed for multiple games, and it all began with the base price: FREE.

Black Ops 4 took a different route, and instead of making it Free.99€, they decided to go all out and make the entire experience, or in the way they put it, Call of Duty, Black Ops 4: Digital Deluxe Edition featuring an exclusive DOUBLE XP BONUS and additional weapons, skins, and characters only available with pre-order. All for just $99.

The funny thing is, all the things they include in the “deluxe” edition is content they could easily put in the standard game, but they purposely hype it up and lock players out if they don’t buy the “deluxe” edition or pre-order. The reason they do it is because people buy it, and they make huge bank on it.

So unless Halo wants to do something that involves basically scamming the consumer much like these two games do, it’s pretty much a necessity for them to include microtransactions.

8

> 2533275031939856;6:
> I would 100% go for option 4 but if I had to choose one of the micro options I’d choose option 2, that’s the least harmful to the game itself.

> 2535441777257585;7:
> There really is no way to avoid microtransactions in a game in this generation other than raising the base price like you suggested in option #4. However, that’s leaves the problem of having a game cost $80-90 sitting on a shelf amongst other games that cost the regular $60 and below, so psychologically most players are going to avoid a high base price, and market strategists know this, and it’s exactly why Fortnite became so ridiculously profitable. Players were able to play the game free at first, get hooked, and then eventually spend so much money on microtransactions they’re completely unaware that they’ve technically payed for multiple games, and it all began with the base price: FREE. Black Ops 4 took a different route, and instead of making it Free.99€, they decided to go all out and make the entire experience, or in the way they put it, Call of Duty, Black Ops 4: Digital Deluxe Edition featuring an exclusive DOUBLE XP BONUS and additional weapons, skins, and characters only available with pre-order. All for just $99. The funny thing is, all the things they include in the “deluxe” edition is content they could easily put in the standard game, but they purposely hype it up and lock players out if they don’t buy the “deluxe” edition or pre-order. The reason they do it is because people buy it, and they make huge bank on it.
>
> So unless Halo wants to do something that involves basically scamming the consumer much like these two games do, it’s pretty much a necessity for them to include microtransactions.

I definitely agree. There is a reason why micro transactions have become an issue and that is because consumers have chosen they would rather have it then to pay for it all upfront. It is sad that ignorance has led to these problems and ultimately bringing awareness is a major concern of mine. Way too many times people blame EA and Activision for being scummy when they ignore the fact that consumers are the ones that allow them to get away with it.

9

I would support option 4, a higher price with all the content through gameplay is ok with me. I doubt we’ll get that, the “games as a service” has me a little concerned. We’ll have to wait until 343i spill the beans about the monetisation. I know they stated there will be no paid loot boxes, but I need more info than that.

10

> 2533274817408735;2:
> 343 has already stated that Option 1 isn’t going to happen. Infinite will not contain paid lootboxes, nor will it contain premium currency used to buy in-game lootboxes.

This!

Speculation: I’m thinking they may have purchasable somethings for real money. Purchases will be for specific stuff, not a randomized loot box system.

11

In many ways, I’m glad we have a company like EA stirring up controversy and breaking gambling laws around the world. At least it means governments and people are waking up to the fact that microtransactions are not okay especially in a full-price game. Unfortunately, it means a beloved universe like Star Wars gets dragged through the mud. Even so, Battlefront 2 is now a great game and in a state that it should have been at launch. The playerbase is pretty healthy. But I digress.

All this means other publishers like Microsoft are put on notice. They don’t want that sort of negativity surrounding them so I highly doubt they’ll force 343i’s hand to put in gambling systems like Halo 5’s into Infinite. They’ll likely follow the lead of games like Rocket League which allow unique cars to be bought directly in-game without any RNG involved for a “small fee.” There’s no law against 1:1 purchases just yet so that’s one way to keep that side revenue stream strong.

There are some great games coming out all the time. But disgusting practices like loot boxes and DLC blemish games and tarnish reputations. This is why the new MCC is something to be celebrated since it’s a pure, high quality game.

12
  • Copy and paste Halo: Reach progression system
  • Allow to buy customization stuff with in game currency and real money, no lootboxes

Yes, it’s that simple

13

Option 5: Most armors and other customization features you earn from buying with cR which CANNOT be bought with real money in any way or achievements, or completing some form of something like the Vidmasters challenges, or by getting on 343’s favorites and getting Recon and Elitecon. But a few pieces of armor of 343 design can be unlocked by paying somewhere between $0.99 to $4.99. All the classic ones and good 343 designs (Ex: Helioskrill) are earned only by cR, or Achievements.

14

> 2533274824050480;11:
> In many ways, I’m glad we have a company like EA stirring up controversy and breaking gambling laws around the world. At least it means governments and people are waking up to the fact that microtransactions are not okay especially in a full-price game. Unfortunately, it means a beloved universe like Star Wars gets dragged through the mud. Even so, Battlefront 2 is now a great game and in a state that it should have been at launch. The playerbase is pretty healthy. But I digress.
>
> All this means other publishers like Microsoft are put on notice. They don’t want that sort of negativity surrounding them so I highly doubt they’ll force 343i’s hand to put in gambling systems like Halo 5’s into Infinite. They’ll likely follow the lead of games like Rocket League which allow unique cars to be bought directly in-game without any RNG involved for a “small fee.” There’s no law against 1:1 purchases just yet so that’s one way to keep that side revenue stream strong.
>
> There are some great games coming out all the time. But disgusting practices like loot boxes and DLC blemish games and tarnish reputations. This is why the new MCC is something to be celebrated since it’s a pure, high quality game.

Yes!! I see Infinite will most likely take some form of Option 2 thanks to the whole gambling controversy.

> 2533275022531756;12:
> - Copy and paste Halo: Reach progression system
> - Allow to buy customization stuff with in game currency and real money, no lootboxes
>
> Yes, it’s that simple

> 2535413397605856;13:
> Option 5: Most armors and other customization features you earn from buying with cR which CANNOT be bought with real money in any way or achievements, or completing some form of something like the Vidmasters challenges, or by getting on 343’s favorites and getting Recon and Elitecon. But a few pieces of armor of 343 design can be unlocked by paying somewhere between $0.99 to $4.99. All the classic ones and good 343 designs (Ex: Helioskrill) are earned only by cR, or Achievements.

What I am hearing from you two is that you would choose Option 2 as long as it does not lock all the customization options behind a paywall. Thanks for the responses

15

> 2533274817408735;2:
> 343 has already stated that Option 1 isn’t going to happen. Infinite will not contain paid lootboxes, nor will it contain premium currency used to buy in-game lootboxes.

i know they said that there wouldn’t be lootboxes purchasable with real life money or with a currency bought with real life money.
but another thing i could see happening is: lootboxes available only with some ingame currency. but if people want somethink specific, they need to use real life money. so you either get a random chance or you have to pay. did 343i already say something about that? it would be a mix of option 1 and 2 and something which is just a bit better than straight lootboxes and i hope thats not the case.

from the options in OPs post i would go for option 2, bc i don’t care about customization that much (no horse armour for me).
best thing would still be a full game with no additional MTs and i don’t really believe them that they wouldn’t make enough money (EA already said after the battlefront 2 disaster, that they won’t have a financial problem with taking out the MTs)

on the other hand: option 4 is already reality with many games. the full price is up at 100 bucks already. you only have the additional option to buy a striped down game with locked content for 60 bucks.

16

90 bucks is going to deter a bunch of new players from joining in the community. If I wasn’t a die hard halo fan I wouldn’t even look at HI with a price tag like that

17

So we’re ignoring all the special collection boxes and outside merchandise asociated with the games?

Make an attractive game, decrease the ridiculous marketing budget. That should do good, and no MTs.

18

> 2535462450434439;16:
> 90 bucks is going to deter a bunch of new players from joining in the community. If I wasn’t a die hard halo fan I wouldn’t even look at HI with a price tag like that

Well then why would someone have bought Halo 3 in 2007? It was way more expensive to get the whole game back then? The problem is consumers are stupid and do not realize that Halo 5 is actually the cheapest Halo game to date to purchase.

> 2533274795123910;17:
> So we’re ignoring all the special collection boxes and outside merchandise asociated with the games?
>
> Make an attractive game, decrease the ridiculous marketing budget. That should do good, and no MTs.

No. Did you also account for the fact that dev teams exponentially need to increase member counts and development cycles to deliver a quality product. This is a mathematical principle that is going to cause a video game crash because of statements like this from consumers that don’t understand programming, economics, mathematics, and computer hardware design.

19

> 2535448743215552;18:
> > 2533274795123910;17:
> > So we’re ignoring all the special collection boxes and outside merchandise asociated with the games?
> >
> > Make an attractive game, decrease the ridiculous marketing budget. That should do good, and no MTs.
>
> No. Did you also account for the fact that dev teams exponentially need to increase member counts and development cycles to deliver a quality product. This is a mathematical principle that is going to cause a video game crash because of statements like this from consumers that don’t understand programming, economics, mathematics, and computer hardware design.

A quality product is a result of a mathematical principle? And that mathematical principle is going to cause a crash because of statements like mine?
How does statements interact with this mathematical principle? If quality of a product (software in this case) is increased by simply throwing more people at the project, would the top rated games today have seen even better ratings? Better yet, would the badly rated games today have seen better ratings by increasing the staff during development?

Going with the assumption that I know jack–Yoink- about programming, economics, mathematics, computer hardware design, and let’s throw in game design, team and resource management as well.

Please enlighten me on why exactly a game development team needs to grow with each new title, or why the marketing budget has to be such a large percentage of the whole budget, in order to deliver a quality product, if the smaller team already proved they can deliver a quality product.
Considering that a game’s scope is set by the game design, which is a massive set of choices done by a person / team, the only “need” for anything, is that required by that set of choices, and in the stupid-realm I reside in, quantity has never equalled quality, and complexity never equalled depth. The required man power of a list can be scaled down, by scaling down the list itself.
Then, in my oh-so-stupid experience, one benefit of a larger team for any project, is a faster production time, however, more than often at the cost of consistency and quality.

But sure, an ever growing business with a finite pool of resources to take from, is going to crash because of what some non-knowing consumer says on the internet. We need more people doing it.

20

> 2533275022531756;12:
> - Copy and paste Halo: Reach progression system
> - Allow to buy customization stuff with in game currency and real money, no lootboxes
>
> Yes, it’s that simple

I would prefer a system inbetween to avoid overexaggerated grinding:

You can’t buy the base armor pieces, attachments, visor color and such. The player has to unlock armor sets by completing achievements or levelling up in MP. You got to use in-game credits to buy what you want specifically though - it keeps the normal grind on, but it doesn’t feel unfair either, because the player can choose what he prefers.

MTs in this scenario comes in the form of extra content, cosmetical additions of the pieces you unlocked. That could be armor skins, weapon paints, gun chains, special attachments, wacky poses (oh goth, no!) , classic voices for firefight or callout and so on.

This would avoid the uneven grind of lootbox-gambling progressions first and foremost - because without gambling or credit purchases guess what guys? There is no need to make the game unlocks boring. :relaxed: Secondly the armor we see in MP still gains its importance back. The only real limitation is a pay-wall for additional stuff. But frankly? That’s the only form of MT I would ever pay for anyway.