600 credits for awesome weapon skins for ALL 8 UNSC weapons and a dragon barrel attachment for the BR. So far I was hoping 343 would go for “a dollar per item” when it comes to the shop. And this even goes far beyond that. 9 items for 6 dollars is the best deal BY FAR in the shop. And these are even cosmetics you see yourself all the time in game! A helmet is nice, but you only see it in the beginning and the end of a game, and when you lay dead on the ground. I saw the bundle, was blown away, and bought it in a millisecond.
Yet, what if this shop mentality was seen by those 20 million people whom at one point played the game? A lack of maps and playlists have been points of critique, but for the better part of the first 2 months of Halo Infinite, it felt like 50% of all posts were about the shop and how overpriced it was.
What if this 6 dollar bundle was sold in week 1 and similar priced bundles were put in the shop in the weeks after that? What if those 20 dollar bundles were sold for somewhere between 8 and 10 dollars in the first week? How many of those 20 million people would have felt more welcome by the game, because they didn’t feel scammed and they actually stuck around?
Because these are digital items we’re talking about. Making a bundle that is sold once takes just as much time and effort to make as if that bundle was sold to 20 million people. You cannot run out of digital items!
I dunno. I just wonder how many people would’ve still played this game right now if similarly priced bundles were just the standard. And how much money 343 would’ve made from those bundles that could be put back into the game by hiring people to design maps or make playlists or whatever.
I think that’s massively overstating the importance of cosmetic items and their place in a games longevity.
While it no doubt will have put off a % of players who dislike the principle, I imagine it makes a negligible impact.
From a cosmetic standpoint I’d think the weekly items play into this more. A player may play for 10 hours to do all challenges for an item they want, but if they are not bothered they may play much less that week.
I think players leaving will be more down to gameplay and content not fulfilling their needs or attention. Especially with competition everywhere.
Maybe. It is just that most of the high prices give me the feeling of getting ripped off. And when I feel ripped off, I do not feel welcome. And with all the “player first” marketing of the months before Infinite, together with how important customization always has been in Halo games, I dunno. The game just didn’t give me the feeling it WANTED me to stay. It just wanted me to spent my money.
And in the long run more maps and more playlists are more important than the shop. But a player who just plays the game for two weeks, every single map is new. Every single playlist is new. And then he/she sees the shop and is like “What the f*ck is this? I’m not playing a game that is clearly trying to rip me off.” And he/she leaves and maybe doesn’t come back ever to play the game again.
I was having fun with the playlists for the first 2 months. But the shop was always right there in my face giving me the finger. I dunno. I probably would play the game more if I felt welcome instead of a wallet.
And this 6 dollar bundle for 9 items is just REALLY welcome. I hope this mentality stays and we won’t go back to 1 helmet for 7 dollars. Ugh.
