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More than half of Activision Blizzard's revenue is from microtransactions


FilmFanatic

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This right here is why microtransactions aren’t going anywhere anytime soon.

 

“Activision Blizzard made more money in the last financial year selling microtransactions than it did selling games.

 

During Activision Blizzard's fourth quarter financial results, the publisher revealed that it made a record US$7.16 billion in revenue over the entire fiscal year, of which US$4 billion was made up of in-game purchases.

 

Even if you remove the money raised by Activision Blizzard's mobile studios – which include Candy Crush creator King – you are still left with US$2 billion in microtransactions from the company's PC and console games like Call of Duty: WW2, Overwatch, and Destiny 2.

 

Last year, Activision patented a system it hopes will convince more people to purchase items in multiplayer games by pairing up players of disparate levels.

 

Around that same time, the company came under fire last year for limiting the use of item-colouring "shaders" in Destiny 2, and offering extra shaders for real-world money.

 

Microtransactions are seen by some in the gaming community as a scourge; a predatory monetisation tactic by greedy publishers that force players to either grind endlessly for content, or plunk down a few bucks to save themselves some time. Others see them as a way to negate rising development costs. One thing is certain: they aren't going away any time soon.”

 

https://www.gameplanet.co.nz/news/g5a80bf1de51e6/More-than-half-of-Activision-Blizzards-revenue-is-from-microtransactions/

 

 

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I remember there was a time here when Mcdonalds restrooms had a coin thing and you had to pay 50cents to use. That was some crazy microtransaction.

Edited by ERGOPROXY-DECAY
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Well, yeah, they have a pretty decent pile of money hungry casual phone games.

 

I'd be quite surprised if they made more off console microtransactions than console game sales.

1 minute ago, ERGOPROXY-DECAY said:

I remember there was a time here when Mcdonalds restrooms had a coin thing and you had to pay 50cents to use. That was some crazy microtransaction.

If I refuse to pay 50 cents for a slice of bacon to be added to my KFC burger, I'll piss on the wall out back before giving it to them for their toilet. 

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24 minutes ago, StuGunn5 said:

If people would just stop buying this crap then it wouldn't so rampant.

If only it were this easy. Trying to convince millions, probably tens of millions of people to stop buying microtransactions will never work unfortunately.

 

As much as I don’t care for microtransactions I’ll still buy and play games that feature them but won’t buy microtransactions of course. With numbers like these it seems pretty pointless to boycott a game or company because of them, as for every person who boycotts there’s probably 10,000 hell even 100,000 people that will still buy microtransactions. It’s going to take something pretty calamitous to completely get rid of them given the ridiculous amount of money they bring in.

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1 minute ago, FilmFanatic said:

If only it were this easy. Trying to convince millions, probably tens of millions of people to stop buying microtransactions will never work unfortunately.

 

As much as I don’t care for microtransactions I’ll still buy and play games that feature them but won’t buy microtransactions of course. With numbers like these it seems pretty pointless to boycott a game or company because of them, as for every person who boycotts there’s probably 10,000 hell even 100,000 people that will still buy microtransactions. It’s going to take something pretty calamitous to completely get rid of them given the ridiculous amount of money they bring in.

 

It’s simply a marketing ploy that grew more and more successful as the years went on. 

 

People are sheep and these companies see them as dollar signs. 

 

I’ve played dozens of games on my iPhone and iPad over the past 10 years that had some sort of microtransaction. This is nothing new. But having forced microtransactions on AAA games that cost millions of dollars to make on top of several DLC packs in addition to the $59.99 price tag is terrible. 

 

If the next generation is going to have forced microtransactions in AAA games in order to reduce the grind or simply to rank up quicker while you’re shoving money to them, then I’m basically done. Pretty soon they will force you to pay. These aren’t cosmetic microtransactions or optional DLC packs, these are mandatory microtransactions. 

 

Of course when you have a bunch of old men in suits who just want to see a bigger profit margin from these corporate companies, then microtransactions will continue. People buy into the bullshit and give it all the attention it needs to continue. 

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As i always say. I don't blame the devs anymore. If they know people are more then willing to buy microtransaction items, ofcourse they are gonna implement it. If you where a dev wouldn't you do it if you know  you would profit so much out of these? I blame the players and all thise supporting this marketing strategy. Once they stop, the devs will stop too just saying..

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3 minutes ago, Kyl542 said:

As i always say. I don't blame the devs anymore. If they know people are more then willing to buy microtransaction items, ofcourse they are gonna implement it. If you where a dev wouldn't you do it if you know  you would profit so much out of these? I blame the players and all thise supporting this marketing strategy. Once they stop, the devs will stop too just saying..

 

It's not so much the developers anymore it's the publishers who are distributing the games. We saw with Dead Space 3 how the series went from a good survival horror experience to a cheap co-op action shooter with barely anything to be scared of. Visceral Games did make some flaws but in my mind most of the blame went to EA for what they did.

 

And here just months ago Amy Hennig of Uncharted fame was kicked off of making a Uncharted like Star Wars game because EA felt it needed microtransactions. So now people have to contend with Star Wars Battlefront II which is just rife with microtransactions. Sure they made some changes after people complained, but they couldn't undo the damage that was already done.

 

It's a load of horseshit. It's all about the profits now, and these giant companies couldn't care less if they gobbled up a few more talented studios that had hard working, honest developers behind them. As much as we complain about the games we still buy them, and therefore we're helping EA, Activision/Blizzard and other like minded companies get bigger and more influential.

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I don't think this is a pitchfork situation. It says "in-game purchases" rather than specifically micro-transactions, meaning it should include WoW subscriptions, so I'm pretty confident that statistic is slightly extremely skewed. Also 2 of their primary line-up are free to play (Hearthstone, Heroes of the Storm). Taking both of the above into account the "more than half" claim is pretty dishonest and useless, unless we have a more detailed revenue break-up per game.

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I’m deeply disgusted how those braindead people can purchase those microtransactions. You’re consent to get wailed over and have the gaming experience cut pieces after pieces, seeing your progresion hardly blocked or grindy as hell before you’re convicted to purchase those damn toxic microtransactions! I’m an absolute anti-microtransaction activist and I’ll never ever support this... but seeing my contribution against them means nothing! It’s just depressing me!

 

Not only you screw yourselves over, you screw over the entire gaming community as a whole! I hope you’re very proud of you, you braindead idiots! Every single microtransaction you purchase, you vote for the corporations to abuse their envy of money without limit! You destroy the future of gaming we love for decades. Shame on you guys!

 

The so-called ‘AAA’ games are greedy as hell. It’s been a long while that I rarely buy them. I turned my eyes to independent games, they’re the future of our beloved passion that is gaming.

Edited by Maxie Mouse
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4 hours ago, FilmFanatic said:

If only it were this easy. Trying to convince millions, probably tens of millions of people to stop buying microtransactions will never work unfortunately.

 

As much as I don’t care for microtransactions I’ll still buy and play games that feature them but won’t buy microtransactions of course. With numbers like these it seems pretty pointless to boycott a game or company because of them, as for every person who boycotts there’s probably 10,000 hell even 100,000 people that will still buy microtransactions. It’s going to take something pretty calamitous to completely get rid of them given the ridiculous amount of money they bring in.

The only way it's going to stop millions of people buying them is if they become illegal.

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Well... my backlog *was* becoming unbearably big... maybe with the *Western* AAA industry becoming more and more consumed by its own greed, maybe I'll actually manage to finish it sometime during my lifetime.

 

(*conveniently forgets about indies and Japanese games*)

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7 minutes ago, jrdemr said:

Well... my backlog *was* becoming unbearably big... maybe with the *Western* AAA industry becoming more and more consumed by its own greed, maybe I'll actually manage to finish it sometime during my lifetime.

 

(*conveniently forgets about indies and Japanese games*)

On the same boat as you , mate :awesome:

Nowadays i try to avoid those Big AAA titles and Franchises with online focused and that are filled with microtransactions aswell like Activision,  EA , Ubisoft,  Blizzard , Konami and some Capcom games . I mostly am buying the japanese titles and Western titles like Witcher 3 , Uncharted , Tomb Raider , Horizon Zero Dawn and not much more western titles for my PS4. Focusing mostly on japanese games where i get most of my enjoyment in general without those pay-to-win tactics and microtransactions to get the better edge of others or even to play the game like it's suppose to be. 

Edited by Sigma999
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7 hours ago, NaseemJohn said:

Good to see that micro transactions are thriving. It’s definitely the future of the gaming industry. 

 

Thank goodness we can vote with our wallets. OH WAI- we already did. And we got spiked sticks up our arses. Thank goodness there are no new interesting games coming in the next few months/years, at least for me. I'll probably get a new PC to play all the games i couldn't play and say F**K IT to the gaming world.

Edited by Lance_87
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11 hours ago, FilmFanatic said:

This right here is why microtransactions aren’t going anywhere anytime soon.

 

“Activision Blizzard made more money in the last financial year selling microtransactions than it did selling games.

 

During Activision Blizzard's fourth quarter financial results, the publisher revealed that it made a record US$7.16 billion in revenue over the entire fiscal year, of which US$4 billion was made up of in-game purchases.

 

Even if you remove the money raised by Activision Blizzard's mobile studios – which include Candy Crush creator King – you are still left with US$2 billion in microtransactions from the company's PC and console games like Call of Duty: WW2, Overwatch, and Destiny 2.

 

Last year, Activision patented a system it hopes will convince more people to purchase items in multiplayer games by pairing up players of disparate levels.

 

Around that same time, the company came under fire last year for limiting the use of item-colouring "shaders" in Destiny 2, and offering extra shaders for real-world money.

 

Microtransactions are seen by some in the gaming community as a scourge; a predatory monetisation tactic by greedy publishers that force players to either grind endlessly for content, or plunk down a few bucks to save themselves some time. Others see them as a way to negate rising development costs. One thing is certain: they aren't going away any time soon.”

 

https://www.gameplanet.co.nz/news/g5a80bf1de51e6/More-than-half-of-Activision-Blizzards-revenue-is-from-microtransactions/

 

 

 

Wow. Half their revenue, huh? That's crazy to me. Even crazier is the fact that half of that comes from their PC and console entries.

 

To be honest, this pretty much settles the issue then. Obviously, people have accepted this model. Oh well - there are other hobbies.

 

5 hours ago, MidnightDragon said:

If you’re surprised by this, you must’ve been living under a rock.

 

Hardly. While it's certainly not surprising that microtransactions would make up a solid portion of profit, it is amazing to me that they actually make up so much revenue.

 

7 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said:

I wonder if that figure include World of Warcraft subscriptions as ‘in-game purchases’?

 

It's a good question. After all, it's pretty vague what's being counted here. 

 

But with that being said, I'm far too lazy to check up on this myself. 

Edited by starcrunch061
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I wonder how long it'll take "gamers" to realize they haven't been the target market of these types of games for years. There's WAY more AAA-only, two to three game purchases a year "gamers" than there are people many of us would consider gamers. They are the people these games are designed for and they're responding by throwing buckets of money at Activision/Blizzard.

 

The AAA market has moved way past those of us who have been playing video games since the 80's/90's. It's slightly past those who have been gaming for less than two decades and just moved past anyone who started gaming when the PS3 was new.

 

It's (AAA console gaming) a HUGE market now and the people here (PSNP/this thread) are not even close to the target audience.

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5 hours ago, DaivRules said:

I wonder how long it'll take "gamers" to realize they haven't been the target market of these types of games for years. There's WAY more AAA-only, two to three game purchases a year "gamers" than there are people many of us would consider gamers. They are the people these games are designed for and they're responding by throwing buckets of money at Activision/Blizzard.

 

The AAA market has moved way past those of us who have been playing video games since the 80's/90's. It's slightly past those who have been gaming for less than two decades and just moved past anyone who started gaming when the PS3 was new.

 

It's (AAA console gaming) a HUGE market now and the people here (PSNP/this thread) are not even close to the target audience.

 

This is more of a generation thing than it is appealing to those who have been collecting video games for 20 - 30 some odd years now. 

 

Free to play games on the smartphones propelled the microtransaction business, long before AAA games starting implementing them. The idea caught on close to a decade ago when iPhones were brand new and it took a number of years before publishers of these AAA games discovered they could make a boat load of cash on microtransactions. 

 

People complained about DLC in the past console generation, and its become so common place that hardly anybody gives a shit anymore. In a few years the same will happen with microtransactions. 

 

If the games are free to play then I complete understand having microtransactions. These developers have to make money somehow. But these days microtransactions have gone past simply being optional cosmetic microtransactions, instead they are microtransactions that are either forced or greatly reduce the grind needed to reach a certain level or threshold. We seen this example most notably in Star Wars Battlefront II. 

 

And today these kind of microtransactions are going into single player only games. They’re no longer restricted to free to play games nor multiplayer games. 

 

So the whole Pay to Win model is in full swing, and western AAA games will be rife with them. 

 

The AAA market isn’t appealing to older gamers anymore. It’s appealing to the younger generation. Tons of kids out there who have just started to get into gaming are probably buying microtransactions, and they don’t know any better because they weren’t around to see how things were before microtransactions. 

 

Even with our debt reaching to absurd levels, our problems with the current political situation, and an emphasis to outsource a lot of good jobs overseas, we still spend more and more. Nothing is being done about that, and these publishers only see dollar signs. 

 

Most people these days aren't directly involved in video games anymore but they are part of a publishing company, marketing conpany and what have you. Video games are big business and they have eclipsed the movie and music industry. Therefore implementing microtransactions is no longer a risk because they know countless people out there will buy them, simply because they can. 

 

At least with indie games I know that for the most part I’m not spending more than what the price tag is listing for buying the games. 

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