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Would mobile games be a good platform if they ditched the microtransaction and go to straight pricing.

Gamer79

Predicts the worst decade for Sony starting 2022
Instead of all the ads, microtransactions, and other bullshit just price all games at a set price. Can range from $1-$60. Hell if Asphalt 9 came out without all the bullshit microtransaction I would gladly pay $60 for it for example.

1. You can easily get a razor kishi or cheaper devices that connect to your phone like a switch. I have a cheap $25 one that I just put my phone in and it works like switch. Full controls. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09GY8KDKT/?tag=neogaf0e-20

2. There are actually quite a bit of solid quality games on android/ios. There are a handful you can buy right out and avoid the whole microtransaction jive. Too many games are ruined by the microtransaciton angle.

3. There are billions of phones out there and millions of apps to play. There is so much diversity in the mobile game space. Literally there is something for anyone.

Lets even take it a step further. Lets say Nintendo/Sony/Microsoft release their own branded mobile controller then released full fledged games on android charging standard prices. Imagine playing BOTW 2 on your galaxy or iphone. Streaming is already available but I am talking native apps one can buy right from the ios/google play store.

I personally beleive it done right there is a massive revenue stream there. Nintendo is already working on an android platform in the switch. Also this would avoid the need to upgrade. Using Nintendo as example, newer phones wipe the floor with the switch. Imagine being able to play Mario Odyses at 4k on your amoled screen that you already own.
 

jaysius

Banned
Well once upon a time before microtransactions mobile games existed, and there were about 20 TOPS good ones, and the rest were clones at least on iOS, so the answer is... NOPE!
 
I have Apple Arcade due to my family plan. I don’t use it often but the games I’ve played on it lack any sort of micro transactions.

The solitaire game is pretty legit and the one I play the most.
 
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Depends on the game. I was playing the Marvel Snap beta but I had to quit because the monetization completely ruined it. I wouldn’t even consider picking it up again unless it changed completely. I would love to just pay a flat fee and have everything available but that is likely never going to happen without government intervention or something.
 
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StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
MTX allows devs to keep making money off games since they introduce new mtx to buy every so often. A full priced game with everything in it limits revenue potential at Copies Sold x $xxx Price. It would also require the dev to bake in all mtx ideas they have right from the get go as unlockable free stuff to do to keep interest going. And any mtx content later as free.

I dont think pricing games like indies on console and PC works for the mobile crowd. Even if games were sold for $10-20 which is cheap, the crowd is smart enough to know most of the games are shit and only worth dabbling with as free downloads. If it's a game they like then they'll pour mtx money into it.

A lot of mobile games seem dirt cheap to make so you'll always get cheap prices or free downloads. So trying to get everyone to join hands and charge $20 per game or more for a full budget mobile game with all content isnt going to be worth the risk for game makers. They'll likely price the games as free or cheap to hook in cellphone gamers.
 
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sn0man

Member
Ok m ready to accept that premise. Mobile games have two problems. 1st the stigma of micro transactions and casino games. 2nd the people like me that thought no way could you provide a solid fully featured game on a phone.

I think that #2 might have been true but at some point (I dunno iPhone 7ish?) the hardware became capable enough.

If Apple and Nintendo merged I could see Nintendo just making controllers for apple hardware and selling games for $30 new (as Apple install base could subsidize pricing).
 
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Mr Reasonable

Completely Unreasonable
Well once upon a time before microtransactions mobile games existed, and there were about 20 TOPS good ones, and the rest were clones at least on iOS, so the answer is... NOPE!

As the op laid out, we currently have phones that benefit from improved controls and hardware that is more powerful than one of the most successful gaming devices on the market. Older phone games had to work with touchscreen controls, which I think was the main limiting factor.

I agree with the op, pricing might now be the biggest limiting factor, perhaps piracy.

There are some games that I play that I think could easily work on phones but I assume that publishers just don't think the revenue is there.

I assume that gamepass streaming could go some way to convincing people to get a controller for their phones which might make a difference. At that point I wonder if we are left with the cut taken by Apple/ Google putting publishers off - not sure how it compares to other storefronts.

But yes, in theory, phones could be better gaming devices than they are.
 

nush

Gold Member
Yes, before microtransactions there were a lot of good games suitable for touchscreens. Then around 2013 devs realized they made more money with micro-transactions because the up front cost didn't have enough buyers. So here we are.
 

supernova8

Banned
No because people will generally not pay more than, say, $10 for a mobile unless it's something like Mario.

Infinity Blade was cool at the time but let's be honest there was more depth in a rip-off small ice cream cone.
 

Black_Stride

do not tempt fate do not contrain Wonder Woman's thighs do not do not
Yes, before microtransactions there were a lot of good games suitable for touchscreens. Then around 2013 devs realized they made more money with micro-transactions because the up front cost didn't have enough buyers. So here we are.
You said YES, but then describe exactly why your answer is NO?

They cant charge too much for games cuz people just arent willing to spend on the platform....upfront.
Spending alot to make a good game with such "surprisingly" stingy players is a huge huge risk.
The MTX model atleast guarantees them a few whales will bring in returns.

Gamers basically forced devs to go this route, when they spent on making good games and charged upfront, people wouldnt buy them.
When they put ads in free games, people hate them.
When they put mtx in their games, people paid them.

No because people will generally not pay more than, say, $10 for a mobile unless it's something like Mario.

Infinity Blade was cool at the time but let's be honest there was more depth in a rip-off small ice cream cone.

Pretty much.
People just arent as willing to shell out on the mobile platform upfront until they are already hooked, then they will pay for those mtx till theyve spent more than the 10 - 20 dollars the game would have cost if they just straight up bought it.
 

Fbh

Member
Mobile could have been an awesome handheld platform.

But at this point it's too late to make any sort of change. The average user on mobile has become so used to the F2P model that they won't accept anything else.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Mobile could have been an awesome handheld platform.

But at this point it's too late to make any sort of change. The average user on mobile has become so used to the F2P model that they won't accept anything else.
Yup.

That's the way life typically works for things. If you go cheap for free, it's pretty damn hard to do a 180 and start charging people a lot of money. If prices increase come, they come slowly. Always easy to reduce price. Always hard to increase price.
 

Wohc

Banned
Most mobile games are developed with microtransactions in mind. They had to be changed, but i would definately buy some of them like Bloons or Simpons Springfield.
 

supernova8

Banned
The MTX model atleast guarantees them a few whales will bring in returns.
It's weird though I've never actually met one of these whales. My brother's son (12 years old) used to rope him into buying FIFA Ultimate Team card packs and then Vbucks when he got bored of FIFA and switched to playing Fortnite but I doubt he spent a fortune. Maybe $50 max on each. That's probably the biggest "whale" I know (body size wise his son definitely qualifies for whale though... oo low blow)

Luckily my brother eventually put his foot down when his son complained that he had no gifts for his birthday. Response was "well I've been buying you non-existent imaginary "gifts" within the game, and you have nothing to show for it... what a surprise. You made your bed now lie in it".

I honestly think MTX are extremely dangerous for kids because it trains them to think there is some sort of inherent value in buying in-game currency. At least when you pay $60 for a game (or hopefully less) your spending is done and then from then on it's up to you to make that money spent worth it.
 
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StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
It's weird though I've never actually met one of these whales. My brother's son used to rope him into buying FIFA Ultimate Team card packs and then Vbucks when he got bored of FIFA and switched to playing Fortnite but I doubt he spent a fortune. Maybe $50 max on each. That's probably the biggest "whale" I know (body size wise his son definitely qualifies for whale though... oo low blow)

Luckily my brother eventually put his foot down when his son complained that he had no gifts for his birthday. Response was "well I've been you buying non-existent in-game stuff, and you have nothing to show for it... what a surprise".

I honestly think MTX are extremely dangerous for kids because it trains them to think there is some sort of inherent value in buying in-game currency. At least when you pay $60 for a game (or hopefully less) your spending is done and then from then on it's up to you to make that money spent worth it.
I dont know any whales either.

Then again, spending money on mtx isnt the kind of thing to brag about on forums because everyone will think youre an idiot. I've never seen one person on a game forum openly say they spend $1000s on EA Ultimate Cards or COD loot crates.

But these gamers are out there. Either forum gamers are lying, or whales with bottomless pockets never go on forums.

Going strictly on GAF posts, you'd think every gamer on this forum never buys mtx ever, or at most buys $5 worth per year.
 

nush

Gold Member
You said YES, but then describe exactly why your answer is NO?

Comprehension seems hard for you, put your phone down and read a book for once in your life.

OIP-C.AUTX9YGD5VM7A9ZLjw3crQHaEK
 
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KXVXII9X

Member
Yes. I remember what they were before and a lot were Indie-like and creative. We also had bigger games like those that came from Gameloft and stuff like Chaos Rings.

Mobile devices today can play something on the caliber of Divinity Original Sin 2, XCOM 2, Streets of Rage 4, and Civilization 6.

I wish they weren't plagued with Microtransactions and greed. It is holding back the true potential of mobile gaming.
 

Miles708

Member
I don't think mobile users are willing to pay at all. You have to implement all sorts of morally ambiguous mind tricks to make some of them give you money.

I know I'm not willing to pay any amount of money for a mobile game, upfront or via mtx. It's just a low effort time waster anyway, no reason to pay anything.
 
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KXVXII9X

Member
I dont think the majority consumer is going to pay 60/70 dollar for a mobile game.
Mobile games don't have to be full console AAA games. They used to be indie-like and cost on average around $3-5; $10-13 for premium tier games. There is such a thing as designing a game around weaker hardware and not just trying to make a souped down console version. We had experimental games with the DS that made use of the systems limitations and strengths.

People didn't want to even pay $1-5 for quality games back then. If mobile games were made on the scale of most Dotemu, Devolver Digital, and Supergiant Games, I could easily seeing most titles being $15-20.
 

Three

Member
Some of my favourite mobile specific games had straight pricing. Games like Monument Valley and The Room.

There are a few problems with mobile games though which prevent it from becoming a console like platform. One of them is min spec holds back a lot of games. We had the UE3 Epic Citadel demo on iOS but very few games of that quality have actually come out since. Most games that thrived were mostly basic 2D single screen puzzle games like 2048, Candy Crush, Angry Birds etc. Depth in gameplay isn't something mobile devs aim for because they know most would be playing on a toilet break or a train ride. The audience isn't the same.
 

supernova8

Banned
I dont know any whales either.

Then again, spending money on mtx isnt the kind of thing to brag about on forums because everyone will think youre an idiot. I've never seen one person on a game forum openly say they spend $1000s on EA Ultimate Cards or COD loot crates.

But these gamers are out there. Either forum gamers are lying, or whales with bottomless pockets never go on forums.

Going strictly on GAF posts, you'd think every gamer on this forum never buys mtx ever, or at most buys $5 worth per year.

The only MTX I ever bought was the double xp boost (permanent) in-app purchase on the cookie clicker game "Bitcoin Billionaire" funny looking back but yeah I was obsessed with it a few years back. Luckily that MTX was only $2.99 or something (and I felt dirty after buying it).
 
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Tams

Gold Member
Yes, but they won't.

And a phone or tablet with a controller attached simply doesn't have the level of polish of a Switch.
 

Miles708

Member
High end games also kill your battery, and the phone is something you want charged at all times.
High end mobile games just make no sense.
 

Gankthenew

Member
Do you mean "Handheld game console" with a SIM and communication function?
I think what you told had appeared years ago and it died. The name is "Sony Ericsson Xperia PLAY Android smartphone"
 

SmokedMeat

Gamer™
It’s crazy to me that you can’t purchase the games on Apple Arcade. There’s a couple games I was interested in, but unable to purchase.

I’d at least be willing to drop $5 on something good, but not more then that as the playing experience is so inferior imo.
 
It would be fine. But I personally don't like to multitask on my phone that much as it just drains the battery when I need it. I don't even use my phone to stream music, and still use an ipod to keep them separate.
 

kraspkibble

Permabanned.
mobile is fine as it is.

if you don't like microtransactions don't buy them. nobody is forcing you to. if you feel a game is wasting your time don't play it.

:rolleyes:
 

Daytonabot

Banned
Considering Switch is a mobile platform, the answer is pretty obvious. Would you like a more powerful Switch with an OS and online infrastructure made by people who actually understand the internet? Probably.
 

Majukun

Member
not really..in the end mobile games and mobile players are made for one another...priced games would not do good in an environment where people are now used to get stuff for free...and tbf the controls and power just isn't there to make great games that rely on any kind of fast input...maybe i'm just old but i hate not having an actual stick or button under my fingers and getting the right feedback.
 
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cormack12

Gold Member
No, biggest barrier to mobile is the input method. If you have to lug a controller round then just buy a handheld (Switch, Deck) which has better game support
 
systems have that killer app. 3DS I was taking it everwhere just to play the pokemon games alone.

Mobile has what Fruit Ninja?
 
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Saber

Gold Member
No. Because of most them nowadays are exactly what people call they are. Garbage mobile games.

Take Harry Potter for instance. The game is a heavy amount of nothing, even without monetarization.
 
Yes, back in around 2010 there was a time when mobile gaming was moving to be more akin to console gaming but two things happened:

1 - There was a price war, so people started to expect 1 to 5 dollars per game as a base price.

2 - Free games that do not pinch the parents wallet when downloaded took over (in part because people refused to pay for "real games" on these platforms).
 
I think the best mobile games (cell phones) are those that can be played entirely with one finger. Hold the phone in one hand, play the game with one finger on the other hand.
I'll pay for that.
 
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jshackles

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
There are a few (traditional) game companies that have tried this, and I don't think they've been entirely successful looking at the sales charts.

The older Final Fantasy games, SaGa games, Valkyrie Profile, Dragon Quest, etc. from Square Enix have all been priced at $15 - $20 each on mobile, which is a pretty hefty premium on the platform. A lot of times, this coincides with their re-release prices on PC. While I'm sure they've had some moderate success here due to the name or brand recognition, I'm sure they haven't made as much money on these as, say, Candy Crush. In fact, I'm absolutely positive that they've made more money from their microtransactions in their gacha Final Fantasy games (Record Keeper, Brave Exvious, Dissidia) than they could even dream of making on their $20 titles. Additionally, they released two "made for mobile" Final Fantasy games (Dimension 1 and 2) that were $20 each and included full games with no microtransactions, and they both flopped incredibly hard.

Capcom has also done this with Monster Hunter Stories and Ace Attorney. Both sell alright I'm sure, but even combined they probably don't generate as much revenue as their F2P version of Street Fighter IV.

Meanwhile games like Stardew Valley fit OP's description, but not their price point, and have been very successful on mobile. Monument Valley is another micro-transaction-free game and does alright. Grand Theft Auto, Star Wars KOTOR, etc. But these are $5 games which seems to be the sweet spot for the platform.

It would be interesting to see a AAA studio take the risk of developing a AAA game for mobile and selling it for $60. Not likely to happen since the bean counters would probably hang them, but if someone could make a killer app for the platform they might just be able to make it work, which may spawn others to do the same. It would have to be Elden Ring or Skyrim levels of popular though.
 

nkarafo

Member
No because they are touch screen and connecting a gamepad via bluetooth creates a ton of input lag.
 

Furball

Member
i remember people complain about 20 $ game are expensive on mobile



Those chaos ring game is truely gem and show mobile can be potential platform but the user base pretty much prefer Gacha
 
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Fbh

Member
Yup.

That's the way life typically works for things. If you go cheap for free, it's pretty damn hard to do a 180 and start charging people a lot of money. If prices increase come, they come slowly. Always easy to reduce price. Always hard to increase price.

And as time moves on it will become harder and harder. We now have a generation of kids that grew up with these types of games, the fond memories that people from my generation have with Unreal Tournament, FFVII and Age of Empires these kids have with Fortnite, FF Brave Exvius and Clash of Clans.

Switching to a paid model to them would be like switching to a F2P mobile model for us.
 
Maybe for some people, but my favorite part of the Switch was having the ability to play Pokemon/Fire Emblem/Animal Crossing and other traditionally handheld franchises on a big screen. I've probably used it in handheld mode like 1-2 hours total over the entire time I've had a Switch. So I wouldn't ever view mobile as a good platform even if traditional games were built for it
 
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John Wick

Member
Instead of all the ads, microtransactions, and other bullshit just price all games at a set price. Can range from $1-$60. Hell if Asphalt 9 came out without all the bullshit microtransaction I would gladly pay $60 for it for example.

1. You can easily get a razor kishi or cheaper devices that connect to your phone like a switch. I have a cheap $25 one that I just put my phone in and it works like switch. Full controls. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09GY8KDKT/?tag=neogaf0e-20

2. There are actually quite a bit of solid quality games on android/ios. There are a handful you can buy right out and avoid the whole microtransaction jive. Too many games are ruined by the microtransaciton angle.

3. There are billions of phones out there and millions of apps to play. There is so much diversity in the mobile game space. Literally there is something for anyone.

Lets even take it a step further. Lets say Nintendo/Sony/Microsoft release their own branded mobile controller then released full fledged games on android charging standard prices. Imagine playing BOTW 2 on your galaxy or iphone. Streaming is already available but I am talking native apps one can buy right from the ios/google play store.

I personally beleive it done right there is a massive revenue stream there. Nintendo is already working on an android platform in the switch. Also this would avoid the need to upgrade. Using Nintendo as example, newer phones wipe the floor with the switch. Imagine being able to play Mario Odyses at 4k on your amoled screen that you already own.
No!
OP search your feelings, you know this to be true.....
 
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