Reply To: Farewell, flingers…

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DDeck
@ddeck

@djlarryt

On one side of the spectrum there are triple-A games that have Hollywood-scale budgets and development periods, with people knowledgable in “game theory” to balance game play and make it generally fun.

Then, on the other side of the spectrum, you have get rich quick companies that prey on people’s propensity for gambling, and they use this to generate revenue instead of great game mechanics. They design the game so it’s easy to get hooked and everything is free… up to a point — just enough to get you addicted. Then updates add micro-transactions, and it’s nearly impossible to progress past some point with out using in-game currency.

From a regulatory viewpoint, as long as it’s actually possible for a human to complete the game without buying anything, they’re allowed to label it as a “free game” in a store.

Now having said that… Rovio was never a triple-A studio, but they certainly focused on good mechanics and game play… in the beginning.

Everything lately is textbook sleazy tactics. Think of a level that is impossible to clear without spending gems. If the game didn’t eventually fall into pity mode where there’s a golden pig in each room, you could easily see regulatory issues for Rovio. Honestly, this game is so focused on gambling that it is no longer appropriate for children.

Remember that half the revenue of mobile games comes from less than half a percent of the players. AB2 is being optimized for that revenue stream, period. We can all quit, and it won’t make a difference. Rovio no longer even bothers to engage with this community.

Oh, and the game industry uses the same term that Vegas uses for players that spend huge amounts of money in the gambling mechanism: whales.