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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: Let's Talk About Microtransactions in Video Games [Watch (HLS stream): Let's Talk About Microtransactions in Video Games](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Ua6wnLZF.m3u8) (15:19)  _Published 2013-03-01. TIME Tech talks about EA's move to infuse all of its games with pay-as-you-play microtransactions._ --- Jul 27, 2023 3:30 PM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [From Tariffs to Tech: Let’s Break Down Everything You Need to Know This Week](/video/UCjzyRoQ/) ### From Tariffs to Tech: Let’s Break Down Everything You Need to Know This Week [The Legend of Zelda_ Breath of the Wild – Let’s Play Video](/video/BjLeBJo1/) ### The Legend of Zelda\_ Breath of the Wild – Let’s Play Video [PlayStation Move Tech Demo](/video/u7KsnsJS/) ### PlayStation Move Tech Demo --- ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] Hi I'm Doug Aamoth, TIME Tech Editor and today we're talking about micro- transactions. These are small, for- pay items inside video games that allow you to level up if you've got the cash. Joining me today from Ann Arbor, Michigan, Time Tech contributor Matt Peckum. Joining me today from San Francisco, California, Harry McCracken, Time editor at large. And joining me today from Cincinnati Ohio, Jared Neumann, Time Check contributor. So, Matt, you have a very balanced piece on on Time Tech right now called Why EA's Video Game Transactions Do and Don't Bother Me. Me be, meaning you. Jared, you hate micro- transactions. Harry, you would hate micro- transactions. I will say, I will play the devil's advocate. I will pretend that I'm a guy that really loves micro tran, transactions. But really quick Matt, let's just, give us an over view of what's, what's going on. With the, with this eBay stuff? The answer so, electronic arts have this Morgan Stanely conference call here a couple of days ago. And, revealed during that call, they were asked about their digital strategy and during that call they, they revealed that that they were planning to do, include micro transactions in all of their future ga, games. And so it, you know, in essence, what they were doing with Dead Space 3 here, which is their most recent game that includes micro transactions. And so you got essentially everything by you going forward everything by iterating forward is ostensibly going to include micro transaction. And Jared you just finished playing Dead Space 3, you wrote a, a review of it on, on Time Tech. And, you I think, arguably you could say that the micro- transactions kind of, I don't know, ruined the game for you but it made the game less fun than the first two in the series. Right, first I'm going to correct the record and say that I don't hate micro- transactions. I rarely micro, I rarely micro- transact. But I think the thing is partly that I, I do that as kind of when I see a game that incorporates that, it's kind of disposable in a sense. Like, a game like Temple Run that uses those. I mean, I can have fun the temple run, but I don't see myself getting kind of immersed in it, for hours on end. So it's okay to have that kind of system in there to me. Whereas when I played Head Space 3, I [ UNKNOWN ] outside of that world to be reminded that I should be paying for more stuff. You know, and I'm already paying $ 60 for the game, I wanna enjoy the game. So Harry, you, can we say you hate micro transaction, did you just not say this morning that micro transaction have ruined video games as we know them? I've, I've encountered micro transactions that have ruined specific games. And I should say I'm a very casual gamer, I mainly do stuff like on my iPad or within Facebook, and the thing that leaves to mind is a golf game which shall remain nameless because I can't remember the exact title for the iPad. Where, I believe the game was free, but essentially, once you start playing it feels more or less like a casino. And they're constantly interrupting you to try to sell you stuff. And it doesn't feel a whole lot like a golf game. It feels like something that was designed to get you, to get you to pay up every so often and it just seems like one, one microtransactions are the primary way a gaming company makes money. I mean, they're what determines what the game play is like. You can certainly see that in [ INAUDIBLE ] games. Where they are designed in a certain way. And they are designed with the principal strategy of [ INAUDIBLE ]. Yeah. So we really see two types of micro- transactions. On the iPad side or the app side, developers will give away apps for free and then try to get you to buy stuff in games. And then these other these games from the likes of EA. These console games you pay $ 60 for the game, and then they try to sell you things inside the game, so, so, playing devil's advocate, I, I pay I'm, I'm in my 30's I have some disposable income. But I don't have a lot time to play games like say a 13 year old does, a console game. So I, I spend 60 bucks on a console game, then I can leverage, Micro transactions inside the game to level up my character more quickly than I would be able to if I, because I don't have enough time. Is, is that pretty accurate, Matt? Yeah, I think that's pretty accurate, and I think that's where the real rub comes for that type of gamer, is that they're already spending, you know, $ 50, $ 60. They're spending a lot more than they're spending on those iPad games where it might be $ 0. 99 or it might be free to play like, like Temple Run. And so they're saying, hey I already spent all that money. Why should I have to go spend you know, a bunch more money? And for me, I guess the, the you know, when I wrote the piece today, I sorta backed up and I stopped. And I said well you know, let me think about that what Jerry mentioned before, which is a really good point. That, that sense of, of interference with my enjoyment of the game. And I, and I started to think about the other things that, that sort of pulled me out of the game, and I thought, well, technically speaking, in a game like Dead Space 3 when I bring up the Interface. I see little buttons that remind me that I'm not actually in that world that look like the buttons on the game pad. And if I start thinking about all the little ways that, that game reminds me that I'm not actually in this game, that I'm actually playing the game. It, it bothered me [ INAUDIBLE ] Dead Space 3 implemented micro transactions on an interface side. But I think that Jared made another point earlier when we were talking about this, a flying, that the real danger is that it could impact game play. Yeah, the game design can change entirely. [ CROSSTALK ] Your review of, of Dead Space 3. You made a point that, it's not, it's not that microtransactions in the game, made the game, worse, it's that, it changed the, the whole mechanic of the, the, the game, the first two games used to be about scarcity, and now Dead Space 3, because of the micro transactions, they can't. Artificially put, they can't implement scarcity as a gameplay mechanic because it's not fair to those who shell out for the micro- transactions. RIght, so those are kind of the two arguments in a nutshell, like what Matt was saying, and what you were saying. So on, on one hand, there's there immersion element. So, I'll admit you know, it takes you out of the games to have that thing that's trying to get you to buy stuff. And I, I, I think to what I was saying before. Which is you know, getting, which is, yeah, you see other stuff like button prompts that come up that kinda take you out of the game too. You know for one thing, those kinda go away as you play more of the game. It will teach you, you know, button prompts and things like that. Anymore, that stuff kinda phase out. And I think anytime that, you know? Those things do happen. That's kind of a failure of design. You know? And so, now you have EA saying we're gonna put that failure of design, in every one of our games from here on forward. And that kind of gets under my skin. And, and, and then I, and then I think there's that other element which is just, you're trying to design. You know, systems based on say leveling or gathering resources or, or whatever. And you're trying to balance that with the ability to buy as much as you want, for a certain amount of money. So it's, it's just, I, I can't imagine it being easy to, to have those systems working together. But you wanna have a really well- designed, well- balanced economy and a game. And then you're kinda letting people just have whatever they want. And it's just going to be very easy to break the system that's been created, because of the fact that you can just go and buy. Yeah, so Matt, you know EA. It's a giant company that's got shareholders. It's driven by profits. Do you think that EA's the type of company that can implement these microtransactions across the range of, of games that the company will be putting out or is this gonna, could this, potentially be handled in a, in a, a, unfriendly way to gamer unfriendly way. Yeah boy. You know? I don't wanna, I don't wanna, you know? Speak horridly of, of NBA's prospects here because, because you know? You want a company like this. I guess let me back up and say when you, when you, when you look at the market and you feel the sense of sort of inevitability about, this that everybody's looking at this and going, there are piles of cash. That are sitting there you know, for the taking. And you get this sense of inevitability behind it. But the next thing you start to do is, is say you know how can this, how can we, [ LAUGH ] how can we how can we maybe as sort of writers and, and and I'm not a game developer, but say game developers. Try and sort of steer the company in the right direction, and I worry that, if we're gonna see game tran, microtransactions work, it's not gonna come from a company like EA because they are, at the end of the day. It's so profit driven that the shareholders you know, could end up, in essence dictating the designs of the game. I don't want to a second guess EA's formal policy here, but that would be my concern, with a company like EA, is that somewhere in a room somewhere somebody is saying. You know, we need cash flow. And then over here on the other side there's a designer saying, I wanna make a good game. And those two those, those two forces rarely I wanna say dovetail. And Harry, to your point earlier, this is it, this, this could be. This could be big- game developers looking to what's happening on the iPad with apps that can be given away for free and then leveraged with micro- transactions inside the game, and this, is this a case of, the successive apps trickling down into, into mainstream games? Well the iPhone and the iPad had a huge impact on software. Of all types because they've conditioned consumers will expect the stuff to either be free. Or extremely cheap and it's not too surprising to me that even when you're just talking about games on, on a phone or a tablet, am really ambitious and that it's, it's tough to make money off them if they're only $ 0. 99. So I kind of wish in some cases that consumers would be willing to pay $ 20 or $ 30 for, for a game for their tablet or their phone. Which might you know, give developers enough money that they wouldn't have to rejigger things. And try to make all their money later after the, the initial download. It's an interesting thing there because I remember Infinity Blade, which is a popular game for the iPhone, iPad, through the [ UNKNOWN ]. So they came from the console side and made this game and it started out as $ 7. At first it didn't have anything you could buy in the game. You just got the game and you went through and unlocked everything on your own. And, and I, I, I remember reading this somewhere, they actually said people wanted to be able to buy all the stuff. And they wanted to be able to do the micro transactions, so they ended up adding itself and, now Infinitely Blade 2 to has a lot of that stuff built right in. And so, and I think you see EA kind of taking on the same thing. Like, well if we put these things in. People want to buy them. And that's, you know? It's hard to argue with that, but at the same time. It's hard to prove the, it's hard to prove the negative reaction you know, it's hard to prove that. People see that this stuff is creeping into game so they pay $ 60 for. How many people are no now, moving away from console games or not buying those games because they know that experience has suffered. And you can't measure that and so I wonder if there're sort of. You know, sacrificing long- term health for short- term gains. I think it's possible, economically this is a wise decision, it kind of irritates me as a casual gamer, but it might be the best thing to do. I do wish, it seems like you could make everybody happy if you're gonna put two options, you know. Pay up front get a lot of content, don't get nagged to buy more content. Or don't pay up front, and buy stuff little by little. And it seems it, it might be possible to do that and split the difference. Yeah. I figured that, that's kind of the, the rub that we're seeing either you know. my, my biggest fear is a game that, you almost can get pass a certain level. It takes so long to get to a certain level without finally pointing up for the game. You know, it seems like there's game like that now. A game that just can't get to a certain level unless you pay for the rest of it. I remember like Tiny Tower, when tiny tower came out. I was like I would, I would need to play this forever. To get to the point where I've gotten, to the point where people are paying a bunch of money and unlocking a bunch of this stuff. To get to a certain level, it's an inevitable slide. I don't wanna be too down on it though. But, let's wrap up here just simple question. Micro- transactions, good, bad, or I'll let you freestyle an answer some, something in between. Jared I'll start with you. bad, depending on the kind of game, where the goal is, where the goal is to immerse yourself as much as possible, which to me, is what a lot of video games have been working towards over the last few decades, bad. But for certain kinds of games, where the expectation is there's going to be this sort of gaming element. Two hits and you're dealing with you know, little purchases here and there. Then maybe good. Harry? I mean, I think, the word that comes to mind is dangerous. I think, I think it's also probably possible to do them in a way where they don't screw things up. But there once you introduce them into the equation. The game is just totally different and the mindset of the people making it, and trying to make a profit at it becomes regrettably different, and doesn't necessarily make for a better game, or make the game player any happier. And Matt. I'm gonna cheat and use a word that I used before, and say that I think maybe inevitable but the gamer in me, the you know, 1980s 1990s gamer, gamer in me would probably say bad. And that's you know, like like Jared and Harry. I'm really not interested and, and if I could pick, you know, if I could just wave a magic wand and say companies, you can be profitable and games you can be what I want you to be. I'd say, no, I'd rather these things not be there. But then a little tiny voice in the back of my head says remember the 1900. Phone numbers that we used to call when we we need a [ INAUDIBLE ] to get to a Nintendo game, so. Which was a huge rip off by the way. [ LAUGH ] Yes, I will my one would answer would be America, America. [ LAUGH ] We got to make money, her sells. As long [ CROSSTALK ] as people are letting it gonna, it's gonna happen. So, I want to thank everybody today. Jerrod Newman from Cincinnati, Ohio. Did you get snow? [ LAUGH ] No. Harry never snows. Perfect climate. And then Matt got snowed [ CROSSTALK ] on so heavily and rainy that his power went out yesterday. [ SOUND ] And as always I'm Doug Alveton, Boston. Thanks, everyone. We'll see you later. 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