Well, folks, the inherent greed of the games industry has reared its ugly head again. This time in the form of a Transformers game. Our beloved industry has shown us that creating games is not what’s on its mind. It’s getting all of the money! CEO of Yodo1, Henry Fong and Featherweight Games’ Dylan Bevis shared their advice for the mobile market to focus on monetization from the get-go. This is in contrast to factoring in that element afterward. The talk was held at the Game Connect Asia-Pacific conference.
One point that stuck amongst the whole talk, though, is surrounding Yodo1 published Transformers: Earth Wars. That particular point is that a player had spent $150,000 on the “free to play” game, according to Kotaku Australia. $150,000! Nobody should be allowed to spend that much on a game! However, it just goes to show that some have forgotten where these monetary schemes started. It was the mobile market that influenced the AAA publishers, not the other way around.
Transformers the Slot Machine
Jim Sterling recently published an excellent video covering this topic. His point about the nature of these games is succinct in comparison to slot machines. The mobile market has become so cluttered with these games that the Transformers brand is just a skin. Just like you’d see when Konami messes around in the gambling world. These “games” are all exactly the same, they just look and sound different.
However, there may be a glimmer of hope here. Or just a way to avoid public backlash…
Transformers, Backlash in Disguise
In the aforementioned Kotaku report, Henry Fong spoke about AI tools and how these could spot the most likely spenders. He said that the bot could identify potential ‘Whales’ with an accuracy of around 87%, stating he thought they could get it up to 95%.
However, when asked about the potential backlash, he had this to say:
“We don’t want to create a situation whereby different people pay different prices for the same thing,”
This could be an honest statement, but the knowledge that someone could be allowed to spend this much on a Transformers game kind of makes it all mute.
The piece ends with him supporting the idea of working with regulators and giving them a full understanding of the industry. However, this could all be a polite way of brushing off how shocking this information is. All we can do is keep our eyes open to the future of the industry.
How do you feel about this? Played this Transformers mobile game? Let us know in the comments!
