Over the past six years, the gaming industry has completely changed economically. Numerous controversies surrounding loot boxes and paid microtransactions have sparked fan protests. The loot box crisis reached new heights in 2018 after lawmakers decided to permanently ban loot boxes in Belgium and the Netherlands. Since the original ruling, loot boxes have been banned by law in 18 different European countries. Loot boxes aren’t completely banned in the United States, but Congress is drafting a bill that would regulate microtransactions and payments to earn loot boxes. Fan backlash and legal issues signaled to the industry giants that changes were needed.
But what can replace the huge loot income? The answer seemed impossible until 2013, when Dota 2 introduced something called Synopsis, which laid the foundation for what would become the new standard in the gaming industry. Synopsis was an in-game digital book containing challenges which players could take up using a variety of items, including emotes, character skins, and voice lines. While this gave gamers exactly what they wanted, it’s important to note that these are all paid features. Despite the paywall, the Dota 2 recap was a massive hit, grossing millions of dollars. The exact amount of money received is unknown, but Valve has always invested 25% of Compendium revenue into the Dota 2 prize pool of up to $40 million in 2021.
Valve knew instantly they had something big on their hands. They changed the synopsis to something new – the Battle Pass. The newly designed Battle Pass first appeared in 2016. This new business model was slowly taking over the game industry and other developers were starting to take notice. 2018 was the year things really changed with Fortnite from Epic Games. As the number of Fortnite players has grown astronomically, Epic Games has released its own Battle Pass for Fortnite Season 2. To pass 100 levels, players had access to several high-end skins, emotes, gliders, and other cosmetic items. In February alone, Fortnite sold over 5 million Battle Passes, earning them nearly $50 million in revenue.
Three main factors were key to the success of the Battle Pass:
assess
transparency
Revenue
This Battle Pass system, microtransactions, and loot boxes effectively solved the biggest problems created by satisfied fans and still generate ridiculous revenue for the gaming industry. However, was this change really for the best?
One of the issues with the impact of the Battle Pass is that it’s nearly impossible to find a multiplayer or online game that doesn’t have one, and the Battle Pass is oversaturating the current gaming market. Twitch streamer John ‘DatBoiBagles’ Yucel says he feels like “Battle Pass has completely changed in-game microtransactions.” “It was nice when it first came out, but it doesn’t look like the game companies are trying to do anything new with the traditional battle pass,” he continued saying that he thought.
Oversaturation is no joke. With games like Call of Duty and Apex Legends having new seasons every two to three months, players are constantly encountering new Battle Passes. The trend has affected games that traditionally don’t have a Battle Pass. Overwatch, a popular Loot Box-based paid game, has announced that its sequel will be free-to-play – ditching Loot Boxes in favor of the Battle Pass. It’s a drastic change, and many fans felt it went against the origins of the game.
So why are studios making these changes? The answer, as always, lies in profit. Games can increase the original purchase price of the game by going free-to-play and instead include the Battle Pass for continued revenue with premium content.
But despite this excitement, there are no requirements to purchase the Battle Pass. In fact, Call of Duty and Fortnite offer free rewards to players who don’t purchase Battle Pass Premium. Additionally, some Battle Passes reward players with enough in-game currency to redeem the Battle Pass without having access to their own wallet. In theory, players will only need to purchase the Battle Pass once for certain games.
However, protecting in-game currency isn’t always easy. While many cosmetics are included in the Battle Pass, games continue to offer additional cosmetics in a separate store. Items can be original from the game or part of a collaboration – something Fortnite is probably most famous for. These exclusive shop items are usually only available for a limited time and can only be purchased with in-game currency.
As a result, this creates a dilemma for players to decide whether to spend their in-game currency on another Battle Pass or high-end cosmetics from the in-game store. Players are often interested in purchasing cosmetics through in-game co-op. Fortnite has often collaborated with Star Wars and Marvel Comics, while Call of Duty has seen collaborations like Saw, Godzilla, King Kong, and the Scream series. These events were strongly supported, emphasizing that each collaboration is a “limited time event”. Players are advised to act quickly and purchase limited-time items before they disappear.
This practice can be considered suspicious. Putting players in an impossible position, often a product of development studios. But it’s a bitter compromise. The transparency of rewards, the ability to earn free in-game currency, and the amount of content available to players ultimately pays off compared to alternative loot boxes.
Additionally, players will be able to unlock rewards whether or not they purchase the Battle Pass. Players can get tons of new content even without spending money. Clearly this is the Battle Pass. the best Solution for free games. Like it or not, the Battle Pass seems to be permanent.
Source : dbl tap
