EA invents new microtransaction nightmare as it breaks paywall promise on Skate: rent a playable area for 24 hours or buy a premium pass, bucko

Comments

• audaxdreik@pawb.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  My brain just shuts off when I read stuff like this.

  Man, I dunno. Fuck AAA gaming, I’ll go play something else.

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  • winkerjadams@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Indies are where its at. Or classic games, especially with mods

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    • audaxdreik@pawb.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Games are a modern media and I think suffer from a lot of modern engagement mechanics.

      We need to stop viewing them as a constant stream of “new content” and more as an established library.

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  • BurgerBaron@piefed.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Thinking about it now, I haven’t bought any game with EA’s name on it since Dead Space 3.

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• rizzothesmall@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  Man, remember back in the day when you just went and bought a game and then played it?

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  • SpiceDealer@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    In American-style neo-liberalism, everything must have a price tag. If it doesn’t generate a profit, it can’t exist.

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    • roserose56@lemmy.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Then people should stop buying, otherwise nothing will change. People complained about Nintendo switch 2, yet they bought it.

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  • iamthetot@piefed.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    I understand the sentiment here but let’s note that you do not go buy Skate. because it’s free to play.

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    • snooggums@piefed.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Remember when free to play meant free to play?

      I remember shareware.

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  • Strider@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    I still just buy games and play them.

    They’re just 99,99% not triple A games.

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• BaroqueW@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  An important detail is that this rental option is paid for in grind currency, not paid currency. Yes, “for now”.

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  • tabris@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Yeah, that’s just to normalise rentable levels. Once it has been begrudgingly accepted, there’ll be one that requires premium currency. Never buy EA.

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    • yermaw@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      You’ll still be able to buy them with ingame currency, but itll be days worth of farming or BEST VALUE 4.99

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  • TheSeveralJourneysOfReemus@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Even just the idea of having to ‘grind’ for a virtual currency, it’s something that modern games do and it turns them into a job. Yes, I said it. Games that have long grind hours just to access basic resources. These are really a second job sometimes, thinking of always online games like rust too. I like my games to be on when I need them to be. To save an be able to go back to them whenever i feel like. Earthbound had a commentary from the lead programmer and creator of the game in the same tone, that his game would be easy to save, quit and restart in a very casual way by design (ness’s dad personally calls you, the player, if the game runs for long enough, to basically tell you to go touch some grass). I have found certain modern titles to be made for long hour daily marathons, else you’re not adavncing enough. I emulate old stuff now.

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• wampus@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  People are still playing EA games after the take over by Saudis/Jared Kushner??? Sorry, I feel no empathy for these gamers.

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  • HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    there’s no moral consumption under capitalism so many people just don’t care

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    • wampus@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      idk. I’ve heard we can still consume pussy.

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    • reksas@sopuli.xyz ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      [deleted]

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• floquant@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  This is a great example for the moral justifications of piracy. The bytes for the maps are on your hard drive, why the fuck should I not be allowed to play on them? When someone playing a pirated copy has a better experience than someone on a bought licensed copy something’s not right.

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• SaharaMaleikuhm@feddit.org ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  What kind of sucker buys from EA?

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  • ampersandrew@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Split Fiction and It Takes Two were pretty great.

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    • Dariusmiles2123@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Add Mass Effect, Dead Space and Star Wars Jedi series…

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  • ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    EA gives their studios the ability to decide their own revenue models.

    This change likely came because they weren’t as profitable as predicted so they had targets to make up for.

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• RampantParanoia2365@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  Uh…Jared Kushner owns EA now, so I don’t know why this would be relevant to anyone.

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  • Duamerthrax@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    I don’t know why EA would be relevant to anyone for the past 20+ years, but here we are.

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    • BigBananaDealer@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      because they have exclusive rights to making an NFL video game

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    • RampantParanoia2365@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Well, I was looking forward to a new Mass Effect, but the idea of playing something like that made by Kushner and the Saudis would probably make tears in reality. Like, I’m pretty sure the paradox will make serious issues.

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  • SpiceDealer@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Along with his Saudi oil tycoon buddies.

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• H3ll1@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  After all these things, why are people still buying anything from EA? Just boycott them.

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  • bridgeburner@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Majority of people are NPCs

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  • Honytawk@feddit.nl ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Skate is free to play, nothing was bought.

    Apparently the cosmetic microtransactions didn’t make enough money. So now they are putting locations behind a paywall.

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• Abyssian@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  We’re now expected to rent imaginary spaces for our characters to play the game we already purchased in?

  Is advocating people be burned at the stake against the ToS here? Because I’m advocating the fuck out of that.

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  • Honytawk@feddit.nl ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Nobody purchased Skate, it is free to play.

    They just promised not to lock locations behind a paywall, which the executives decided to change.

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  • Patrikvo@lemmy.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    I see a clear correlation between the decline of tar-and-feathers and riding people out on a rail and the rise of terrible business practices.

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    • alonsohmtz@feddit.uk ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Yes, this is exactly it.

      Negativity is censored because it’s bad for business.

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    • Abyssian@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Yes. Remember when we burned people at the stake? Whatever happened to that? Just live stream a few billionaires and child rapists being slowly burned as an object lesson to the rest and I imagine things would change fairly quickly.

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• bitwolf@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  EA literally had one job:

  • Make Skate 2 but with a new area and updated graphics.

  And EAcwent and fucked it up being greedy. And they wonder why Steam is killing it.

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  • Widdershins@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    I would settle for Skate 2 without the soundtrack so they can release it again. No improvements. There is a glitch where you push a few buttons(throw board, turn right, jump, force pull board and grab board before landing) and go flying while the game physics shits the bed. It was great for getting to places that were otherwise inaccessible or not yet unlocked and for getting real high Hall of Meat scores. Imperfections like that are what make a great game perfect.

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• cerebralhawks@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  I would say this tracks for Saudi Arab-EA, but they did this kind of shit before the Saudis owned them.

  Honestly from a business perspective, EA is one if the smartest publishers out there. They made a game and stripped away most of the functionality and then sold it for full price. They then slowly added the content back in content packs and people gladly paid. That was The Sims. And it’s had like three sequels, all monetized the exact same way. And people keep paying them.

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• cronenthal@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  The suckers who buy this trash and pay for it deserve it. There’s so much good gaming to be had, at this point it’s a choice.

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  • bearboiblake@pawb.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    I don’t think that’s really fair, especially considering this game was popular among kids & teens who don’t have the lived experiences we have

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  • badgermurphy@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    This is the gaming industry, though; their primary target market is children. They’re naive because they’re children. Maybe there’s some masochists out there volunteering for the abuse, but this is really adults failing to protect kids, by allowing it to be legal to use psychology tricks and gambling mechanics on minors.

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• LifeLikeLady@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  EA invents a new way to assure I never purchase their products. Ever.

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  • PhoenixDog@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    The fact anyone has bought any of their products in the last 15 years is why they can keep doing this stupid shit. Stupid things for stupid people.

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• glitchdx@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  It’s EA. Anyone who’s surprised by this either is an idiot or hasn’t been paying attention.

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• Abundance114@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  I absolutely hate the whale hunting that developers go through these days.

  It’s more profitable for them to find a few whales spending $10,000 on their game every year than making a good product.

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• orenj@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  first time hearing about EA in years, and they’re doing this shit. kinda nostalgic really

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  • Kjell@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    I looked on EA’s games released over the last 1.5 years and it is a bunch of sports game, the Sims, Battlefield 6, Plants & Zombies remake, Split Friction (EA is publisher), Dragon Age: the Veilguard and Tales of Kenzera: Zau (EA is publisher).

    It is difficult to understand how EA can be valued at 55 billions of dollars with those releases over 1.5 years. And in the list for upcoming games it is only one game, Star Wars Zero Company, that is listed.

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• Sunsofold@lemmings.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  Usual reminder:

  If you know a parent who is not an active gamer, remind them to never buy games for their kids that have microtransactions, passes, or any form of post-purchase payment. They often will have no idea what they are contributing to as it is not part of their ‘bubble’ to be aware of what these things do to their kids, their kids’ friends, and the industry and society as wholes.

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• Tigeroovy@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  Obviously ridiculous.

  That said I dunno, it’s very easy for me to just play the game and never give them a dime.

  All I want from the game is to dick around from time to time and it gives me that for free.

  Every time I play I just find things to launch my ass off over and over. I just accept the free shit and play occasionally.

  Obviously not going to defend EA for this decision but I dunno, it’s still maybe blown a little out of proportion. I guess it depends on how invested in the game you are as a player, and as someone who has Skate 1-3 still and had good fun with them when they came out, the current game gives me what I want in a way that I don’t have to pay for so I’m fine with it.

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• Coelacanth@feddit.nu ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  Paying for a game you don’t own, only to have to rent the gameplay inside the thing you don’t even own to begin with. Presumably all content also being locked on company servers meaning it will get EOL’d and inaccessible at some point in the future.

  Immaculate.

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  • Prox@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Skate is free to play

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    • Coelacanth@feddit.nu ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      I was moreso talking about the future of gaming monetisation.

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• biggerbogboy@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  Soooo, the metaverse paid plots? I swear, every company with even an inkling of a 3d environment now just wants to “build” and sell worthless plots as if it’s real land, and literally nobody who uses these actually fucking asked.

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• alonsohmtz@feddit.uk ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  It’s all about fleecing morons as much as they’re willing to be fleeced.

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• roserose56@lemmy.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  That’s on part of EA, look at sims 4, you have to spend 1000€ to buy all DLCs.

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• FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  I don’t buy anything from EA, but I’m curious: Is it difficult to acquire their games via the high seas?

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  • QuandaleDingle@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Their permanently online (until their inevitable shutdown) DRM slop games? I bet it is quite difficult.

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• Quazatron@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  I think of this practice as a tax on herds.

  You want to belong in a trendy group, you board the hype train and pay the tax to belong in the herd.

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  • cerebralhawks@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Same logic as “Lottery is a tax on those who didn’t pay attention in math class.” And I agree.

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• devolution@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  EA lies more than Trump. News at 11.

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• KeenFlame@feddit.nu ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  Unrelated, but when did all Magazines start faking youtube thumbnails as the meta image…? I bet times are desperate, but I mean at what point do you understand that it’s all the deceit and desperation that drives literally everyone away to the media they imitate?

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  • Warl0k3@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Image

    In this one case EA is to blame, but I do know what you mean. I think it’s just that YouTube videos have had a large impact on the form media takes, and that’s trickled out towards other forms.

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• peacefulpixel@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  i remember pointing out that this would happen in a couple places and ppl said i was just being negative. like a live service skate game is a dead in the water idea but ppl were so starved for skate content they just didn’t listen to sense. look where they are now

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• KuroiKaze@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  That’s really disappointing. I have already completed all of the major challenges in this game and it was really great. I’m pretty disappointed to hear this is the direction they’ve went off to since I last checked in. I would say that if you miss playing the old skate games you can either get an Xbox series X and play them on backwards compatibility mode. Or you can give this a shot because at least it’s pretty fun for quite a while without any spend.

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  • desmosthenes@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    works well in emulators too or skater xl www.xbox.com/en-US/games/store/…/9PFM3WM299H6 is the true spiritual successor

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    • desmosthenes@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      or …steampowered.com/…/Skater_XL__The_Ultimate_Skate…

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• Widdershins@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  Does anyone remember how Skate 2 was the best one and they won’t release it again? I suspect it is because of the music.

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  • QuandaleDingle@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Music is the bane of all the 2000’s games that dared to use any form of musical experimentation. Copyright strikes galore.

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    • Widdershins@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      It really sucks that all it would take is George Lopez letting them use the theme song to his show.

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• Kolanaki@pawb.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  Is the game not ass anymore at least? I’d rather play the OG THPS without any qol additions added by the good remake than this game after I had tried it.

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  • iamericandre@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    I tried it and it’s shitty compared to skate3. SkaterXL is a better option and has better controls but a lot less content.

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    • ivanafterall@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      But SkaterXL has mods. Soooooo many mods.

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  • BodePlotHole@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    I came here to say “the good news is this game sucks anyway.” Coming from someone with literally hundreds of hours in the first three games.

    Now I just play Session.

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