With the speed at which news comes out in the gaming industry we sometimes miss important or news worthy things. Some of these things we want to talk about in a way that is both easy for you guys and allows us to get all the facts together as some of these stories develop quickly. Sometimes we also just cover topics that we find interesting and want to discuss.
NPD analyst says AAA games have not been affected by loot boxes
Gameindustry.biz reported this week from source NPD analyst Mat Piscatella that thus far loot boxes have no impact on the sales of games. The article goes on to say that there “no signs that sales of AAA games have been impacted by the recent controversy surrounding titles such as Destiny 2, Middle-Earth: Shadow of War and Forza Motorsport 7. ” I’ll express my thoughts below but it’s interesting to see reports coming out regarding games that have recently come out because I’d be hard pressed to believe there is a ton of quantitative data out there to support or deny the idea that loot boxes directly effecting game sales. The article states “He further observed that the best-selling games are those that “strive towards achieving player engagement and extending retention”” illustrating that developers are really starting to double down on getting players hooked on their games and keeping them hooked for the foreseeable future.
pwner.net
Wiggin’s thoughts on the subject : So this is quite an interesting article because it gives some more validity and visibility that reminds us that game developers and publishers are in the business of making money and they do that by making video games. While we don’t have any evidence that proves that loot boxes effect sales of games either positively or negatively we can say that they are effecting the consumers perspective of loot boxes. Many consumers I feel are starting to wise up to the idea that companies are using loot boxes to artificially extend game time and hook players into feeling artificially invested into their games. I also don’t think that loot boxes this year are going to affect overall sales of video games but I don’t think this will remain the case going into the future. With the rate at which developers are adding loot boxes to their games we will soon be seeing the effects of them. I don’t see them being a good long term strategy for developers and publishers because I feel like game design is suffering due to their inclusion. Eventually the industry will feel the effects of building games revolving around loot boxes instead of creating games with unique and interesting game mechanics. At the end of the day these developers and publishers are pushing the envelope on what gamers are willing to take as far as implementation of loot boxes into their games. I can only hope that these loot boxes don’t prove to be beneficial to the bottom line because that will ensure that these pseudo gambling never go away.
