Game Balancing For DLC
Nov. 10th, 2015 04:33 amI've mentioned this several times in the past, including very recently. But I forgot about the bullshit with Mortal Kombat X when it came out over the summer and it's own microtransactions - until I rewatched Joe's (Yeah, I've been watching a lot of Joe's old videos lately. Can you tell?) review of the game.
And that's when this caught my attention. This shows they either tried to get undeserved praise from the early reviewers by pumping up the coins, or they dropped the coinage afterwards to help boost DLC purchases. (IE: they felt it was too easy to get the coins, and that'd hurt business!)
Granted, they probably boosted the coin output for the reviewers, if you shine their actions in the most positive possible light, because they wouldn't be able to purchase the coins before release. In my opinion, that's still no excuse since the reviewers are suppose to be reviewing the game as it's going to be. And to flick soot on that positive light, it's obvious that they didn't tell reviewers that they boosted the coins for them - as Joe's quite angry about seeing the coinage drop in the actual release. If they were doing it to help the reviewers, you (or at least I) would expect them to let the reviewers know. You know, full disclosure and all that.
Either way, this is pretty much solid proof that companies DO balance their "oh it's all optional since you can buy it with in-game credit" schemes to make you open your wallet.
And that's when this caught my attention. This shows they either tried to get undeserved praise from the early reviewers by pumping up the coins, or they dropped the coinage afterwards to help boost DLC purchases. (IE: they felt it was too easy to get the coins, and that'd hurt business!)
Granted, they probably boosted the coin output for the reviewers, if you shine their actions in the most positive possible light, because they wouldn't be able to purchase the coins before release. In my opinion, that's still no excuse since the reviewers are suppose to be reviewing the game as it's going to be. And to flick soot on that positive light, it's obvious that they didn't tell reviewers that they boosted the coins for them - as Joe's quite angry about seeing the coinage drop in the actual release. If they were doing it to help the reviewers, you (or at least I) would expect them to let the reviewers know. You know, full disclosure and all that.
Either way, this is pretty much solid proof that companies DO balance their "oh it's all optional since you can buy it with in-game credit" schemes to make you open your wallet.