Gatcha
I find two problems with this
Starting Fun
Empires is a lot of fun until Stronghold 13, and then only gets grindy at Legendary training
This is my plan if Puzzle Combat ever gets a global release. So probably 3x to 6x months of play. Only buying gems to expand teams and for my alliance teammates.
SGG seems to be holding on to Puzzle Combat until another company enters the genre ( Bimbos and Battleships, or what ever it’s called is vehicles not heroes) or Empires starts to die.
Investors
Follow the money.
SGG chose gatcha because it was profitable and investors were willing to invest ( three rounds of capital investment) because it was profitable.
Not every game can be Stardew Valley ( single creator, no investors )
Casinos are still around, so gatcha will always have investors.
But hopefully in the future game studios will explore other options including ethical gatcha and tiered subscriptions.
It is interesting to see Pokémon GO substantially increase micro transactions since 2019-December because The Pokémon Company only allows them to license IP ( Intellectual Property) not create IP. And Niantic is running out of Pokémon IP.
Age
As history has shown, established companies have no incentive to be daring ( looking at you Alchemy Lab and Hero Academy).
Only new, or failing, companies need to be daring ( looking at you Domino’s Pizza revamp ).
Notes
Click for notes
Gatcha
Tiered Subscription
Path Of Valor is not a subscription since many players cannot complete it ( that is another rant )
Some old suggestions
([Suggestion, Passes, Gems] Castle Pets or subscriptions)
Ethics
How ethical is deliberately designing behaviorally addictive micro transactions instead of flat priced, or yearly, DLC/ expansions/ seasons/ updates?
FIN