Square Enix: Item Charges “Just Like Extra Topping”
- Categories: Games, News
- Date: Dec 12, 2013 22:01 JST
- Tags: DLC, Final Fantasy, Interviews, Marketing, Production Controversy, RPG
Square Enix’s recent insistence that gamers enjoy item charges and they are no different to “ordering extras at a restaurant” has been proving controversial amongst those unhappy at finding their games sold in ever smaller portions and finding the extras typically exceed the cost of the main dish…
The comments come in a recent Dengeki interview with Bravely Default producer Tomoya Asano and Chunsoft’s Yuichiro Saito:
Asano: “Spending money is basically fun. For example, it’s fun going shopping.”
Saito: “Spending money on things is certainly enjoyable.”
Asano: “If the buyer wants something, they can buy it. That’s what we’re providing, that’s service.
For example, you’re standing at a restaurant eating soba. You may want to make another order of fried tofu to go with it, and that’s what we’re providing.”
Saito: “Of course, you wouldn’t provide half as much tofu to encourage that.”
Asano: “Of course, you wouldn’t make your food extra salty so the customer needs to buy a drink. But nobody would object to being able to order extra topping for their soba.”
Saito: “Right, something like that is perfectly reasonable.”
Asano: “So if we can gradually make a consumer’s games provide more opportunities for services like this, I think it’s making a more satisfying environment for users.”
As ever with Square Enix, this does not seem to sit well with customers:
“Me: ‘What, my order doesn’t have any topping at all!?'”
“Me: ‘My order doesn’t seem to have any noodles in it either…'”
“Except in practice with games the topping ends up being more expensive than the main dish.”
“What is it with idiots and the dumb analogies they come out with?”
“Listening to Square Enix these days is like listening to a conman discussing his next swindle…”
“Item charges, or in other words the game you bought being incomplete.”
“Square Enix, where if there is no topping the meal virtually ceases to exist.”
“If it’s F2P then what they are saying is reasonable, but for $50+ games you expect it all in.”
“‘Here’s you curry sire, if you want meat in it that’ll be extra’ is what they are saying.”
“Many games these days don’t even bother with the noodles.”
“I don’t think many people buy games because they enjoy buying things as they seem to think.”
“This company continuously mocks consumers…”
“Which is more satisfying to play, a game with charges and DLC or one without? And if Square Enix are right shouldn’t they cost the same in total?”
“When I go into a restaurant, I buy from a set menu…”
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I think that is the stupidest conversation I've ever heard..
Spending money is fun -- only if you are rich.
Also, the basic food must be eatable on its own, without the extra food. For Soba, it must have noodle, broth and dipping sauce. The noodle, or the sauce, should not be sold separately.
Same as game, it should be fully playable at its basic form. No a must buy DLC like unlock the next chapter or new essential map. The player should be able to play from the beginning until the end with one purchase.
The DLC is limited to non-crucial item like a new costumes or new weapons, something that not necessary to fully enjoy the game.
Piracy is fun!
Because of the way things are headed, indeed Piracy FTW!
Though the gaming industry as a whole doesn't need piracy to bring it down. Soon enough they'll do it to themselves.
People are usually dumb and weak enough to give in the first few times, but they eventually have enough. Then there'll be a huge industry crash again and gaming, as we know it now, will thankfully die on it's ass, HOPEfully making way for a new wave of indies to take over with new ideas.
Good fucking riddance to all the huge bloated gaming companies and thier insidious practices of wallet raping the very consumers who built them up. Cannot wait. I won't miss thier shit games either.
I've long since transcended even that. Can't rely on anyone to do the job right other than yourself. So I'm developing my own games now. Turns out that the process of creation is just as much fun.
Same here, I just make my own stuff because I can't rely on anyone else to get anything right.
IMO they might be doing this to counter piracy; if so, they completely missed the point.
Though Hanlon's razor could still apply.
That's not why people pirate things!
People pirate things they're unable to get a hold of. Piracy is a service problem and all that. When it's easier to steal than to find a back-alley shop two cities over, you steal it.
Now, charging for required content? Fine. People are ok with that.
If they don't think the content is worth the money however, they won't buy it. They'll simply turn elsewhere.
Oh quit evangelizing for GoG. People pirate for different reasons, and yes, some do pirate because they are just greedy assholes.
Some people are unable to get hold of stuff because they lack money.
I would have to say the part (or Most) of the reason people pirate copies of games is because they want to play the game before they decide whether it is worth buying. I don't believe people who Pirate games have an actual malicious intent when they choose to pirate.
Although I am sure that there are people that Pirate games they think are good but would rather not support the company that Produced the game (as in the Producer, not the developer). A good example would be Rome 2 for the PC, the game is so bug ridden and half assed that there is no way most players would want to play it until it has been thoroughly patched and is in a functional state. I would assume that most of the blame lays with Sega for rushing the release of a game that clearly was not finished.
I Personally have not pirated Rome 2, but I do regularly visit its forum on steam to check on its progress. With what I have seen I don't think I will be buying the game.
Also I'm sure a big reason for piracy lyes with the lack of demos these days.
Piracy exists because people are ignorant, lazy and cheap. Any attempt to excuse it by saying 'well I can't afford it' or 'I just want to try it out to see if I like it' is bullshit.
Whenever someone tries to make those arguments I always like to refer to an analogy. I'd like to have a Ferrari, but obviously I can't afford one. Should I steal one because 'it's too expensive'? Of course not.
Should I steal one to joyride for a few days, just to see if I like it? Nope, that's also a crime.
Seriously, if you can't get an impression of a game from demos, game footage and reviews then you aren't even trying. And as far as not being able to afford it? Well boohoo princess, life is full of things you can't afford. Go try and steal all the stuff you want and see how far it gets you.
Gabe Newell is right, you'll reduce piracy by making a product more affordable, accessible and hassle-free, but you'll never get rid of piracy entirely. All you can hope to do is appeal to the ones who would rather not risk getting caught.
You're right. Gabe Newell once said, "the key to beating piracy is to provide a better service than the pirates."
Lack of money is also a part of inaccessibility.
Speaking of piracy, "piracy is just like stealing jewelry" is now suddenly the third dumbest thing any corporate shill spewed out of their anuses, behind "if you tear your food into pieces and eat them, you'll feel less hungry" and of course the subject of the article.
One of the dumbest things I've heard was "getting breast implants are just like getting a new handbag". That was repeatedly trumpted by fashion magazines, apparently.
remember gameshark and/or genie when you can get the same stuff like in-game credits, infinite ammo and etc for free? now developers are charging for cheating.
'Stupidest' isn't a word. Talk about dumb.
stupid is a word. stupidest is just an add of exaggeration.
welcome to the internet.
Actually, stupid is one of those rare adjectives where "most stupid" and "stupidest" are both accepted superlative forms.
it's called internet. welcome to internet
Stupidest is indeed a word, try dictionary.com
Huh?
stupidest is too a correct form so go choke on a dick.
Years ago it was "dumbest" as the only acceptable form.
It's called "most stupid", not "stupidest".
Welcome to grammar.
stupidester works
> Asano: “Spending money is basically fun. For example, it’s fun going shopping.”
Strange, I thought playing games was the actual fun. Man, I've been wasting all this time...
Spending money is only fun if you're a woman and the money isn't yours.
Oh please, like you wouldn't have a blast spending someone else's money without any repercussions to yourself.
Peddle your agenda somewhere else.
Actually spending money doesn't give me a "high", regardless of who's money it is. Only weak willed people, such as women and the uneducated enjoy frivolously spending money. Which is why they're always poor.
Peddle your feminist agenda elsewhere, faggot.
You can always spot the imbeciles in a group when they say stuff like '. Only weak willed people, such as women and the uneducated'.
I know a lot of guys, some very educated types, who also buy stuff just to be able to show off that they have it.
When someone else does it, they're 'weak-willed'. When they do it, they're 'smart and savvy'. Pathetic.
Not all women are like that, of course... but it's a fact that there are quite a few women out there who do behave like that.
People in general are easily manipulated by marketing promotions and such. I know some people who get an urge to spend money based on:
- if it's discounted, they feel they must buy it, even if they don't need it or never use it.
- if it's new, they feel they must have it, so they can show off and feel up-to-date.
Etcetra. None of those reasons work on me, though.
It's just the babble of a man who's out of touch because he's rich.
Not only that. Going shopping is about going out of home, roaming the streets, visiting shops, comparing merchandise and prices, etc. Easily something you enjoy a whole morning or evening. Buying DLC is accesing a webpage and paying for what you need, usually it takes less than 5 minutes. Many games even have direct access to their shop to make it even faster.
So actually, their comparision is along the lines of "you find traveling abroad fun, so you should also think taking the subway is just as fun as that"
Shit like this is why I hated the last Dead or Alive.
All the costumes cost more then the game.
It used to be fun to unlock them and gave me reason to play.
Its not half as fun as it used to be.
That is the other problem I have with DLC. The cost is insane.
I pirated the lot and won by default.
I hate DLC & unlocking. Especially when the actual gameplay takes a back seat to both of those.
You know a game sucks when you use cheats to unlock everything and find the game isn't even fun to play without some form of carrot-on-a-stick incentive.
And that's why I skipped on DoA for the first time since DoA 1. I don't need DLC who are more costly than the game. I remember DoA 3 Ultimate where you could unlock a shitload of costumes. Prolly the one I played the most. But nowadays I don't feel like buying those games anymore.
“Spending money is basically fun. For example, it’s fun going shopping.”
Spilling blood is a lot of fun too!
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Silly square enix, spending money is only fun if you're the 1% of the rich people.
But the 1% don't spend money anon. Only poor needy people do. This I why they're rich and everyone else is in debt.
Then tell me who else would buy yachts over 100 meters in length complete with facilities that rival top hotels, sports cars, massively overpriced designer versions of mundane devices like a gold-cased iPhone or diamond tattered thumbdrives, etcetcetc?
Don't be an idiot. There are exceptions to the case, but rich people are rich because they have the spending power for nearly everything while the poor people need to put themselves into debt just to live another day.
What are tax write-offs. Kid the majority of the luxury items they do buy are used as tax write-offs. They're not actually paying anything for them because they mark it as a deductible business expense. From Hummers to yachts to private jets, it all can and is written off as a business expense. Their shifty tax lawyers take care of the paperwork and everyone else loses, because that tax revenue never goes to the government. Rich people will always exploit the tax loops their "friends" created for them.
but you can add that rich people usually don't pay the full price...
and mostly they put the rest of the bill on us normal people...
take for example one "Norwegian" multimillionaire that got himself a 200ft yacht.
(he don't live here nor contribute to the society like most people that move to Monaco, Bahamas and so on do)
he made his own company buy it under the uses of "out-renting, marketing and for exhibitions" but 6 months after company got it they sold it for 1\3 of the price to the "family" (it was never once used by the company) and then since the company was registered in Norway they then expected to get VAT-reduction from the state to cover for the negative flow of money... (with other words pushing the 2\3 of the bill over on us normal people that then need to pay more tax)
he got caught (or more correct not rich enough to threaten the Norwegian state) but mostly they don't
Nickle and diming your customers is never a good business practice.
Listening to Square-Enix talk about games is like listening to a bunch of overly pampered, dumb blonds talking about what they got from the mall. Not a single one of them will ever use what they bought, and they end every sentence like it's a question. They just enjoyed going to the mall, looking at guys, and feeling like they exist in the world.
Square-enix is doing this same thing. They are making games that they don't even want to play themselves, and adding more things to purchase because it's just fun to feel like you are a part of something. They sit around giggling, putting on makeup, and gossiping at meetings. Meanwhile their stock plunges to new lows and they will soon not be able to fund a large scale game.
They're not worth 'listening' to at all.
Their recently announced quality committee or some shit? Toriyama's in it.
That alone invalidates every bullshit they've been trying to feed us with. It's like rants of a schizophrenic.
Toriyama's idea of quality control is basically "has Lightning in it".