90
votes
Why are microtransactions more or less universally hated?
This is my own personal opinon on the subject, and some other people may dislike microtransactions for other reasons, but hopefully this will give you a first element of answer.
I personally dislike ...
- 835
54
votes
Why are microtransactions more or less universally hated?
Back in the day when apps were $1-$2 (or the occasional $5 or so for something above and beyond or very specialized) I bought quite a lot of apps. Buying an app and then having full control over the ...
- 541
43
votes
Why are microtransactions more or less universally hated?
People hate scams and price increases, and have been taught to associate micro-transactions with both.
In some cases, especially most of the early cases, micro-transactions were used for illegal ...
- 9,955
26
votes
Why are microtransactions more or less universally hated?
I would go a bit further than what Eldy said (+1) and quote this additional bit from a Rolling Stone article on the matter:
A free-to-play game does not sell its in-game currency or items; it doesn’...
26
votes
Why are microtransactions more or less universally hated?
Because it’s nickle-‘n-diming, nothing else.
Just imagine you go to Disney, and pay 20$ to get in the park, and while you walk along, every some yards there is a turnstyle, where you need to pay ...
- 349
18
votes
Why are microtransactions more or less universally hated?
Players don't care about the economics of game production cost. I spent all my Saturdays and some Sundays for 6 months to make one of my games. A friend, when presented with having to pay $3 for it, ...
Almo♦
- 6,698
14
votes
Why are microtransactions more or less universally hated?
As a hobby game designer, I have an especially deep hatred for microtransaction for a reason that I think many players also understand instinctively:
If your game has microtransactions as its ...
- 1,324
14
votes
Why are microtransactions more or less universally hated?
The cost is not entirely known up-front
Let's compare against two other monetization models;
Players are all too happy to shell out $60 for a triple-A title that has decent reviews - because they ...
- 271
12
votes
Why are microtransactions more or less universally hated?
It's not the microtransactions per se that are hated.
It's the hate-able game designs and the way the sale items are designed, which happen to use microtransactions.
For example:
Microtransactions ...
- 725
9
votes
Why are microtransactions more or less universally hated?
I think fundimentally it is because it is a business model which no longer emphasises making the best possible game (or even the best game with the limited available budget). Look at these businesses ...
- 634
9
votes
Why are microtransactions more or less universally hated?
Microtransactions are not universally hated
Having a game or aspects of an otherwise fun game altered invasively simply to sell more microtransactions is what is universally hated.
I think a list of ...
- 279
5
votes
Should purchasing the game immediately unlock all levels?
There is a reason why the most common design choice for progression in games is a more or less linear series of unskippable challenges: Earlier stages often teach the player important skills which ...
- 121k
4
votes
Why are microtransactions more or less universally hated?
The biggest problem with micro-transactions is that they are, in general but also in some very prominent examples (which people remember well), deceptive, fraudulent, abusive, and explicitly designed ...
- 1,384
4
votes
Why are microtransactions more or less universally hated?
We have to differentiate between micro-transactions which buy content, from those which buy consumables.
In the beginning, micro-transactions were not only cheap (around $1 or not much more), but ...
- 190
3
votes
How to remember a non-consumable Unity IAP the right way
on Android the storeController has a list of purchased products when initialized successfully. So then you can use code that looks something like this and check if the item is bought :
...
- 3,027
3
votes
Accepted
Mobile Game: Google Play no supported dev country and capitalization alternatives (no policies violation or suspicious behavior)?
If your country is marked red crossed in merchant account then you are not allowed to do any kind of direct bank transaction. Example: In-app purchase of any kind, sell premium app, Ad remove purchase ...
- 2,043
2
votes
Why are microtransactions more or less universally hated?
I can offer two reasons. One is that old style gamers such as myself just prefer to play the game without having to pay extra to get the content. I would prefer to unlock content by player.
The ...
- 1,417
2
votes
Unity Android IAP "Purchase failed because Purchasing was not initialized correctly"
In my case activating/initializing of IAP in Project Settings->Services->In-app purchasing helped me. Hope this will be helpful for you too.
- 121
2
votes
Should purchasing the game immediately unlock all levels?
I've seen some games add an "Unlock all levels" option in the settings menu.
So by default, levels are locked, and unlock in some staged order, using game mechanics like the ones Zibelas ...
- 136k
1
vote
Why are microtransactions more or less universally hated?
There is one point for hating micro transactions that I didn't see made here.
tl;dr players feel like people who pay get an unfair advantage.
Players in games often feel like people who pay have an ...
- 183
1
vote
Accepted
Unity IAP - Collection was modified; enumeration operation may not execute
It looks like this error is occurring inside CodelessIAPStoreListener.ProcessPurchase() - you can look at the source code here.
...
- 136k
1
vote
Accepted
Can I change an Android IAP's type from Consumable to Non-Consumable?
I have done minimal testing, and here are the results:
Store: Google Play
Unity Purchasing Package version: 3.2.1
Unity Version: 2020.3.7f1
There doesn't seem to be any errors if you upload a build ...
- 1,763
1
vote
How to make a Google Play app with paid and free-with-in-app-purchasing versions?
I find this model odd... I'm a new user, and I have to decide early on if I want to buy one level or 8. If I buy one, that money is wasted if I determine later I want all of them.
I recommend having ...
Almo♦
- 6,698
1
vote
IAP consumable stuck with reason DuplicateTransaction
Well after leaving the app alone for an hour I launched it up again to check the Iap screen. Somehow, without pressing anything, the purchase that was somewhere pending ended up resolving, and I saw ...
- 191
1
vote
How to allow free download of a paid game to specific users
If you have a free game with some paid features, then it's up to you how you can give them for free to specific users. Maybe you ask for an e-mail when purchasing or something similar, and check if ...
- 4,785
1
vote
Accepted
Where to store in app purchase data?
Player Prefs is fine, mostly. Consider, however, that it is fairly simple for a smart user to modify player prefs to remove ads on their own. You can instead rely on the in-app purchase system to ...
- 5,239
1
vote
Unity codeless IAP
To test the IAP, make a purchase on a device logged in with an Alpha Tester Google Account. A modified purchase dialog box appears to confirm the fact this product is under test and is free.
Source: ...
- 336
1
vote
Accepted
What are good alternatives to microtransactions?
First of all, the microtransaction model of monetization is based around a few premises. It lends itself to games that are long, or continuous in nature, where players will come back for multiple ...
- 26
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible