Former EA CEO John Riccitello has spoken out about microtransactions in video games, saying that while those who avoid implementing monetization early in the creative process are among the “most beautiful and clean, brilliant people,” they are also “some of the biggest fucking idiots.”
Riccitello is now the CEO of Unity Technologies, and he spoke with PocketGamer.Biz on this topic after the announcement of the upcoming merger of Unity and ironSource. When Riccitello was asked about the fact that some developers object to the introduction of monetization in the early stages of game development, he could not resist.
“Ferrari and some other high—end car manufacturers still use clay and carving knives,” Riccitello said. “It’s a very small part of the gaming industry that works this way, and some of these people are my favorite people in the world that I fight with — they are the most beautiful and clean, brilliant people. the biggest fucking idiots.
“I’ve been in the gaming industry longer than anyone else – before gray hair and all that. Previously, developers threw their game over the wall to publicists and sellers literally without prior interaction. This model is embedded in the philosophy of many artistic forms and mediums, and I deeply respect it, I know their dedication and care.
“But this industry divides people into those who still adhere to this philosophy, and those who massively understand how to understand what makes a successful product. And I don’t know a single successful artist who doesn’t care what his player thinks. That’s where this feedback loop comes back, and they can ignore it, but not knowing about it at all is not the best choice.
“I’ve seen great games fail because they set up their enforcement cycle for two minutes, not an hour. this affects the dropout rate. There is no developer on the planet who would not need this knowledge.”
Monetization metrics, which are given special attention at an early stage, are very important for Unity, as they claim to have “democratized creation.” This mission is one of the reasons why Unity believes that “the beauty of tools that allow people to understand that this is how they want to make a living.”
“Looking at ironSource, they came up with the same ideas,” said Mark Whitten, senior vice president and general manager of Unity Create. “To make feedback and publication more transparent, and not to lock them in the black box of marketers. Now creators can view the smallest details about monetization and reviews in the same way they would look at the loading time or where they need to optimize their C# code. .”
Microtransactions have been and will continue to be a hot topic for the gaming industry, and there is a constant battle between developers/publishers and customers over how to do it right. EA, in particular, has been the focus of microtransactions in the past, and one of the most notable incidents was related to Star Wars: Battlefront 2.
To learn more, check out our look at how addiction to loot boxes and microtransactions destroys lives, as well as Valve’s thoughts on microtransactions and their place in the industry.
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Adam Bankhurst is an IGN news columnist. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.
