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US kids want games subscriptions and virtual currency more than games this Christmas
- Thread starter Bernoulli
- Start date
MiguelItUp
Member
And it's sad. But of course this is gonna happen when kids are brought up with Fortnite V Bucks and Roblox Robux. I would've loved free to play games as a kid, but at the same time, if I was brought up with it I'd probably want the same things.
touchfuzzy
Member
"It's all on the parents, parents these days gotta get their kids off screens!" - Childless GAF Members who grew up glued to video games and TV
Quantum253
Gold Member
The most common meltdown I'm seeing in stores nowadays are kids losing their shit because they can't get them Vbucks. It seems like they could give a crap about anything with tangible value.
lughnasadh123
Member
Old gamers yelling at clouds: the thread.
yurinka
Member
People who plays F2P games like Fortnite or Roblox spends way less money on games than the people who pay $70 for games before starting to play them.
Even most of the people who pays a lot on F2P still spends less than hardcore AAA gamers like us per year.
From a practical, logical and ethical approach the F2P side makes more sense than the "pay to start playing a game you may not even like" approach.
Portugeezer
Member
Nostalgia in 2033: that sound of busting open a pack.
Papa_Wisdom
Gold Member
I wish I could go back to the days I got toys like transformers, ghostbusters or Jurassic park figures plus a game or two for whatever system I us at the time, then every 4-5 years get a brand new console. The years I got my sega Saturn And Dreamcast for Xmas We’re particularly awesome memories from my childhood.
Can’t imagine kids these days will have the same emotional attachment to Xmas day they wake up in a morning to find a bunch of vbucks stuffed in an envelope which have been spent by the end of the day with nothing left to show for it.
Can’t imagine kids these days will have the same emotional attachment to Xmas day they wake up in a morning to find a bunch of vbucks stuffed in an envelope which have been spent by the end of the day with nothing left to show for it.
rofif
Can’t Git Gud
Yeah singing monsters is better than everything else out there.
I really tried to show my nephew other games. I gave little motherfcker ps3, ps4 and steamdeck and he still plays roblox, 5nights at freddys and these mobile2pc games on steam like singing monsters.
I showed him miyoo mini and some cool old games and he looked at me like if I took away 10$ I just gave him.
Shifty1897
Member
Bruh if Game Pass or PS+ Extra was available when I was a kid I would absolutely be asking for that. You have so much free time as a kid and you can play so many more games through a subscription service than you would ever be able to afford as a kid in a middle class household.
Shadowstar39
Member
Saw this coming a mile away. Back in 2016/17 my son went from minecraft -roblox to fortnite, rocket league, Destiny, COD and R6siege. Not due to lack of access of real games as he had all of mine, but due to his friends playing that shit.
Then the other 50% of the time it was "watching streamers" markieplier and jacksepticeye or who the f it was back then. Never understood how someone could just watch some dude play and constantly say "thank you X person for donation" ... boring! At least do non interrupted strategy or commentary on said game, but I degrees, it was 50% of the time not actually gaming but watching others game. Gen Z is weird! (sorry if you are gen z and don't fit that mold)
Luckily he eventually swung back to single player games like GOW, zelda, pokemon, and xenoverse.
Thing is that was back then, he is 18, and out of school. I was involved, imagine how it is whos parents weren't involved. We have a whole gen of kids that thats what they know as mom and dad weren't paying attention, weren't pushing normal games for them. Weren't showing them the history of gaming and getting them into rpgs , stratey, fighters, action adventure and other genres.
So they accept the free to play as their friends have and teenagers are very trend sheeple, some can go against the grain and be individualistic (as I was at that age) but most follow the heard, so to speak.
This is going to suck mostly for us older gamers (over 30) who don't play multiplayer with people as much and love single player games. More investment in Gass means less investment in new sp games. GRRRR... If it wasn't for indies on PC AAA market would look bleak. Seriously 3 years in and we have a handful of new games for this gen. Pathetic!
Then the other 50% of the time it was "watching streamers" markieplier and jacksepticeye or who the f it was back then. Never understood how someone could just watch some dude play and constantly say "thank you X person for donation" ... boring! At least do non interrupted strategy or commentary on said game, but I degrees, it was 50% of the time not actually gaming but watching others game. Gen Z is weird! (sorry if you are gen z and don't fit that mold)
Luckily he eventually swung back to single player games like GOW, zelda, pokemon, and xenoverse.
Thing is that was back then, he is 18, and out of school. I was involved, imagine how it is whos parents weren't involved. We have a whole gen of kids that thats what they know as mom and dad weren't paying attention, weren't pushing normal games for them. Weren't showing them the history of gaming and getting them into rpgs , stratey, fighters, action adventure and other genres.
So they accept the free to play as their friends have and teenagers are very trend sheeple, some can go against the grain and be individualistic (as I was at that age) but most follow the heard, so to speak.
This is going to suck mostly for us older gamers (over 30) who don't play multiplayer with people as much and love single player games. More investment in Gass means less investment in new sp games. GRRRR... If it wasn't for indies on PC AAA market would look bleak. Seriously 3 years in and we have a handful of new games for this gen. Pathetic!
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a multicultural team of v
Member
I dunno about the whole "Gamepass/Plus as a kid would be amazing" thing. I'd rather have the memories of playing a smaller amount of amazing games countless times than the memories of playing a sea of garbage.
"Super Mario 3 is really good and all, and I'm still having as much fun playing it for the 50th time as the first, but what I really want is to be able to play 15 other inferior games instead" - said nobody sane.
"Super Mario 3 is really good and all, and I'm still having as much fun playing it for the 50th time as the first, but what I really want is to be able to play 15 other inferior games instead" - said nobody sane.
Men_in_Boxes
Snake Oil Salesman
Like you decided to ignore the fact that 100+ million dollar budget P2P games are designed with PhDs in psychology to maximize how likely players are to spend $70 dollars?
ResilientBanana
Member
$50 instantly blown on a skin and a spin of the wheel. I refuse to buy my son Robucks or anything else. I only buy games.
Kagoshima_Luke
Gold Member
Happy to report that my kids want toys, legos, board games, basketball hoop, etc for Christmas.
Tajaz2426
Psychology PhD from Wikipedia University
Wow, this is why my grandchildren can only play games where there is no store and motion to buy anything like a microtransaction. These companies hire people to run studies to figure out how to get folks addicted to spending their money for no value at all.
My youngest spent real money one time to see and buy haircuts in a basketball game, that game never returned or any other game that has a store to purchase anything.
These companies want nothing more than to make you and your children addicts that have to purchase fake outfits on a video game. Crazy.
My youngest spent real money one time to see and buy haircuts in a basketball game, that game never returned or any other game that has a store to purchase anything.
These companies want nothing more than to make you and your children addicts that have to purchase fake outfits on a video game. Crazy.
Men_in_Boxes
Snake Oil Salesman
The skins are the exact same hunk of junk as the action figures you bought. Kids don't buy new consoles anymore, they play new games.
Nothing has really changed.
64bitmodels
Reverse groomer.
The action figures are physical, can be shared with other friends, and you can play with other friends with those action figures. you were not confined to the restrictions of a game. More importantly, you could refund them.
The Pleasure
Member
Kids think they're the shit wasting money on robucks and v dollars? Time to bring it back
LordBlodgett
Member
I do hate this. My kids play minecraft, but I've never given them any of the game currency. Fortunately most of the games my daughter's love to play are games I've introduced them to and none are F2P junk. There are so many good games out there that are not just loot box filled junk. Wish parents were more involved. We are going to end up with a generation of kids addicted to wasting money on gambling and superficial shit.
Edit: So I know this is off-topic, but I think one of the reason kids gravitate towards free to play is that they can't afford to buy a bunch of games, they then get caught up in the buy,buy,buy and gambling model of these free to play games. Gamepass has been awesome for my kids as it gives them a bunch of games to play whenever they want, and there are a ton of fun co-op games on there that they play when friends come over.
Edit: So I know this is off-topic, but I think one of the reason kids gravitate towards free to play is that they can't afford to buy a bunch of games, they then get caught up in the buy,buy,buy and gambling model of these free to play games. Gamepass has been awesome for my kids as it gives them a bunch of games to play whenever they want, and there are a ton of fun co-op games on there that they play when friends come over.
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64bitmodels
Reverse groomer.
Pro tip: If they play on PC, stick to giving them the Java version. There's no in game store in that one, it's all powered by mods.
newtypepilot
Member
People shouldn't be shocked.
What's worse is you have sports games which are full blown glorified casinos be rated E, duping lots of parents into thinking they are buying something safe for kids.
What's worse is you have sports games which are full blown glorified casinos be rated E, duping lots of parents into thinking they are buying something safe for kids.
LordBlodgett
Member
You aren't kidding about the Youtube junk. I have to watch their Youtube history like crazy because it's easy to go down a rabbithole of useless or sick garbage. You absolutely cannot trust Youtube Kids, it is filled with garbage. Not just making sure your kids aren't watching junk, but communicating with them about those things are something I wish more parents were doing. I have a niece who has dropped out of middle school and spends 8+ hours a day watching vloggers. My brother and his wife just let their kids watch whatever and she has been following all these vloggers since she was like 8 or 9. Now she is addictred to watching other peoples lives instead of having one herself, and now that she is a young teen she is always comparing herself to the the "perfect" lives of these vloggers. This is absolutely a parenting thing......
DonkeyPunchJr
World’s Biggest Weeb
My kids only want to play Minecraft or Roblox nowadays. We got Super Mario Bros Wonder and they lost interest in like an hour.
That said, we restrict the amount they’re allowed to spend. I think we spent a total of maybe $30 on cosmetic stuff over the last 2 years.
That said, we restrict the amount they’re allowed to spend. I think we spent a total of maybe $30 on cosmetic stuff over the last 2 years.
64bitmodels
Reverse groomer.
Hugare
Member
I remember of a television game called Hugo back then when I was a kid
You had to call some number and press the phone buttons to control Hugo on the screen. That thing was mindboggling to my youthful mind.
I wanted to play that thing so damn bad, but it was expensive af. So my parents, rightfully so, never let me.
Fortnite, Roblox and etc. are like that shit but turned up to 11. So parents should be even more present and rigid than ever before. But our generation is soft.
You had to call some number and press the phone buttons to control Hugo on the screen. That thing was mindboggling to my youthful mind.
I wanted to play that thing so damn bad, but it was expensive af. So my parents, rightfully so, never let me.
Fortnite, Roblox and etc. are like that shit but turned up to 11. So parents should be even more present and rigid than ever before. But our generation is soft.
-Minsc-
Member
Segue to porn cam microtransactions.
I spent more than 2 hours building a pigman gold farm in the nether under the lava.... Was probably 30-32 at the time.
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The Last One
Member
Danjin44
The nicest person on this forum
Happosai
Hold onto your panties
What games are they looking for with those subscriptions? If they still have some postage stamps and know how to use USPS, just check the boxes. No checks or C.O.D.s though ('fraid that probably means digital currency is a 'no' too)Subscriptions were the most popular gift idea at 39%, followed closely by consoles (38%), games accessories (32%), and in-game currency (29%). Surprisingly, only 22% of the children surveyed wanted physical games this Christmas.
The ESA also surveyed more than 500 adults for this study, which found that one in three plan to buy video games for themselves or others, with 57% of parents considering buying video game-related presents for their children.
US kids want games subscriptions and virtual currency more than games this Christmas
A report by the Entertainment Software Association has found that 72% of children in the US want games-related products…www.gamesindustry.biz
SlimySnake
Flashless at the Golden Globes
I straight up deleted youtube and youtube kids from my sons ipads because they went down some bizarre rabbit hole of watching weird scary videos with really odd imagery. These are not scary movies you get on netflix for kids. this was straight up twisted AI generated shit. Aimed at kids.
But they soon realized they could access youtube from chrome and silk browsers and started watching other trash. just this week, i caught my 5 year old watching a teenage boy in full girly makeup playing with toys and putting on makeup. i was like what the fuck is this shit. Took away both ipads and kindle and told my wife to sell them on ebay. This is not normal. I grew up watching ninja turtles, sesame street, and other normal cartoons. this is some twisted shit that is corrupting the next generation.
DonkeyPunchJr
World’s Biggest Weeb
There’s so much trash on YouTube, so much of it is just dumb attention whoring dipshits. We put some strong limits on it in our house. Its password protected on all our devices and we pretty much have a whitelist of channels they’re allowed to watch when they have earned YouTube time.
Leave a kid unsupervised on YouTube for an hour and it’s amazing all the vapid garbage they’ll be watching.
Wouldnt call it progress, regress sure.
Fbh
Member
I would have loved gaming subscriptions as a kid.
1-2 games for Christmas that I'll finish during the summer break (southern hemisphere) or a year of a subscription with hundreds of games and new stuff being added every month?
Also I have to wonder why they specify "Physical games". Because maybe the "digital currency" also includes things like PSN and XBLIVE cards, so they might still use them to buy games, just not in physical format.
1-2 games for Christmas that I'll finish during the summer break (southern hemisphere) or a year of a subscription with hundreds of games and new stuff being added every month?
Also I have to wonder why they specify "Physical games". Because maybe the "digital currency" also includes things like PSN and XBLIVE cards, so they might still use them to buy games, just not in physical format.
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Men_in_Boxes
Snake Oil Salesman
The action figures are literally junk that pollutes our oceans 5 - 10 years later once the kids realize how lame they are.
Digital skins, emotes, sprays can be shared with and played with by friends too.
Digital skins, emotes, and sprays are not confined by the limitations of the physical world. You can also refund them too.
They're both garbage. You just grew up with one piece of garbage and now you're struggling with old man yells at cloud disease. Nostalgia is a helluva drug.
Also, ice cream is physical, music is not. Ice cream being physical does not automatically make it better than music.
Reizo Ryuu
Member
Of course they do, these smooth brain games are exactly to be expected from a generation with zero creativity or effort, that just consumes copy-paste media at a ludicrous rate.
Tiktok is pretty much that generation personified, and all the content on it is just people miming others' creativity and effort for easy and quick likes; we're all familiar with the insanely stupid "dances" they all terribly suck at, but nobody tells them ofc, gotta maintain the echo chamber status quo for likes and follow-backs, the miming of what someone else said, or just completely taking someone else's content but putting some trash "stitch" or reaction on it. The absolute lowest effort garbage and they all partake in it.
The worst I've seen is some kid completely miming someone standup act, and then comments on it on "how funny" this guy is; absolute brain rot.
It's really no surprise that those same kids would like more low effort, creatively bankrupt, easy to consume garbage to fill their time with; they are too soft and no longer have the attention spans to deal with anything that requires even a modicum of effort.
Tiktok is pretty much that generation personified, and all the content on it is just people miming others' creativity and effort for easy and quick likes; we're all familiar with the insanely stupid "dances" they all terribly suck at, but nobody tells them ofc, gotta maintain the echo chamber status quo for likes and follow-backs, the miming of what someone else said, or just completely taking someone else's content but putting some trash "stitch" or reaction on it. The absolute lowest effort garbage and they all partake in it.
The worst I've seen is some kid completely miming someone standup act, and then comments on it on "how funny" this guy is; absolute brain rot.
It's really no surprise that those same kids would like more low effort, creatively bankrupt, easy to consume garbage to fill their time with; they are too soft and no longer have the attention spans to deal with anything that requires even a modicum of effort.
NickFire
Member
I don’t want my kids going crazy on things like skins, etc. However, there‘s no moral high ground for 99% of people who are completely opposed to it. Scratch offs, beer, bar tabs, sports gambling, strip clubs, sporting events, movies, you name it. 99.999% of us spend money on entertainment that provides nothing more than a couple hours of fun In some shape of form.
BennyBlanco
aka IMurRIVAL69
There are a lot of good games on gamepass despite what people on Neogaf would lead you to believe
Lies of P
Persona series
Yakuza series
Halo MCC
Age of Empire series
Death Stranding
Etc
