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US kids want games subscriptions and virtual currency more than games this Christmas

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.
Soft? Try working twp jobs than having ypur only few moments of peace being bitched at by a kid for bullshit. I'm not saying its right, but giving those microtransactions a shot for an hour of peace is worth it to some parents.
 

Hugare

Member
Soft? Try working twp jobs than having ypur only few moments of peace being bitched at by a kid for bullshit. I'm not saying its right, but giving those microtransactions a shot for an hour of peace is worth it to some parents.
And pay the price for it later on when your kid is addicted and you have to endure 10x the bitching.

This is why parenting is not for everyone.
 

Go_Ly_Dow

Member
dozens_of_us_arrested_development.gif
Handshake Bros GIF
 

JohnnyFootball

GerAlt-Right. Ciriously.
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
What people? I've never heard anyone argue there isn't "some" good things on Gamepass. I have argued that I believe it will be a complete bust in the long run and do long term damage as currently constructed mainly because I do not believe it can long term sustain Day 1 AAA releases. I do believe Gamepass has a place as a $60 per year with older games or what EA and Sony do where their games reach the service a year later.
 

DonkeyPunchJr

World’s Biggest Weeb
Soft? Try working twp jobs than having ypur only few moments of peace being bitched at by a kid for bullshit. I'm not saying its right, but giving those microtransactions a shot for an hour of peace is worth it to some parents.
Giving your kid some screen time so you can have a breather now and then is OK. Doesn’t mean you have to let them watch junk or buy them some microtransactions.
 

winjer

Gold Member
Soft? Try working twp jobs than having ypur only few moments of peace being bitched at by a kid for bullshit. I'm not saying its right, but giving those microtransactions a shot for an hour of peace is worth it to some parents.

You might be buying some rest now, but you are also buying trouble in the future.
A generation addicted to gambling mechanics and micro-transactions is going to cost us dearly.
 

BennyBlanco

aka IMurRIVAL69
What people? I've never heard anyone argue there isn't "some" good things on Gamepass. I have argued that I believe it will be a complete bust in the long run and do long term damage as currently constructed mainly because I do not believe it can long term sustain Day 1 AAA releases. I do believe Gamepass has a place as a $60 per year with older games or what EA and Sony do where their games reach the service a year later.

How about the guy I was replying to that said he would rather play SMB3 over a “sea of garbage”?
 

BbMajor7th

Member
Sub makes sense for a kid, especially when normally they'd only get a game(s) for Christmas and Birthday.

The online currency is disgusting though.
I suspect subscriptions will include things like EA Play as they offer a season long discount on FUT Points and it may also include season passes or battle passes too. As has been pointed out on here, kids are playing a handful of games on rotation. Not likely they're angling for GP or PS Plus for game quantity.
 
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Sp3eD

0G M3mbeR
The subscriptions like gamepass being top picks make total sense. For the price of 2 full price games you can get 100’s at your disposal for a year . I’m literally at the point where I only buy like 3 or 4 games per year as it feels like it just isn’t worth it or get to buy them at a 80% discount within 2 months. Saved so much money the last few years and haven’t had an ounce of regret.
 
You might be buying some rest now, but you are also buying trouble in the future.
A generation addicted to gambling mechanics and micro-transactions is going to cost us dearly.
Mexicans already solved it. Behold the kid asking for robucks
giphy.gif
 
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Man I really grew up during a special time.
I used to think every generation thinks that but the Zoomers grew up in a really awful time and the next generation, tentatively called the "Alphas", have it even worse. The current Internet is terribly destructive to humanity and human society, the shitty games of this era are only a small part of the problem.
 
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Aces High

Gold Member
People acting like World of Warcraft didn't exist back in 2004.

When we were teenagers, we wished for subscription time, too.

Looking back, do I think it was a bad thing? Nope. It was the most fun I've ever had with this hobby.

Online gaming is popular. Just get over it and let kids enjoy their thing.
 
I’m not a fan of fortnight and have never played it,
But people saying things like “you want $$$ to play dress up with your digital characters” seems to me, to be extremely disingenuous, have you never gotten a costume in any game ever? Trying to down play it is missing the mark, there are issues here for sure, but this isn’t it imo.

SF6 recently released a video of all their upcoming costume 3 for every character. Was met with general approval.

What this tells me is if people like a game it’s ok to have extra costumes, but if they don’t like the game extra costumes becomes “little Timmy playing dress up”.

Fickle.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Why are people even parents at that point if they have zero time to invest in their kids
Because some of them treat video games, watching YT on tablets and their school teachers like glorified babysitters.

Anyone on this board that is older and grew up as kids in the 80s will definitely skew to parents who are more strict keeping them in line. And if it means getting slapped and you cry to your room, hey that's what you got. Ya, we had video games, board games and TV too. Hell, Gameboy came out around 1990 or 1991 I think. But no typical parent back then would accept getting cussed at by Timmy trying to play Gameboy at the dinner table.

Back then, parents were more like.... go hang out with your friends or play street hockey. Go to the mall, or here's some pocket money. Go meet your friends at Mcdonalds and watch a movie. Its a nice day on a weekend. Get out of the house.

Now parents are like.... here's some money and buy some mtx.

I think kids holistically do care and arent necessarily so internet focused. You just got to talk to them. I enjoy talking to all my nephews and nieces about the stuff they are doing.... whether it's playing organized hockey and gving them tips what to do, school advice, job/career advice, even basic shit like hey youre going to be getting your drivers license soon driving dads car. Heres some tips etc...

Guess what? They all listen, ask questions, and I'm even giving one of them hockey tips in their basement regarding positional play how to check people (it's non-contact league but you can still play positional to defend) and what to do to prevent risk of letting in goals. A lot of overall basic shit, but for them it's info to absorb. And they all put down their tablets watching Fuller House on YT because I'm not brushing them off showing up at a family dinner with a $10 Roblox card and dont bug me for the rest of the night. Dont get me wrong, sometimes at dinner when there's not a lot of chats going on about their lives, they are goofing off texting and such because nobody is talking to them.
 
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Barakov

Member
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.
lvQ4iOS.jpg
 

DenchDeckard

Moderated wildly
I tell you, its crazy having kids and trying my absolute best to get them to enjoy single player games, stuff like Mario, and any game that I would consider good.....

...all they want to do is play apex or fortnite with their mates. Maybe smash out some ufc or mortal kombat as well....

Madness.
 
v-bucks, robucks, cash cards or whatever they are called.

The new generation will be interesting as they grew up with online currencies and F2P/P2W (especially on mobile).
 

StueyDuck

Member
US kids are hardly the beacon of light leading to an exciting future anymore. Not too surprised that they are brainwashed by corporations and influencers and politics, social media has done irreparable damage and now we have "international influence" with the likes of tiktok.
 
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FoxMcChief

Gold Member
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.
Sounds like the right audience for the crap being put out on VR.
 

RickMasters

Member
Anybody who has kids already knows this. They are simply not into gaming in the same way we was at their age. in an era of online gaming, social media and tik tok....well...thats how they like their games. They are playing what their tik tok/streaming heroes like sneakbo or DJ akademics or kai are playing.
 

Dane

Member
I get where you're coming from about kids' entertainment today, but I think it's not all doom and gloom. I've got three kids, and they've got a bunch of cousins around the same age, so I see what they're into all the time.

I've tried getting them into next-gen console games like Mario Wonder, Spider-Man 2, Ratchet and Clank on the Switch and PS5. But honestly, these don't grab them like they do us. And it makes sense, right? These games are just souped-up versions of what we played as kids. They don't have the same nostalgia factor for today's kids.

The big hits in my house? Fortnite, Roblox, Minecraft. What they've got going is the social play factor. They're easy to jump into, they're on every device imaginable, and there's no sitting through long cutscenes or slogging through a one-hour tutorial. The games we dig are basically updates of our childhood faves, so obviously, kids today are going to find their own thing.

And about TV shows, yeah, there's a lot of junk, but there's good stuff too. You just gotta dig a bit. PBS Kids is a solid choice, and we're all over the cool Christmas shows on Disney+ right now.

So, it's not all bad. There's good content out there. We just gotta point the kids in the right direction and mix it up with different kinds of media.

I sat next to a kid playing Minecraft on the airplane yesterday. He played almost 2 hours building this lava trap.

The headline isn't a shock. The reaction to the headline is the shock. Games aren't 20 hour experiences anymore folks. It's time to get up to speed.

I think what most people miss is that Roblox, Fortnite and Minecraft are akin to Lego, which is the most requested toy gift, kids will easily spend days on them. Plus the fact they have a massive modding community is something that is entirely dead on traditional gaming except for BGS games (which is why their games has a constant playerbase on steam), when I was a teenager I would spend weeks on Max Payne 1 and 2 because of its mods.
 
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dem

Member
I tell you, its crazy having kids and trying my absolute best to get them to enjoy single player games, stuff like Mario, and any game that I would consider good.....

...all they want to do is play apex or fortnite with their mates. Maybe smash out some ufc or mortal kombat as well....

Madness.

Kids want to play games with their friends?

Madness!


Man do you guys even remember Xband? This was the dream. Playing with people all over the world WAS THE DREAM!

Now you're all mad kids don't want to sit alone in their basement and stomp goombas.

Boomer games are fucking boring to kids. Get over it. I'm 40 and most of these single player games are boring as shit. Lets walk all over some giant stupid world and read notes and listen to audio logs. Great times!
 
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zenspider

Member
It's poison like this that makes me wish video games were niche again, the masses are idiots and ruin every market they enter.
Agreed -- I think the gambling and psychological manipulation is a real problem -- but gaming has become so big that we actually have subculture supported by the market. Playing GaaS and AAA is like listening to Casey Kasem Top 40 Countdown. It's corny. There are also kids winning fighting game tournaments, 1CCing shmups, speedrunning retro and modern games, playing indie, making fan art, cosplay, video essays, etc. Most people just aren't cool. Thus, cool.
 
I tell you, its crazy having kids and trying my absolute best to get them to enjoy single player games, stuff like Mario, and any game that I would consider good.....

...all they want to do is play apex or fortnite with their mates. Maybe smash out some ufc or mortal kombat as well....

Madness.

I'm not surprised when kids don't like the same things as their parents, especially in their childhood and teenage years. I think you also need to consider your kids may not have as good taste in games as you, simply put - maybe they are casual gamer normies?

I'm sorry.
 
Meh, hylics gonna hylic. we are just witnessing the tendencies of a new generation hylic, rather than the hylics of the generations we were born from.
 

zenspider

Member
Kids want to play games with their friends?

Madness!


Man do you guys even remember Xband? This was the dream. Playing with people all over the world WAS THE DREAM!

Now you're all mad kids don't want to sit alone in their basement and stomp goombas.

Boomer games are fucking boring to kids. Get over it. I'm 40 and most of these single player games are boring as shit. Lets walk all over some giant stupid world and read notes and listen to audio logs. Great times!
"Boomer" games don't have audio logs. That's millenial game design lol.

I think the real juxtaposition isn't single-player vs. multi-player, but online vs. couch/arcade/playground. It is very cool how much "stuff" there is online in terms of Twitch, Discord, and "communities", but on some level it's all simulated couch/arcade/playground with, to my mind, deep "the medium is the message" kinds of differences and consequences.
 

DonkeyPunchJr

World’s Biggest Weeb
Some of it is definitely predatory but also maybe kids just see something you don’t? A lot of it is very creative and lets kids create their own fun + their own stories.

My kids find almost endless fun with Minecraft. They’ll build obstacle courses for each other or build little towns and role play. Lots of times they’ll watch build tutorial videos and plan out what they want to make. My 6 year old has a level of spatial reasoning and creativity that totally blows me away.

I also let them watch Maizen (aka Mikey and JJ) on YouTube and some of it is so creative. They make up their own challenges and stories as they play, and it gives my kids ideas of what to try for themselves.

One time I gave them each of them a $10 gift card so they could buy cosmetic items, and we spent $4 on someone’s really cool pre-made treehouse fort. That’s all the IAP we’ve got. Seems like a pretty good deal for 2 years (and counting) of entertainment.
 
What this tells me is if people like a game it’s ok to have extra costumes, but if they don’t like the game extra costumes becomes “little Timmy playing dress up”.
It's not that at all, having cosmetics isn't the issue, it's about preferring to spend everything on these games that are engineered on FOMO, instead of spending that money on a new experience instead; these kids are so hooked/addicted to their low effort game, that playing something else comes across as a less desirable option to them. It's pure brainrot.
 
And this is why we are seeing less and less innovation in single player games.

This is why studios like rocksteady abandoned making games like Batman AA to make a co-op friendly game like Suicide Squad.

Kids today view games as a social activity more then we did and nothing is wrong with that.

But i think publishers need to understand that both audiences can coexist, just because Fortnite and Roblox does well among the kids doesn't mean every game needs to also appeal to that audience to find success, Baldur's Gate 3 proved that this year.

The gaming space is now big enough to support multiple audiences so its stupid that all the publishers are fighting to get the same audience as Fortnite and these other live service games.
 

zenspider

Member
And this is why we are seeing less and less innovation in single player games.

This is why studios like rocksteady abandoned making games like Batman AA to make a co-op friendly game like Suicide Squad.

Kids today view games as a social activity more then we did and nothing is wrong with that.

But i think publishers need to understand that both audiences can coexist, just because Fortnite and Roblox does well among the kids doesn't mean every game needs to also appeal to that audience to find success, Baldur's Gate 3 proved that this year.

The gaming space is now big enough to support multiple audiences so its stupid that all the publishers are fighting to get the same audience as Fortnite and these other live service games.
I agree with all this, except to remember that gaming started out social and never really stopped. Arcades were a date spot! Pac-Man cocktail cabinets, 4-player X-Men, even up to DDR circa early 2000's. PC had online MUDS and BBS forum activity, consoles had a ton of two player games, and even in the 3D era split-screen was expected until pretty recently. The only real "anti-social" gaming trend is the surge in popularity of the AAA single-player game in the 32-bit era.

I think the biggest difference is that the social component carries the game a lot more than it used to. For example if you're playing Fortnite with a big group of friends, it's very difficult to migrate everyone to, say, Sea of Thieves, and I think they're designed that way. They're background to the social component. The need to be as frictionless as possible and every innovation is a risk to lose people. Back in the day, you could just grab market share by being the new game or cabinet. Publishers don't want that anymore and the modern player base can't be counted on to support it.
 

Red5

Member
Yeah Roblox and Fortnite cards are the go to gifts for kids these days, saves the parents the hassle of knowing what to buy. Wish I can go back to 1998.
 
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