According to The Sims fan site SimsVIP, EA is cleaning house on Maxis staff, laying off multiple people from the Sims 4 team and transferring others to development of The Sims Mobile (Free). SimsVIP’s sources speculate that EA is shifting more towards mobile development, as games like The Sims Mobile are basically money printing machines versus selling single boxed copies of The Sims on PC- A line of reasoning, that sadly, makes a ton of sense.
From a business perspective, these mobile games that are run as services constantly are generating revenue. Per Sensor Tower data, The Sims Mobile made $2m in March of 2018 alone, and that’s after a significant slump in the charts following its launch. With the right people driving the love ops of that game, there’s not much reason to think that it won’t make around $2m (or more) a month for years.
While I totally see why fans of the “real" Sims games would be bummed out by this apparent shift in focus by EA, to look at it from a glass half full perspective, maybe this means The Sims Mobile will end up being even more true to a “real" Sims experience with more people from the Sims 4 team being shifted over to it?
[via SimsVIP]
It's kinda sad how we have grown accostumed to these predatory F2P games that we even choose the wording "as long as possible", because we know that at one point or another we are going to smash our faces with the paywall.
Agreed. The "as long as possible" is pretty priceless. I also find it sad that we've come to expect timers, energy mechanics, paywalls, and 3 different types of currency from most games. I'm not totally against FTP games so long as they're done right, however it seems increasingly the ones done right are few and far between. They've all become this sub-genre of "Microtransaction Simultor"
Would you rather the people who made the game make no money from their work? With smaller games, specifically mobile games that don't offer long/deep stories, not many people are going to be willing to may more than a couple of bucks for the game. If there wasn't a "wall," people would go in, complete the whole thing in one sitting, and be done with it.
The model sucks, I admit, and it does suck that we've gotten used to it. Perhaps giving players a little more energy would be a plus, but mobile developers don't think people play games on their phone the same way they do on console or PC, and the games will always reflect that.
The problem I have with this defence is that these games are so very often not structured like a conventional game, that just happens to make its money by pressuring you into buying stuff, instead of an up front cost (though the likes of EA have made sure these are not mutually exclusive). These are mostly not games that you would typically ever even play on PC or console.
It is also not just small time indie devs, or whom conventional payment models might not work so well. The "freemium" model has given rise to some behemoths who are fully capable of paying celebrities to appear in pretty slick TV ads. Mainstream companies like EA fund their mobile games in this way and even this Potter game is not made by a small time indie, is it? Surely such large devs can afford to offer a more player friendly option, while still making a profit. Except that if they did not suck people in to a never ending cycle of paying for in game resources, nobody would actually play their games. Because as games go, they are really not that good.
Plus there is a massive disparity in terms of how much it costs to play a typical freemium game well, compared with the cost of even a triple A, flagship console or PC title. I mean, the term "micro transactions" is a laughable misnomer, given that a typical model involves payments of in the region of £100/$100 or equivalent, for any appreciable amount of resources. A hardcore player could easily burn through thousands but I have yet to find a single one of these games that offers even a fraction of the play value that I get for paying £50 for Breath of The Wild.
I'd rather pay $10-$20 for a good game I enjoy all the way instead of these f2p games. I also loathe the idea of always-connected games. So for now I'm back to my 3DS.
Why not give options? Buy the game outright for $20 or take the free rout with microtransactions...
Microtransactions cost more than buying a game outright. I remember doing the math on one F2P game and to complete the game it would cost $1200 to finish the last task.
My nephew has spent about $300 on Fortnite through microtransactions.
Sure a $60 or $20 price tag seems like a lot, but the entire idea of microtransations is to make MORE money than a single price. That's why developers use them.
You only get complete refill when you level up. Also the gems and energy rewards while your playing are rare also only refills 1 point of energy...
There are actually things throughout Hogwarts that you can tap on to gain energy. Each object gives you one energy and takes a bit of time to reset.
Might want to rework this article. As others have mentioned, there's a good method you left out entirely, and some of the tips you mention are flat-out false.
Still better journalism on this site than stupid "PG"
«Which we will get to in a second» never gets back to it??
The cash model of Hogwarts Mystery seems to be rather dated and very heavy handed. I greatly prefer games that follow the newer model of instead of a pay wall, either give the option or require you to watch a short (under 10 seconds) video that generates revenue for the developer, but doesn't ask you to fork over cash.
How lomg must i wait untill I start 2 year(sorry for my english)
There are several objects in the game you can sometimes tap to get Energy Points back. Here is the current list:
East Towers: Tap on the painting right behind the player (left of the Charms Classroom). Currently the Poltergeist Peeves is floating around the Divination Classroom and he also drops an energy point if you tap on him (but he tends to relocate).
West Towers: The second painting in the hall, next to the Prefect's Bathroom (on the left) drops an energy point.
Lower Floor - West: The column with fire next to the Great Hall entrance drops an energy point. The middle knight statue on the right side of the Great Hall also has an energy point.
Dungeons: The house elf between the Kitchens and the Potions Classroom drops an energy point.
Castle Grounds: The stick in front of Hagrid's Hut drops an energy point.
Lower Floor - East (2nd year and above): The books on the stone bench between the Library and the History of Magic Classroom drops an energy point.
I have not yet gone to Hogsmeade but I expect there will be at least one there as well!
There is a guy between 3 broomsticks and honeydukes that waves his arms. click on him for energy and he sleds down the ally.