Monetization of RoA2 - Or, other words, wanting to make Dan more money.#291

I’m making this mainly because I just read Dan’s twitter post regarding the EoS for 2XKO and his mention of the financial situation of Aether Studios.

Personally, I think it would make sense if Aether Studios looked to Gacha Games for inspiration on monetization. The BP being free and giving Aether Bucks means that I’m not really incentivized to buy skins since, over time, I can earn the ones I want. (They are also pretty expensive.)

The Battle Pass, for example, could have two tiers. One giving coins and some more basic skins and/or palletes, while the premium track has premium skins, Aether Bucks and more coins. I buy EXACTLY this in Limbus Company.

Or they could introduce a sort of subscription where you pay 5€ per month but get, say 15$ - 20$ worth of Aether Bucks. I buy this for Wuthering Waves.

This is good value for the player and a recurring revenue stream for the Devs. They would, of course, need to check if this is something that could work for them.

With this, there is of course also the option to turn the game F2P.

Really hope people aren’t just gonna dunk on me for mentioning Gacha Games ….

Taking inspiration from gacha games can be done ethically, or it can be done predatorily, but your two ideas are sound.

As much as I would dislike having my free, full battle passes taken partially away, I wouldn’t mind it happening if it becomes a necessity (as long as you can still buy previous seasons’ passes).

The bucks subscription idea is actually an interesting one I’d never heard of before.

I call it a subscription because, playing Gacha Games and buying the monthly pass, that is what it feels like. You get a decent amount of premium currency for a small, monthly fee. The currency is, however, significantly more than if you were to buy it directly, thus incentivizing its purchase.

I sincerely hope things never get so dire as them needing to do paid battle passes, one of the most predatory forms of mtx in gaming.

@JayMission There are ways to do battlepasses correctly, and it mostly comes down to limited-time vs always-available. Battlepasses in predatory games are a powerful manipulation tool only because they prey on FOMO psychology and pressure players into an addictive cadence of grinding every season, with a permanent punishment for taking a break.

Battlepasses that are always available, whether they’re paid or free, don’t activate the same psychology.

If RoA2’s season tracks were limited-time only, even if they were free, they would be almost as predatory as the ones you have in mind, because it still promotes forced engagement and addiction due to FOMO.