Take Two CEO on Microtransactions

After NBA 2K18, Take-Two's CEO Talks About Microtransaction Backlash And Future Monetization

Last year, Take-Two and 2K Sports faced some backlash with NBA 2K18's virtual currency plans. Take-Two put a number of cosmetics behind the virtual currency, which informed how your player looked, and also let people pay to improve how they performed in the game. A lot of the cosmetics had been free in previous games, which resulted in an outcry of players saying that Take-Two was monetizing content by locking away once free cosmetics. Furthermore, accusations of pay-to-win mechanics dogged the game, as its structure allowed players to level up to 85 by just paying, destroying early game competitive balance in the process.

Fans felt that playing the game without engaging in the virtual currency economy was noticeably slower than simply paying to get there. After numerous complaints, the publisher ended up pulling back on a lot of the virtual currency price tags on cosmetics, but the game's reputation for taking advantage of its virtual currency was set.

"Unquestionably we pay attention to consumer response because we’re so focused on engaging and captivating and entertaining the consumer," Zelnick said. "Any time we get feedback that is anything less than 1,000-percent positive, we stop and say, what should we do differently? I think there’s a small sliver of the consumer base that basically wants everything for free, we can’t really help those people. I think most consumers just want a fair deal and we do think that part of a fair deal is, you know when you get the check at the end of the meal, it’s not enough that the food tasted good, it has to be a fair deal for what you got. So we’re very focused on it being more than a fair deal; we want to give consumers much more than they paid for."

The bolded sentence makes me cringe. Talk about tone deaf.

"We do learn every time and we have to balance monetization with the experience," Zelnick emphasized. "In our case, we sort of all regrouped and said, wait, let’s remind ourselves that we’re in the business of creating the best entertainment on Earth, across all types of entertainment. We’re focused on engaging and captivating consumers. If we do that right and that’s our entire focus, the revenues and the profits will probably take care of themselves, so let’s not overemphasize those. So I’m asking questions now like does big data and having lots of data scientists on your team allow you to enhance your monetization? And the answer is, technically I suppose that would be the case, but are you a monetization company or are you an entertainment company? We’re an entertainment company and when we get that right, everything else flows from it."

Honestly, I'm not filled with confidence. I think it's going to be another bad year for microtransactions infringing on the experience, and greedy anti-consumer practices. Until such time as people really have enough and it blows up in their face, I doubt it's going to change for the better.

They're fucking crazy if they dont understand that they cant release an AAA game full of microtransactions.

That's the thing, though. The success of NBA 2K18, in sales and recurrent revenue, suggests that they can. As vocal as the backlash was, the dollars spoke louder.

In recent years money started to speak way louder than casual fans in NBA. So disappointing.

Agent00 made a good video recently. If they want us to pay, release the game as a F2P and then improve your game all over the year and listen your community.


Otherwise, perhaps main sites like NLSC or OS (i'm a believer ) should call for a boycott if 2K19 has the same problem with microtransactions although the game is sold as an AAA price.

Realistically though, would enough people actually boycott the game - or even just abstain from microtransactions - to have an impact? NBA 2K is still generally an appealing product to basketball gamers, and a lot of people have shown a willingness to spend extra money on VC. I think as a community we need to remind ourselves to vote with our wallets and all that, but by and large, I believe sales and recurrent revenue would be just fine, even with a campaign to boycott 2K.

That's the real problem, especially when it comes to microtransactions. As I discussed here, a lot of people will snidely say "Just don't spend any money", and on the surface, that's solid advice. You don't have to spend money on VC, so if you don't want to, or can't afford to, then definitely don't. The rub is that if you don't, you might be in for a painful grind just to reach a point where the game is enjoyable. Furthermore, other people are going to take advantage of pay-to-win mechanics, and they're the ones setting the competitive balance online. If you want to compete online, you're going to have to grind like mad or pay to catch up to them. Better matchmaking would alleviate that problem to some extent, of course.

That bolded sentence shows it's not going anywhere anytime soon. They make a shit ton of money for nothing. An imaginary in-game currency that you need to further yourself in the game. It's a FTP model in a $60 game, so they get the best of both worlds. No executive would ever recommend to their company to not take free money like that. They would be fired.

This pissed me off, actually.

That bolder sentence doesn't acknowledge that people are paying $60 already for the base game, and some $100 or more for the VC bundle. I am about done with this company.

How disconnected can you possibly be.

It's a bunch of bullshit.

The bold sentence is a reversal of roles and values.
There’s a small sliver of the companies that basically wants everything , we can’t really help those people.

This pissed me off, actually.

That bolder sentence doesn't acknowledge that people are paying $60 already for the base game, and some $100 or more for the VC bundle. I am about done with this company.

How disconnected can you possibly be.

It's a bunch of bullshit.

It's a misguided belief that people are clamoring to pay more for a game after buying it. This was obviously a statement made to justify the microtransactions

As I said though, the fact that they are making so much revenue from microtransactions suggests that people are indeed willing to spend extra money. Of course, it's possible that a lot of people are doing it out of necessity, trying to get the most out of the game. A bit of the sunk cost fallacy at play.

What irks me about his phrasing is that it puts it all back on the gamer, implying someone is selfish if they want an enjoyable experience without paying above and beyond the cost of buying the game in the first place. He's careful not to say that explicitly, but the implication that any of the complaints about microtransactions could be petty and selfish is ridiculous.

As long as Myleague is free of VC transactions I will continue to buy the game for PC.

I played 0 playground games online, 1 total pro am game as 60 0verall, 0 mycareer games, didn't make any custom shirts, spent 0 vc overall and I was satisfied.
Last year in 2K17 I spent $40 on VC and to me it was just a waste of money. I don't think I will ever buy VC after 2K17 and I'm content with missing out the content that requires VC.
It's weird being on the outside of all the community backlash this year.

I still think people will probably spend more real money this year than last year, if 2K finds a way to incorporate it without pissing people off.

Will any of you guys boycott VC this year?

My aim is to not buy any. I'm pretty burned out on MyCAREER and the connected experiences, so I'll probably have an easier time avoiding it.

phpBB [video]

Spot on.

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He got thicccccc. Didn't watch his videos for 6-8 months and he got thicc like big baby davis.

Tho he got good points

As long as Myleague is free of VC transactions I will continue to buy the game for PC.

I played 0 playground games online, 1 total pro am game as 60 0verall, 0 mycareer games, didn't make any custom shirts, spent 0 vc overall and I was satisfied.
Last year in 2K17 I spent $40 on VC and to me it was just a waste of money. I don't think I will ever buy VC after 2K17 and I'm content with missing out the content that requires VC.
It's weird being on the outside of all the community backlash this year.

I still think people will probably spend more real money this year than last year, if 2K finds a way to incorporate it without pissing people off.

Will any of you guys boycott VC this year?

Basically this.

The people who play MyLeague solely haven't had to deal with this issue at all. I spent the year playing MyGM and never had any need to by VC. I've even stockpiled so much from my 15 year MyGM game that I could realistically start a MyCareer today and have a high rated dude by tomorrow. So VC in and of itself is not the issue. I think the issue is it toppling the competitive balance.

But as long as they keep the VC away from the hardcore sim players they can get away with it.

No doubt. Microtransactions are a thing now and VC is here to stay, but it's in how those elements are implemented, and how intrusive they are to the gameplay experience. Pushing more and more micotransactions by allowing them to upset the competitive balance, or making MyCAREER a tough slog without paying for a boost, are the real problems with the system.

We’re an entertainment company and when we get that right, everything else flows from it.

So how do they explain the entertainment aspect has gotten worse and worse every year? They are so far from getting it right it's laughable. The new things they push every year are removed through a patch soon after release. That is not the way an honest company runs. Basically the CEO is a BS artist.

Speaking of patches, why can't they make it possible for the user to select which patch they want to play with, like EA does?

We’re an entertainment company and when we get that right, everything else flows from it.

So how do they explain the entertainment aspect has gotten worse and worse every year? They are so far from getting it right it's laughable. The new things they push every year are removed through a patch soon after release. That is not the way an honest company runs. Basically the CEO is a BS artist.

That's the problem, its entertainment not substance. It's 2KTV (Show), Dazzling screenshots with no gameplay (Show), 2K League (Show), Good close ups but poor gameplay perspective (Show), tons of talk about smart AI and improvements in gameplay but nothing but a mess gameplay wise (Show), constant reminders on social media about how many awards they are winning/how many pros are playing 2K (Show).

It's just really annoying at this point, it's crazy what they get away with.

I think it emphasises how basketball gaming is a niche interest. We're a smaller audience with a specific taste, so a lot of people don't want to hold 2K accountable the same way they'll chastise EA, Activision, Bethesda, and so on.

We’re an entertainment company and when we get that right, everything else flows from it.

So how do they explain the entertainment aspect has gotten worse and worse every year? They are so far from getting it right it's laughable. The new things they push every year are removed through a patch soon after release. That is not the way an honest company runs. Basically the CEO is a BS artist.

That's the problem, its entertainment not substance. It's 2KTV (Show), Dazzling screenshots with no gameplay (Show), 2K League (Show), Good close ups but poor gameplay perspective (Show), tons of talk about smart AI and improvements in gameplay but nothing but a mess gameplay wise (Show), constant reminders on social media about how many awards they are winning/how many pros are playing 2K (Show).

It's just really annoying at this point, it's crazy what they get away with.

That's what gets me. Why anyone listens to them or believes anything they say at this point.

The people who talk about the game before release are marketers, not people who know anything about how to create a good game. Marketers evade, spin, deceive, etc in an effort to sell products. Just like other salesmen. Then they go out and threaten reviewers who dare to point out the negatives. They, from what I've seen, write their own review and give it out to the "professional" reviewers. You can see it when you read all those reviews. They are word-for-word what everyone else "writes". Their marketing process sounds much like mafia tactics. Yet, for some reason, some people continue to believe these salesmen.

Last edited by StyxTx on Wed Jul 04, 2018 4:29 am, edited 1 time in total.

I don't mind 2KTV doing their thing. I do wish they'd branch out other than just basketball.

I don't mind 2KTV doing their thing. I do wish they'd branch out other than just basketball.

I mind if the product itself falls short. As in, time being spent on the wrong things. Even if it's run by a completely different group, that's money and resources spent on something for show (To look pretty) as opposed to time, money and resources spent on the on court action and authenticity. For example, I'd rather 2KTV be completely scrapped in order to use those resources to be used on the roster creation aspect, so we don't have as many issues with ratings/attributes/signatures, as clearly they don't have enough people working on the rosters. Tendency/signature/rating copy and paste jobs (Like all of LeBrons signatures on JR Rider), Nick Van Exel having Shawn Marions FT, players going an entire season in big minutes getting like 20 assists or 5 steals, etc.

In the big picture, watching the amount of work put into 2KTV when the rest of the product is kind of a mess is frustrating. JaoSming knows basketball, get him on the roster instead of 2KTV, guarantee he could help out. Christ, let me have at it (Or Slimm), i'll do some work on it for free in order to prevent some of these issues.

This is not getting any better. They will most likely let you preview Hair in MyPlayer but thats about it, it will still be Pay2Win in pretty much any Online-Modes.