I guess the main difference is that now they can drop new features and content faster and in smaller pieces. But I am sure they still intend to do that only if the game seems relatively successful. If the game bombs, they cancel any new DLCs for it.

Besides that "yeah expansion packs!" thing, I think rest of the article was more about the idea that the gamer would always be connected online to the game universe, and use most of his gaming time (and gaming money) to that particular title, even for years to come. To me this is quite much about concentrating to online multiplayer games, no coincidence they show pictures of e.g. Overwatch there, and mention GTA Online.

In a way I can see ths myself. I play two kinds of games:

- Single player games. These are the games the article considers as the old-skool way, ie. I play once and don't pay more later. I also normally move to a new game after I e.g. finish one game, or get bored with it. Many times I also play several of these (from different genres usually) side by side. I buy more of these because I play many of these over time.

- Online multiplayer game(s): well, for me that is currently Team Fortress 2. I see no need to look for other multiplayer games, e.g. Overwatch (especially as Overwatch is not free-to-play), or World of Tanks. Currently one game, TF2, fulfulls all my needs for competitive online multiplayer gaming. I am not using much money for it though; I think I did use less than a dollar or so that I could unlock a bigger inventory (the default inventory is just too small, it gets in the way all the time, I presume that is intended to annoy free players). For now, I don't see myself using another cent for the game.

For publishers, I see it as a double-edged sword. Yeah, for a game like TF2 or World of Warcraft it is great because there are lots of active long time players... but for many other games trying the same, they can't lure those same people to try their games, as they are already content with they existing online competitive/social game. So I feel there is less room for these kinds of games, plus they also cost more for publishers to keep up the gameplay servers etc.

Also, I feel that those games that take this "game as a service" model, more and more people also expect them to be "free-to-play", ie. there is no starting investment. That has been my main reason not to try Overwatch, I hear it is somewhat like TF2 so in that sense it might interest me, but I'd try it only if it was free to start playing. Then again, I admit I haven't tried World of Tanks either even though it is free-to-play, for that the reason is the aforementioned "I am already content with Team Fortress 2 for my multiplayer gaming needs".

Nice read, although it's really not that new news, just summarizes the development of the last 10 years. Funny enough, I must be kind of a dinosaur, because almost all of my games I pay for them once and then play them (sometimes I even finish them). Some I play for years, but I never paid more than once for anything less than an old style expansion which already existed like 20 years ago. So somehow, there is an alternative possible.

Maybe the secret of the success of my playing model is simply not buying directly after release but just waiting some months (at least) to see how good and how much of a game there is. That is so simply and works really well.

You do get a Backpack Expander for free every Christmas inside the Gift-Stuffed Stocking. :)

Well, that's why I avoid games with microtransactions as much as possible.

When did Hines turned into such an idiot?
[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Elder_Scrolls_IV:_Oblivion]"Bethesda released two expansion packs for the game, Knights of the Nine and Shivering Isles, which were bundled with The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Game of the Year Edition which was released in 2007"[/url]
10y ago; Bethesda Game

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Elder_Scrolls_III%3A_Morrowind]
The game spawned two expansion packs: Tribunal and Bloodmoon. Both were repackaged into a full set and titled Morrowind: Game of the Year Edition, which was released in October 2003.[/url]
Tribunal was released 15y ago, also a Bethesda game

He was already working for Beth at that time.

The really good news is actually that games companies seem to be profitable currently. This may mean more and better games in the future. And even if there are lots of DLCs and microtransactions and monthly fees, as long as other types of gamers (I'm obivously not that kind of gamer.) pay for it, I hope the big game companies also occasionally make these gems, these really good games that basically do not try to trick you into spending money but that are actually worth the price and not much hassle. Really convenient would be like pay once and then just play as long as you want.

For microtransactions It's actually possible they take the fun out of a game, if you can buy yourself a victory where is the challenge? For games as a service with a, say monthly, subscription model, I always fear I won't have much time and would rather not do it or only for a very cheap price. If it would be a flat rate for gaming like what Spotify is for music ... it might be different, but then we had this (OnLive with unbreakable DRM) and for some strange reason it failed. Maybe OnLive was ahead of it's time and the golden times of flat-rate gaming are still ahead of us.

I hope for many good (pay-once-got-everything) bundles offers of really good singleplayer games to come being produced by profitable game companies (probably financed by gamers buying lots of services and transactions). Maybe even just as a side product, doesn't matter.

That was the title of the article as written in the paper edition. They can have the credit / blame.

No, the media is pretty much clueless on most things. Computers, Cars, Guns, History, you name it and they have botched a story about it. The other day I saw an article about some kid hacking into cell phones using a "rogue device called a 'Raspberry Pi'"

Tell me about it! The other day I pick up the newspaper and it tells me The Houston Astros and the Milwaukee Brewers are in first place. Obviously erroneous reporting!

My favorite in-the-arcade game... Bishop of Battle!

Just when you think you've "won" the game, the Bishop BURSTS OUT of the cabinet, flying around the arcade shop with its minions flying overhead and shooting you with real lasers until you die!

Yup, they don't make 'em like that anymore.

That had the greatest line of all time in it:

"Hey mom! I beat the Bishop!"

Emilio Estevez at his finest. XD