Have SDS/Sony Tried To Publicly Defend Their Obvious and Systematic Increase In Monetization?
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I don't like it either, but why would they defend it? It's a sound business model.
For us, the game is for entertainment. For them the game is income.
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@Blind_Bleeder_PSN said in Have SDS/Sony Tried To Publicly Defend Their Obvious and Systematic Increase In Monetization?:
I don't like it either, but why would they defend it? It's a sound business model.
For us, the game is for entertainment. For them the game is income.
Sadly I guess you're right. Some companies manage to make a profit and do right by their customers. I thought that way about SDS in like '21. It's all been downhill from there.
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They will never address it publicly unless they were called before a Senate Judiciary Committee, Which isn’t out of the realm of possibility with the current state of micro transactions & gambling in games that are accessible & played by minors. The minute they admit it, They become liable & open to lawsuits.
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Within a couple hours you can build a team of free cards that can compete with any team. SDS is still giving 10000% more free content than any other sports game to date. My free to play team is 92 overall and my money team is 93 overall
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@SaveFarris_PSN said in Have SDS/Sony Tried To Publicly Defend Their Obvious and Systematic Increase In Monetization?:
"Clearly".
Funny, I thought the move away from sets and seasons (and the "expiring" cards that went with it) wasn't exactly micro-transaction friendly.
2023 was not heavy on micro transactions. Collections didnt require any use of stubs, and outside of the chase cards the pack cards were typically just fine. Day 1 99s devalued live series significantly, and stubs flowed pretty freely still.
Sure, cards may have "only" had a 2 month shelf life or so in some content, unless you wild carded them, but its not like they were replacing them with must have pack cards.
If the 2023 style of sets and seasons was an attempt to increase monetization, it was a massive failure
2024 is a different story though, but then the cards expired far too quickly which I'm sure was a disincentive. And the power creep was way too fast for it to be truly effective for monetization.
It should be pretty clear now that a slow power creep is the absolute best scenario for monetization. Easy to make cards more appealing, and the downside of only being able to use it for a month or two is gone
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@dbub_PSN said in Have SDS/Sony Tried To Publicly Defend Their Obvious and Systematic Increase In Monetization?:
I'm not going to list all the reasons that this is clearly happening. Many have been discussed on this board in '25. If you are playing this year and you compare it to any other year it's clearly gearing towards more microtransactions.
So I'm curious if they've come out and tried to defend this or is it just swept under the rug, hoping we'll forget?
The flip side is how did they defend the lighter monetization of 2023 and prior to the Sony shareholders? They dont give a rats [censored] if the players are happy, and its a widely known fact that player happiness is largely irrelevant to profit in gacha or ultimate team modes.
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@Teak2112_MLBTS said in Have SDS/Sony Tried To Publicly Defend Their Obvious and Systematic Increase In Monetization?:
@dbub_PSN said in Have SDS/Sony Tried To Publicly Defend Their Obvious and Systematic Increase In Monetization?:
I'm not going to list all the reasons that this is clearly happening. Many have been discussed on this board in '25. If you are playing this year and you compare it to any other year it's clearly gearing towards more microtransactions.
So I'm curious if they've come out and tried to defend this or is it just swept under the rug, hoping we'll forget?
The flip side is how did they defend the lighter monetization of 2023 and prior to the Sony shareholders? They dont give a rats [censored] if the players are happy, and its a widely known fact that player happiness is largely irrelevant to profit in gacha or ultimate team modes.
I don't disagree but I find it disgusting. I guess that's the state of capitalism today.
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Easy: DD is free to play without the need to register a credit card, and completely optional. They have franchise and RTTS that are 100% offline and free to play.
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@dbub_PSN said in Have SDS/Sony Tried To Publicly Defend Their Obvious and Systematic Increase In Monetization?:
I don't disagree but I find it disgusting. I guess that's the state of capitalism today.
The gaming industry in general is in a bad place. Live service is one thing, but monetization is rampant in single player games even.
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@dbub_PSN they dont address anything except ways to take stub making abilities away from players. Remember the line "working as intended". A BS line Ramone used in a stream, only for them to fix the issue a few weeks later. Don't forget they like to pride themselves as completely transparent.
However, the game play issues that many have said are an issue they havent addressed or even spoke on. I can't remember anyone complaining about bunt cheesing on goat being an issue. I've seen it, which means 1 of 2 things. 1) A SDS employee was playing a goat game, and his opponent bunt cheesed him to death, so this became an issue. 2) SDS realizes that more and more people are moving on to other games and they are losing money as people aren't buying stubs. So, they have to eliminate people from making stubs and get them back to buying stubs.
I dont think earning stubs is an issue, but I play a lot more than others. I also don't have an issue with a company trying to make money. That's what running a business is for, just be honest. Stop insulting the player base and be transparent, not just claim to be.
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They have been moving towards monetization for years now. In the more recent years I remember them putting the Holliday's in a pack instead of the Father/Son program. Then they just started adding more packs. Then they started adding packs to Topps Now/POTM programs. Now the Spotlight programs have become 3 cards in the Program and 5 in the pack (with the added bonus that you can complete the programs without actually playing a game or taking or throwing a pitch).
So you're a few years late if you are just this year starting to complain. Maybe they finally crossed some line for you this year but is is nothing that is new.
They have no need to justify it as long as it is working for them.
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@yankblan_PSN said in Have SDS/Sony Tried To Publicly Defend Their Obvious and Systematic Increase In Monetization?:
Easy: DD is free to play without the need to register a credit card, and completely optional. They have franchise and RTTS that are 100% offline and free to play.
This.
Imo the model has not changed that much. It basically sums up to:
- It is free to play. You do not have to buy anything to field a good squad. The rest is individual thing of how good your thumbs are or adapt
- You could always buy your way to more cards … that did not make you all that better (believe me, I had all the cards
) - You do only have to buy cards with real money if youdo not have the time to play the game some time or (and this is important) wait a few weeks/months
- If you fail on any of the carrots hanging right in front of you and you therefore feel urged to put money in, then that is your own decision or problem (which may be okay for some)
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@YOSHI24_XBL said in Have SDS/Sony Tried To Publicly Defend Their Obvious and Systematic Increase In Monetization?:
@yankblan_PSN said in Have SDS/Sony Tried To Publicly Defend Their Obvious and Systematic Increase In Monetization?:
Easy: DD is free to play without the need to register a credit card, and completely optional. They have franchise and RTTS that are 100% offline and free to play.
This.
Imo the model has not changed that much. It basically sums up to:
- It is free to play. You do not have to buy anything to field a good squad. The rest is individual thing of how good your thumbs are or adapt
- You could always buy your way to more cards … that did not make you all that better (believe me, I had all the cards )
- You do only have to buy cards with real money if youdo not have the time to play the game some time or (and this is important) wait a few weeks/months
- If you fail on any of the carrots hanging right in front of you and you therefore feel urged to put money in, then that is your own decision or problem (which may be okay for some)
2023 released 13 packs for the full year, and some of them were mostly fluff like Alter Ego. Packs were not needed to complete collections outside of the ones they gave to you in programs. 2023 also had 10 total chase packs.
2025 has 13 packs already, all of which factor heavily in collections. We are up to 12 chase packs. On top of this, outside of one niche method stub generation is night and day decimated vs 2023
Some of what you said is true, except the big one: simply playing the game a lot is worth a LOT less now unless you play in a very specific way.
And on top of that, the collections started out with Roki and Santander needing maybe one rare round cards to now needing all rare round cards plus a chase card for the latest. So even within the year we are devolving.
That said, I'll give that one a bit of a pass because content has been much better in inning 3. Content was great in 2023, absolutely awful in 2024, but it looks like we are back on track now.
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Wait a second...are you telling me that businesses try to make money!?!?!? This is the first I have heard of this!
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I’ve long guessed they were either SDS/Sony employees or friends of people who worked for the company.
Otherwise the only reason to defend this consumer unfriendly shift is that they associate such a large part of their lives to this game that any slight on the game is taken as a personal attack on their character that they simply can’t stand for.
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2024 was WAY worse. There's still a huge micro-transaction aspect of a lot of the DD content they've released this year, but they're giving way more opportunity to earn the packs in the game than they ever did last year.
I've spent $0 and I'm essentially just missing the Chase pack cards at this point. If you want to put in the time, you should be able to get essentially everything. Which is how it should be!
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If you care enough about cards it is very simple to attain all but those gold 1000s card. Why do these whiners cry about having to buy stubs? Either grow a brain and figure out how to get what you want or just except what cards you have.
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My biggest issue is them decreasing quick sale values on the non-live series players and this year, the unlockables. MLB the Show is still far better than other franchises. Go try NBA 2K25. That one is the worst.
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@TripleH-4481_PSN actually it’s the other way around: I do NOT need everything immediately (or ever) to enjoy the game and the chase. Being a completionist in this game os setting yourself up for eternal disappointment.
