Visual Concepts, 2K, and Take Two have done little in this latest release to demonstrate that they understand the importance of player retention. Their approach is, if anything, downright contemptuous of players and hostile towards newer players. It is, if anything, anti-retention. Their latest title, NBA2k18, is a naked and brazen grab for short-term financial gain without consideration of the potential long-term downsides.
These games once featured in-depth tutorials and practice modes that encouraged players to engage and invest time in the game to improve. These games once made it far easier for players to create new builds and try different things to freshen things up and promote long-term engagement. These and other considerations are clearly not the priority for the studios and publishers going forward, and this can only hurt them in the long run.
Take something as simple as trying to practice your jump shot. On your MyCourt this isn’t anywhere near as easy as it should be. You must chase around your balls on the court, slowing the process down, and generally making something as simple and vital as practicing a shot an arduous process. I was shocked to learn that at 92 OVR (or something like that) I will finally get access to a ball machine on my court that makes it easy to practice something as fundamental as a jump shot. This kind of stuff is bafflingly self-destructive.
Or consider the tutorial modes that previous iterations of this title shipped with, where you could practice a specific move and the game would provide feedback on whether you’d pulled it off. These are all just simple little things that helped retain players by allowing them to improve, and engage with the games incredible depth. The removal of such features is a real headscratcher, because it only makes it harder for players to engage long-term with the title.
Instead of creating a better experience for new players, the game creators seem to be pushing hard in the exact opposite direction, by focusing on the game’s elite: cosying up to YouTubers who play at an elite level (as opposed to YouTubers who create game tutorials). Another example of this is their promotion and allocation of significant resources towards things like the new E-League, as opposed to putting those same resources and energy into refining the gameplay, and broadening its appeal by making it more friendly and accessible to new players.
Consider how hard it is now to start a new character over from scratch. Nothing carries over – not even cosmetic items. The entire process is intentionally discouraging and intended to psychologically manipulate players into shelling out real money to progress a second character, and a third, and so on. The thing is, most players are simply going to be discouraged by this and stick it out with their main character until things become so stale they simply move on to other games. This kind of mechanic, and the mentalities it encourages in the player…they would be considered kryptonite to an MMO studio that relies heavily on player retention. The game creators are inviting disaster by cultivating this kind of thing. It may not hurt them now, in the short term, while people persist despite the designs, but there is a limit to gamer’s patience, and their loyalty to a brand can be shaken over a long enough timeline.
As I said, there’s many more examples of design decisions I could incorporate into this argument, but I wanted to keep this short. I’ll give one more example to close though: the lack of matchmaking in online gameplay modes. This is yet another glaring oversight from a studio that wants to both push the online element harder, and also make an entry into the e-sports domain. There will be large numbers of players who want to participate in the online experience, but who are immediately discouraged from it after facing opponents well above their skill level. There is a reason why the most successful online competitive games have these kinds of mechanisms – because constant loss, because a lack of access to ways to improve…all that hurts player retention.
Like so many failed, shuttered studios I watched fall from great heights, I don’t think they realize just how precarious their position is right now. Their behaviour mirrors CCP’s own hubris and insularity at the time they fucked up to a scary degree.
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