[encrux]

It does work though.

"Escape from Tarkov" and "It takes two" are just some of the more noteworthy ones. There's tons more on steam.

It's just the mobile market that's screwed entirely. Which I find odd, because I'm convinced there are opportunities for games that work especially well on small screens with touchscreen (like Nintendo demonstrated half a decade before mainstream smartphones)

[Al-Khwarizmi]

Precisely, Nintendo tried a sane sales model with Super Mario Run back in 2016. You would have access to some levels, then pay and unlock the rest. No more in-app purchases, IIRC.

The reaction was a lot of angry comments about the game being locked and that it should be free-to-play, etc.

Their next games (like Mario Kart Tour) went back to the exploitative loot box model.

[cehrlich]

Mario Run was also just not a very good game (this is obviously an opinion, but still…). I wonder how it would go if Nintendo tried releasing an actual good game for $10 or some other amount, not an infinite runner with a Mario skin.

[skohan]

Yes it does work. Elden Ring is another example of a hugely successful product which is solely focused on being an excellent piece of entertainment.

It’s just more optimal for Profitability to create addictive garbage like this. Blizzard has chosen to be greedy and predatory rather than trying to create art of entertainment.

[ChildOfChaos]

Whats Elden Ring got to do with it?

You are comparing a full AAA game for PC and console made for hardcore gamers versus a mobile game with loot boxes designed to attract and exploit kids or people that addicted to this kinda crap and disguise it like a game, pretty much like slot machine do.