Former Blizzard President Advocates for Developer Appreciation in the Video Game Industry Despite $70 Price Tag

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Tips for developers soon?

We've all experienced that moment where at the end of a game, as the credits begin to roll, the only thought that crosses our minds is the desire to applaud the developers for the work that we have just discovered. . It must be said that some games are made with such passion that it is felt every minute spent in the universe created by the developers, and that this rarely leaves the player unscathed. To reward these kinds of moments, most players will simply talk about it around them, or even leave a particularly laudatory review on Steam or another such platform. The former president of Blizzard would prefer to be able to slip a small tip to the developers. In any case, this is what he announced in a tweet a few days ago:

I've been thinking about this for a while, as a gamer, ever since I've gotten into single-player games lately.

When I finish a game, there are some that leave me speechless because the experience was so impressive. At the end of the game, I often said to myself “I wish I could give these people 10 or 20 dollars more because it was worth more than the original 70 and they didn't try to take money from me. money every second.”

I'm thinking of games like Horizon Zero Dawn, God of War, Red Dead Redemption 2, Baldur's Gate III, Elden Ring, etc. I know that 70 dollars is already a lot, but it's an option that I sometimes wish I had at the end of the game. Some games are special.

I know most people won't like this idea Besides, I know we're all tired of tipping everywhere else, but I see it differently than the pressure of tipping that many face.

Regarding this last sentence, Mike Ybarra is of course referring to the American system where most service professions like restaurants, hairdressers, gas stations or taxis generally ask for a tip, and where tipping is so common that employees are paid less and depend on the generosity of their customers. A well-established system that is today difficult to counter, and which already provides the first elements to imagine what the future of the video game industry could look like if players could start giving tips to developers…

Internet users have other ideas

While players are already complaining about the increasingly high prices of games, not to mention the proliferation of microtransactions and other additional elements cut from the release of a game to increase profits, the proposal, although full of good will, from the former president of Blizzard makes people cringe. Players already have difficulty purchasing games or their additional content, it is difficult to ask them to make additional efforts to pay developers, even as an option. Especially since this practice would raise the question of being able to ensure that the additional money goes directly into the pockets of the developers and not the publishers or their shareholders, which is far from being obvious. However, Mike Ybarra isn't really wrong when he says that some games deserve to see developers rewarded even more. On this subject, some Internet users came up with some ideas in response to this tweet:

I gave Baldur's Gate III as a gift to my best friend! So I bought the game twice. Maybe buying the game for someone else more than once or upgrading to the collector's version is a good way to reward the developers.

Or wait… We could better share the profits with developers rather than asking more from consumers.

Have you done anything similar while going to the movies? Or at the theater? Did you go backstage and give the actors a few dollars? This is a bad idea on so many levels, especially coming from someone with such a history in the industry.

I'm curious, did you think the same way when you were the head of Blizzard? Have you ever thought “Hey, these people did a great job so I’m adding 1% more to their bonus”? When white-collar executives, most of whom live on another planet and have ridiculously high salaries, achieve their goals by “letting go of a few employees” without any consequences, why should consumers tip?

Why wouldn't industry figures like you work on managing your budget rather than asking someone else to correct your mistakes, especially under the guise of “tipping”?

(Sincerely, no hard feelings)

You will have understood that if the idea perhaps started from a good feeling, it was not really warmly received by Internet users. It must be said that saying such a thing in 2024 when video game sales are breaking records and developers are being laid off en masse was rather risky, and perhaps demonstrates once again that the highest paid people are not not always those with the best market knowledge.