Who are the stakeholders?

These are the individuals who purchase, and play the games on a regular basis. They range from casual gamers who play occasionally to enthusiasts who invest significant time and money into gaming sometimes referred to as a whale. Their relationship to this topic is very direct, as they are the ones targeted by monetization strategies and providing much of the funding for the game.

Players can be harmed by aggressive monetization practices such as loot boxes, pay-to-win mechanics, and battle passes especially due to addictions. These systems are designed to encourage continuous spending, which can lead to financial strain or addiction. Players may find themselves locked behind paywalls for content that feels essential to the full experience of the game

When considering actions we need to consider that players have an interest in fair, transparent pricing where they know what they are paying for upfront. They deserve access to a complete, enjoyable gaming experience without being pressured into additional purchases. Their financial well-being and mental health should be protected from exploitative spending mechanics. But they also recognize that games do need to be monetized to some extent.

These are the people who develop and create the games often in small, teams in a game studio. They work with game publishers to publish games that they hope will be fun and that they are proud of working on. Their relationship to monetization is complex because they are often the ones tasked with implementing monetization systems, but they do not always have full control over those decisions or agree with how it is being implemented. They have a responsibility to make sure that games do not have predatory monetization strategies.

Developers face ethical decisions on how to implement monetization strategies. Pressure from higher ups at the game studio or game publishers may make developers implement monetization strategies they disagree with. But also monetization is important because it creates a source of income and creates job security for developers.

Developers have an interest in making an enjoyable game that many want to play, while also implementing ways that this game will generate money in a way that won't ruin players' experiences. They also want to maintain a positive reputation in the gaming community. It is also worth considering that many developers have spoken out publicly about the pressure they face from publishers to include monetization features.

The publishers are the people who market, finance, and distribute the video games. Publishers like Devolver often work with small studios like Dodge Roll to release their games. The publishers get a cut of the profits from the game sales. It seems fairly normal for publishers to take 30% of revenue from sales, or sometimes they'll increase the rate for a certain amount of time, like 70% until the advertising cost is covered. Publishers are more focused on making money and helping a game make money.

As stated publishers are mostly concerned with making money. This means that a lot of the pricing decisions often come from publishers. Let's take a look at Devolver again. Almost all of their games are a single upfront price between $10-$25. They chose this price based on game depth, franchise, platform, and several other factors. Other publishers like Activision instead price their games much higher and have in game battle-passes or skins which cost money.

As said earlier, publishers mostly want to make money. This means most of them are interested in just that. Some publishers also take into consideration their public image, and types of games. Once again, Devolver mostly publishes $10-$25 indie games. Most games are polished and high quality, while being kept at a low price for games. They still make a lot of money because of their good public image despite not pursuing more profitable forms of monetization.

Publishers hold the most responsibility for issues caused by poor monetization, as they are the ones who decide how games are monetized. This holds for developers who publish their own games.

Playing video games is most popular with younger generations. This means that parents are often the ones who have to fund their children's video game hobbies. Depending on the games, some people can spend a lot of money on video games, which can be a stress on the financial situation of families.

Parents are affected by video game monetization in several significant ways. Financially, modern monetization strategies such as loot boxes, battle passes, and microtransactions for in-game items can lead to children spending far more money than a parent initially anticipated. A game that appears cheap or free upfront may end up costing a family hundreds of dollars over time. Looking beyond finances, parents may also face social pressure, as children often feel compelled to spend money to keep up with peers who have purchased in-game items or upgrades. Parents may also be concerned about the psychological tactics used by game developers to encourage spending, such as limited-time offers and artificial scarcity, which can be especially manipulative toward younger, more impressionable players.

When making a decision on a course of action, the following interests of parents should be taken into account. Games should have the ability to set clear spending limits and have robust parental controls, transparency from game developers about what monetization features exist within a game before purchase, protection of their children from predatory or manipulative spending mechanics, and access to clear information about age-appropriateness of monetization systems so they can make informed decisions.

Parents have the responsibility to check what their children are playing and spending money on. They have the power to give or withhold their own money for their children to use on games. Even though they're not normally the users of the games, they still hold a fair amount of control and responsibility in this scenario.

Video games are most popular with younger generations. Some games cost more money than others, and some free games with loot box mechanics like CsGo or many others can entice people to spend a lot of money. Children are especially susceptible to these addictive loot box mechanics, and don't have the developed self control to stop themselves from buying a lot of skins or other games. Children also fall victim to social pressure more easily, and games like roblox combine addictive mechanics with social pressure to increase spending among children. They are a venerable stakeholder, and when making a decision we should make sure they are protected.

Children are affected by this because they are especially susceptible to the psychological mechanics built into modern game monetization. Loot boxes, for example, replicate the structure of gambling by offering randomized rewards in exchange for real money, creating excitement and anticipation that can be highly addictive. Because children have less developed impulse control and decision-making skills than adults, they are less equipped to recognize or resist these tactics. This can lead to significant unintended spending, often without full parental awareness.

First and foremost we should prioritize the safety of these kids and the games they play. Of course there will always be games that are not appropriate for children, so it's important to try and funnel children to play appropriate and safe games. Part of what should make these games safe for children is a control over monetization. No addictive gambling like loot box mechanics, or other monetized mechanics that might make it unhealthy for children to play those games.

Game distribution companies give a platform for players to find wide varieties of games easily. There are not many distribution companies, the only notable ones are Nintendo, Xbox, PlayStation, Epic Games, and Steam. Many of these are only for their own console, like the Nintendo store for the Nintendo switch. The biggest platform is Steam, which takes a 30% cut from each sale and each in-game purchase made through the steam wallet. This means they make money from games with an upfront price and free games with in-app purchases.

These companies's goals are to make money. Different and improved ways of making games profitable is also an improvement for the distribution companies. Although, most distribution companies don't have many guidelines for the games on their platforms, and don't involve themselves in the development of games. This means that the only real way for these companies to increase their revenue is to attract more people to their service, or implement other methods of making money for their service. Steam does this by making their platform extremely user friendly, and having a very positive public image, and not having intrusive advertisements on their platform. In addition they also have several games on their distribution platform that make them money and they've started to create other consoles like the Steam Deck.

Game distribution platforms hold a lot of responsibility over what they do and don't allow on their platforms. They have the ability to allow what some developers do, and the responsibility over what they allow.