The Problem of Voting With Your Wallets – Cold Take

The idea crept into my head while reading a thread by Rami Ismail, one of the developers of games such as Ridiculous Fishing, Luftrausers, and Nuclear Thrones. He speaks up about problems in the game industry, exploitative labor, troubles for indie development, and such things. But a common rebuttal he gets is that “the wallets will vote us out of this sticky mess we’re in.” He believes that’s a non-answer and not an option. It’s easy for game critics, journalists, developers, and gaming enthusiasts to get wrapped up too deep in the potential of the industry and preach to the consumers to only spend money on the things that they really want. That will solve all of our problems. But it’s more likely that the average consumer doesn’t see a problem. Odds are, they actually like the state of the industry as is.

Nowadays, I have to take extra initiative to remember my roots closer to the norm, otherwise I’ll start to think the average gamer actually does care about poor grammar and comma splices in a video game. “Poor grammar and comma splices in a video game, what? Ya see, what I mean? You didn’t even know that was a thing that came up, because my internet feed is not a universal experience. Looking back on the days when I wasn’t so severely invested, I can say I was unbothered by even the most surface level complaints like prices. I didn’t complain, I just walked away. I didn’t struggle with the fear of missing out or coping with living under the growing shadow of the titan that is my backlog. At the end of the day it was a voluntary hobby. If every video game from this day forward sucked, I would not be pressed because I can watch films, I can listen to music, I can read books, I can take part in one of the many hundreds of activities beyond the border of my front door. I voted with my wallet. It was a vote of self-interest and apathy.

When I did become more interested in video games, I played maybe three different games at most per year. I only ever pre-ordered the newest Call of Duty until I got one that I figured I could’ve waited for instead. The other games I played were the iconic ones like Bioshock and Assassin’s Creed, which I bought at a pawn shop for maybe five bucks combined. Xbox’s Free Games With Gold were my first taste of indie games. Frankly, it also gave me a taste of something that wasn’t a shooter, showing me there was plenty to love outside my comfort zone. Even though my palate was expanding alongside my interest, my wallet vote was still for self-interest and apathy. I rarely bought any games when they were new because the prices would get slashed in a few years, and because I was “late to the show,” as some would say, I always had a backlog of games to play, so why rush to spend my money? The only game I did play religiously I had confidence I would enjoy or at least have the company of friends to bolster the experience. The smaller indie gems were given to me for free.

That was over 10 years ago. Imagine that same mindset but within the context of gaming in the year 2023. Some of the biggest games with their finger on the pulse of the cultural zeitgeist are free-to-play like CS:GO, League of Legends, Fortnite, and Roblox. If a game is terrible on release day it will probably be in a more suitable state by the time you get around to it in a few years when a reasonable sale hits. Little Timmies are getting No Man’s Sky for Christmas and they’ll think Sean Murray delivered exactly as intended in 2016. Indie games are featured constantly on bang-for-buck subscription services like Game Pass or given away weekly in the style of the Epic Games marketplace. If you do think part of the appeal for gaming is being given the opportunity to spend money in your own virtual casino, then the gacha industry has you covered. We say microtransactions are a problem, but games like Genshin Impact have raked in over $4billion by now with their waifu fruit machines. At some point I thought we all came together to agree that Crocs are hideous, and yet they’re a growing industry bringing in about a billion dollars a year with their conventionally unattractive yet sensible footwear. The wallets have voted. Crocs are okay and so are microtransactions, incomplete games, and live services.

There’s a part of me that thinks the votes are more apathetic than active. People were willing to reaffirm their faith in the same studios, franchises, and practices out of trust that they would keep the consumer in mind. I can’t blame anyone for wanting to sit back and let the industry continue to work the way it was from the 2000s and into the early 2010s, but I think at some point their reputation was making up for a lack of quality. Enough time has passed with lacking quality that the reputation doesn’t hold up as well as it used to. It’s a trend that’s easier to see if gaming is looked at as a whole, but who involves themselves that much with games? Critics, journalists, and enthusiasts, but what percentage of the whole do these people make? If you’re watching this video right now I imagine you’d be considered an outlying statistic a few steps away from the average demographic the industry continues to target. If you only care for Elder Scrolls games, are you all that bothered while you wait patiently for Skyrim 2? If you only play games branded with the Nintendo logo, do you see any problems with the current state of gaming? If you only buy games on sale, or play free-to-play games, or enjoy spending money on cutesy in-game cosmetics, is there a problem to begin with? The wallets have voted.

Cynicism is an inclination to believe that people are motivated purely by self-interest. Nowadays people take it to mean a cynical person doubts everything and they’re always cranky. No, I believe in a lot of things, puts a little pep in my step. I believe people are going to continue to vote with their wallets in their own self-interest. I believe a majority of people measure video game quality by the graphical fidelity and level of hype it brings. I believe people are okay with spending money on top of the money they’re always spending. Otherwise why else would these things be so present? The studios are only supplying the demand. But I also believe the studios are trying to keep their own best interests in mind. They’ll continue to cut corners and nickel and dime their audience while they shoot for the center to catch as much attention from the average consumer, and eventually something’s going to give because neither the consumer nor the service provider is interested in being in a mutual relationship with the other. Both want the upper hand and will not be satisfied with shaking hands. Game subscription service prices are rising, video games are getting more expensive, and studios are closing down. Maybe the wallets might start to reconsider their votes.