Unlockables, they were once a thing that was in almost every game. Even early 7th gen we had unlockables but what happened?
Pre-order bonuses is what happened. What you once could get for free by unlocking it you now had to buy the game early to get the unlockable. Pre-order bonuses did not just take over right away. They slowly took over and has now become a way to rip off gamers.
Pre-order bonuses are so big that you have to pre-order at specific stores to get what you want. It is a way to get people to buy that specific game at that store. The store could be gamestop, best buy, amazon(online store), etc...
Notice how Call of Duty does NOT have pre-order bonuses. They instead have 3 different game editions with special stuff.
Example: In black ops the standard edition got nothing but the game but the hardened edition for black ops had a limited edition medal, an exclusive avatar outfit for your 360 avatar or PS Home character, as well as four extra cooperative maps.
All of those things could have been pre-order bonuses or included with the game but was left out or taken out for some cash.
Achievements are also partly to blame. If you completed story mode on hard, found all hidden objects, etc... you would get a unlockable. It could have been a costume, infinite health, paintballs instead of bullets, etc... Instead you now get numbers! Numbers sound sooo exiting compared to free in game items, right? No, they do not sound very exiting at all.
Now disc space might be to blame but not nearly as much as the other two. How you might ask? Well if they cannot fit content on one xbox 360 disc then what do they do? They use it for DLC or pre-order bonuses! Costumes, gun camo, special weapons, etc... all might get taken out because of disc space.
Devs and/or publishers are probably thinking."If we can take out content out of the game, make it a pre-order bonus and instead reward players with points then why not do it".
Games are getting ripped out of features that were once free and a reward for playing the game. Now unlockables are just a way to make easy $$$
Microsoft announced its financial results for Q3 of fiscal year 2026, including an update on its gaming Xbox business and more.
Not looking good. Hopefully Asha Sharma is able to turn Phil’s disaster around.
To me it's still quite remarkable how they can cash-in 5.3bn in revenue in a single quarter, since their hardware is basically dead.
The stock mark is what makes Microsoft remarkable, They have convinced every institutional and retail investor to just keep piling money into them. Like many big tech giants they are just a big growing pyramid scheme. As long as people keep dropping money into ETF's that cover the market Microsoft will always be liquid. At the same time it is completely stifling innovation and competition. People need to start being more discreet in how they invest their money as it's killing the system.
Riiiiight because people will just flock back to them for one or two games per year.
15+ years of bad performance is what they call irreparable in business. It is time for them to sell off the assets and get out of entertainment.
These declines are on the back of extra revenue received from releasing games like Forza horizon 5 on PlayStation. So I’m being sarcastic here when I said they should go back to exclusives. Killing off a revenue stream from Ps5 sales will only make things worse
The charity event will be streamed live from Gamescom in August.
Thanks to the slip-up of an artist working on the title, we now have more evidence that a new Injustice game is in the works.
Good old unlockable content, how I miss thee. Now in have to pay for you... :/
I don't see how pre-order incentives are a rip-off. It doesn't cost anything extra to get, you just have to choose who to buy it from. Also, I don't have a problem with DLC they didn't have room to include. It means they tried to give us as much as they could.
I miss the days when playing the games on harder levels unloocked new characters, costumes and game modes
it's quite simple, times have changed. Gaming has changed that is for sure.
there are a lot more fatcats involved in the industry who know nothing and care for nothing other then $$$ they can make. Sadly it's these guys who hold the strings limiting what the devs can do.
sadly thats the way it goes. no more hardcore boss fights, the noobs can't handle them and they don't have the time or patience to play a game and get GOOD at it. they just want a big flashing message on screen that says "press A....Y....X...RT" and watch a cutscene. boss dead, move onto next level with big flashing arrow pointing you where to go. Bright flashing Enemies so you know you are meant to shoot at them. Big bold "!" over their heads when they shoot at you..and all the rest of that crap.
Ok, maybe I am going a little OTT, but it's not far off. More and more games are becoming more and more casual. The casual guys don't care so much about DLC, and they don't even remember a time when games had unlocks because they never played those sort of hardcore games back in the day and when they did they couldn't get passed the first stage.
Anyway, I am getting old, cranky and really starting to dislike what gaming has become. time to find a new hobby I guess.
Naughty Dog still have a great sense of the good old unlockable content, all the skins that can be unlocked in single player (Doughnut drake anyone?) are great fun. also the various filters that can be added makes me remember turok on the N64.
You can play the game fast motion and slow motion, buy any gun from the bonus menu with in game currency, provided you have completed the game on that current difficulty.
My personal favorite is the flip world option.
Makes the game fresh to re play, it seems like a whole new world.
Naughty dog are the only dev's these days IMO that echo the fun things we used to be able to do to games.