Greed is destroying this game : Enlisted

Summary

The video script critiques 'Enlisted,' a free-to-play game marred by excessive microtransactions and poor management decisions. Despite its innovative gameplay and potential, the game's monetization model is overly greedy, charging for features like cosmetics and paratroopers, and requiring extensive grinding or payments to unlock basic content. The script highlights how these practices deter players and contrasts 'Enlisted' with more successful games, urging the developers to respect player time and money.

Takeaways

• ?Í🏼 The game 'Enlisted' was initially a bundle of six games with poor management, leading to a lack of players.
• 📱 To attract more players, the developers decided to release 'Enlisted' on Steam, but made the critical error of charging for a free-to-play game.
• 💵 The game was riddled with aggressive microtransactions, including costly cosmetics that varied by soldier and map.
• 💲 Players had to pay extra for features like paratroopers and even to change the color of their tanks, which was seen as exploitative.
• 💳 The game's economy was heavily skewed, with players needing to grind for hundreds of hours to unlock basic features, which was off-putting.
• 💷 Despite the monetization issues, 'Enlisted' had innovative gameplay mechanics and showed potential to be a great game.
• 📵 The developers showed improvement in planning and updates, but the damage from the initial monetization strategy was already done.
• 📶 The community provided feedback, urging the developers to tone down the monetization and not charge for the Steam version, but this was largely ignored.
• 💶 The game's failure to attract and retain players was attributed to its greedy monetization practices, which overshadowed its positive aspects.
• 💴 The script suggests that for 'Enlisted' to succeed, it needs a complete overhaul of its monetization model and a respect for player time and money.
• 📷 The contrast between 'Enlisted' and other successful games like 'Apex Legends' and 'CS:GO' highlights the importance of reasonable monetization in retaining players.

Q & A

What was the main issue with the game's management according to the script?

The main issue was that the game was poorly managed, with six games bundled into one without enough players, leading to a decision to combine them, which took almost a year and still wasn't perfect.

Why did the developers decide to release the game on Steam?

The developers decided to release the game on Steam to attract more players and hoped to increase the player base.

What was the major mistake made during the Steam release?

The major mistake was charging money for a free-to-play game on Steam, which was seen as greed and deterred potential players.

What is the criticism regarding the game's cosmetic system?

The game charges excessively for cosmetics, even for different soldiers in the same squad, and for the same uniform on different maps.

How does the script describe the game's monetization strategy?

The script describes the game's monetization strategy as 'filthy greedy' and compares it to the American Health Care System, indicating it is overly aggressive and exploitative.

What is the issue with the game's paratrooper feature?

The issue is that paratroopers can only be unlocked through events or by paying money, and if a player misses the event, they are left with no choice but to pay.

What is the criticism about the game's vehicle and weapon customization?

The criticism is that the game charges for customization options like tanks and planes, and even for changing the color of the tank, which is seen as excessive monetization.

What was the community's reaction to the Steam launch?

The community had been warning against the disastrous idea of charging for the Steam version for weeks, but the developers did not listen, leading to a failed launch with low attendance.

What is the script's stance on the game's potential and current state?

The script acknowledges that the game has great potential and is innovative, but the current state is marred by excessive greed and poor management.

What does the script suggest as a solution for the game's issues?

The script suggests that the game needs to completely overhaul its monetization system, respect player time and money, and that the developers need to listen to community feedback.

What is the script's final message to the developers?

The final message is that the developers should learn from their mistakes, stop excessive monetization, and focus on creating good, fun player experiences.

Outlines

00:00

🚀 Launch Failure: Greed and Mismanagement

The paragraph discusses a game that was poorly managed, combining six games into one without enough players. The developers decided to release it on Steam to attract more players but made the critical error of charging money for a free-to-play game. This decision was met with backlash, and the game was criticized for its aggressive monetization strategies, including charging for cosmetics that were essential for more than one soldier or map. The paragraph also highlights the additional costs for features like paratroopers and the inability to transfer existing accounts to Steam without paying.

05:01

💸 Monetization Disaster: Overpriced and Unfair

This paragraph delves deeper into the game's monetization issues, pointing out the excessive costs for in-game items and the unrealistic expectations for player grind. It compares the game's monetization model to other successful games, highlighting how the game's model is far more exploitative. The paragraph also addresses the game's attempt to charge for transferring to Steam, the lack of respect for player time and money, and the eventual failure of the Steam launch due to these practices.

10:02

🎮 Potential Unfulfilled: A Good Game Ruined

The final paragraph acknowledges the game's potential and quality, praising its innovative gameplay and dynamic interactions. Despite these strengths, the paragraph emphasizes that the game's management and monetization practices have overshadowed its merits, driving away potential players. It concludes with a call for change, suggesting that the game could have been a major success if not for the greed and mismanagement that has led to its current state.

Keywords

💡Management

Management in the context of the video refers to the way a company or team oversees and directs its operations. The video criticizes the management of the game 'Enlisted' for being inefficient and leading to a poor player experience. It is a central theme as the video discusses how bad management can ruin a potentially good game.

💡Microtransactions

Microtransactions are small, optional in-game purchases that players can make to enhance their gaming experience. The video uses 'Enlisted' as an example of a game that overuses microtransactions, charging for features that should be free or reasonably priced, which negatively impacts the player's perception of the game.

💡Free-to-play

Free-to-play refers to a business model where the game itself is free to download and play, but often includes in-game purchases. The video criticizes 'Enlisted' for charging money on Steam for a game that is supposed to be free-to-play, which is seen as a misstep in the game's monetization strategy.

💡Monetization

Monetization in the video refers to the strategies used by game developers to generate revenue from a game. The video argues that 'Enlisted' has an overly aggressive monetization model, which includes charging for cosmetics, paratroopers, and other features that should ideally be part of the core gameplay experience.

💡Greed

Greed in this context is the excessive desire to acquire more money or goods. The video uses the term to criticize the game developers for prioritizing profits over player satisfaction, leading to a game that feels more like a money-grab than a well-designed gaming experience.

💡Cosmetics

Cosmetics in gaming refer to visual enhancements or customizations that do not affect gameplay but can be purchased for aesthetic purposes. The video points out that 'Enlisted' charges excessively for cosmetic items, such as uniforms, which are only valid for certain maps, indicating a high degree of monetization.

💡Player Experience

Player experience encompasses all aspects of how a player interacts with and feels about a game. The video argues that 'Enlisted' negatively impacts player experience through its poor management and aggressive monetization practices, which can lead to frustration and dissatisfaction.

💡Steam

Steam is a popular digital distribution platform for video games. The video discusses the failed Steam launch of 'Enlisted', where the game was released as a paid version despite being free-to-play, which was a significant misstep that contributed to the game's poor reception.

💡Game Balance

Game balance refers to the fairness and competitiveness within a game. The video mentions that 'Enlisted' has balance issues, such as certain tanks being overpowered, which can lead to an unenjoyable experience for players if not addressed.

💡Community Feedback

Community feedback is input from the game's player base regarding their experiences and suggestions for improvement. The video emphasizes that the developers of 'Enlisted' did not effectively listen to or act on community feedback, which is a critical factor in the game's failure to meet player expectations.

💡Innovation

Innovation in the context of the video refers to the introduction of new and unique elements in a game. Despite the criticisms, the video acknowledges that 'Enlisted' is innovative, with features like paratroopers and unique weapons, which could have been a major draw if not overshadowed by monetization issues.

Highlights

The game was a case study of poor management, bundling six games into one without enough players.

The developers combined the games into one to save the project, taking almost a year to do so.

The decision to release the game on Steam was made to attract more players.

A major mistake was charging money for the Steam version of a free-to-play game.

The game implemented aggressive microtransactions, including charging for cosmetics.

Cosmetics were not just charged for once, but for each soldier and map variation.

Paratroopers could only be unlocked through an event or by paying money.

The game offered a unique feature of customizable tanks and planes, but at a high cost.

The monetization system was so greedy that it drove players away.

Despite the monetization issues, the game had potential with innovative gameplay mechanics.

The game's AI and sound effects were criticized for being unpolished.

Balance issues were noted, such as the unfair matchup between certain tanks.

The developers ignored community feedback about the disastrous monetization strategy.

The game was removed from Steam less than a day after its launch due to poor reception.

The game's economy was heavily criticized for being unbalanced and requiring excessive grinding.

Despite the issues, the game was praised for its dynamic and evolving gameplay.

The developers showed improvement in planning and updates, but the damage was already done.

The game's potential was overshadowed by its greed-driven monetization strategy.

The game could have been a success if not for the poor management decisions.

Transcripts

once upon a time there was a

game a case study of some of the worst

Management in history grindy buggy messy

it was essentially six games bundled

into one without enough players to fill

any of them the great Masters decided

that the only move was to combine them

it took almost a year but they did

it it wasn't perfect but it was a

massive Improvement but how do we bring

in more players steam steam was the

answer release your game on Steam and

inject more players and so they did and

they screwed that

up how could they screw that up you ask

how badly would you have to screw up

something as simple as putting your game

on Steam what kind of colossal disaster

of decision making could cause this what

rejection of Reason what utterly morang

collapse of cognition could lead them to

[ __ ] up something as simple as releasing

a free-to-play game on Steam they

charged money for the steam version

wow hello and welcome and if you're a

subscriber welcome

back that's just the tip of the iceberg

an appetizer of greed that would give

steam users a nice little sampling of

what sits behind that pay Wall come come

along with me and I'll show

you Cosmetics well of course a freeto

playay game is going to charge for

Cosmetics but this game charges for them

harder than the American Health Care

System swap the look at your soldier

that's about six bucks please not bad

you say nuh uh uh that only covers one

soldier and there's usually five to

seven soldiers in a

squad oh and by the way you're going to

have at least three infantry squads

possibly more but three is the minimum

so that's like 20 soldiers six bucks

each please

huh you're on the new map but you're

wearing the default uniform again whoops

those $6 uniforms are only good for one

set of maps if you want to change your

look on those other Maps that'll be

another six bucks per Soldier per Battle

Zone money up front this is like if

whenever I bought a knife in csgo it

only showed up when I was playing on the

map Mirage or nuke and if I wanted the

same skin to appear on the map's

overpass or vertical then I have to

[ __ ] buy it

again

last you're the Ida to feature you you

can jump out of the plane as a

paratrooper you could unlock them

through an event oh you missed the event

well then the only way to get the

paratroopers is to pay money don't worry

though comes with the best SMG in the

game double the mag size of the one used

by those filthy freetop playay plebs but

that would have meant mix in with the

general public and I

don't this is about as close as I ever

hey guys we're heading troop transports

just like you asked you're definitely

thinking of this iconic one from the

movies the one Darth flow knows people

wanted it you can have it for money

comes with a machine gun free one has no

gun of course the description on Steam

says you can have a tank and a plane but

really you can only take one at a time

unless you pay

money you want your tank not to be the

default beige brown color money you want

to put a teddy bear on your tank well

you probably don't but if you did cost

you money business bad [ __ ] you pay me

oh you had a fire [ __ ] you pay me and

then of course there's the big one you

want to unlock everything for one of the

factions that's going to take hundreds

of hours no exaggeration that number

will be in the hundreds of hours but

they'll double the speed which you

research it for money and that's just to

research them you want to use them you

have to buy them but if you want to buy

them you have to buy the ability to buy

them is this you're making me P you to

stand at the cash register and that

doesn't even go into the cost of

upgrading them long story short you're

going to have nowhere near enough

currency to use the things you unlock

and as a new player you will pretty much

always be short of silver what are you

crazy I don't have that kind of money

although of course you can always buy

more of it once we' suckered them in we

unload the dog [ __ ] there's more but if

I had to list them all this video would

become a generational project just know

that this game has basically every kind

of microtransaction ever invented as

well as some that EA Executives just

fantasize about when jerking off there

is only one exception though this game

doesn't have loot

boxes oh no wait they want to add those

to in this next section I'm going to

talk about the other non- monetization

related issues because oh boy there's a

lot to talk about here we no no you know

what let's skip this forget everything

else forget that the AI still doesn't

work after 3 years no don't stand here

go go go go I'm mashing the button

please go move move they still need to

add the feature where I can Court

Marshal them for not following my

[ __ ] orders at all forget the fact

that the stg44 sounds like a

stapler forget the fact that half the

tanks in the game all use the exact same

gun sound effect you know what even

forget the fact that the balance of this

game is still pretty bad like if you

unlock the Sherman 2 you're now going to

have to fight the German Tiger 2H heavy

tank if you don't know much about tanks

let me put that into perspective for you

this is about his fair as a match up

between a 2009 Honda Civic and the

German Tiger 2H heavy tank all of that

can be fixed it's nothing it's small

potatoes it's nothing when compared

against the fact that this product is so

filthy greedy that it's driving

everybody away nobody wants to grind 100

hours just to get the Thompson SMG even

if they pay money to cut that grind in

half it's still way too much on top of

having a monetization system so

avaricious that Mr Krabs wouldn't

Greenlight it they wanted to charge

steam users $20 just to get in the door

and if you have an existing account you

just want to transfer over over to steam

well that's not free either 20 bucks the

game is still free of course if you

download it but the steam version costs

20 bucks but mcubed dark flow supporters

might

say steam takes a cut of all sales they

got to make their money back somehow

yeah yeah steam does take a cut that's

their business that's how they make

money developers get access to 100

million potential customers and in

exchange they take a cut of the sales

fair or not if you want to be on the

platform that's the price you pay you

don't just push that price onto the

customer and charge them 20 bucks for

freet to play because you want to recoup

some of those costs could you pay me in

advance or rather I should say it used

to cost $20 because the steam launch was

such a disaster did they decided to pull

a plug on it less than a day after it

started the steam player base hit a peak

attendance lower than a goth themed prom

and what did they expect when they were

charging money for a free-to-play

game we're

sorry I'm deeply

sorry

sorry and then that's it you can only do

a one launch day on Steam and that was

it devs blew it and we'll never know how

many thousands of players saw this new

release and walked right past it CU they

saw the price tag and wisely moved on

the community had been telling them that

this was a disastrous idea for weeks the

game needed more time the monetization

needed to be toned down you shouldn't

charge money for the steam version they

don't listen they're good at saying

they're listening but it doesn't count

if you don't actually act on any of the

feedback that you're getting if darf

flow is going to save this project I

mean if it even can be saved at this

point then it's going to need to

completely overhaul this insanely greedy

microtransaction filled tar pit of a

game it needs to completely overhaul its

attitude towards the player and it needs

to develop some respect for the Player's

time and the player's money I've tried

my best to give feedback the players the

content creators the the community

managers that somehow haven't quit but I

think it's time we simplify the message

because apparently it's too complicated

I want one message to permanently

stagnate the entire dark flow office I

want it on your business cards I want it

spammed under every post regarding

monetization this game ever puts up I

wanted an all caps giant letters and a

giant Banner in the office I wanted

tattooed on the forehead arms legs and

Family Jewels of every executive

involved in making monetization

decisions one message

enlisted is not War Thunder the average

War Thunder player will put up with

anything the average War Thunder player

is a beaten dog will never leave his

owner no matter what if the employees of

gaj and entertainment drove a tank

through his house he'd complain about it

on the subreddit and then renew his

premium next time it went on sale

because what is he going to go play

tanky online no he doesn't really have a

choice if he wants to play like a tank

and vehicle game if another major

publisher put out a war Thunder Style

game with the same level of quality but

not f filled with microtransaction crap

then War Thunder would be gargling dirt

6 ft under in less than a month people

keep telling me m cubed the grind and

monetization is not as bad as War

Thunder yes that's true that's not

enough enlisted as a first-person

shooter this is a whole new league now

you're no longer existing without

competition your competition is Apex

Legends counter strikes the finals and

guess what in the finals it doesn't take

6 weeks to unlock the Famas and when I

buy the fingerless gloves of Destiny or

whatever for two bucks need to buy it

again every time I want to put it on a

new character or every time I swap to a

new map so yeah this ain't War Thunder

if FPS players get bored of your game

they're gone like that but mcubed they

increased the amount of silver you get

from the daily reward and slightly

decreased how expensive the cheapest

upgrades are wow really they could

quadruple my daily rewards and the

amount would be so small that if I

embezzled it for my own account

accountants would never even spot it 6

months and that's all the progress we've

made in the economy despite constant

begging that silver is just way too too

rare at this rate the game's economy be

reasonable by 2065 and I don't even

think we have another year left in us

though if you want another source of

Revenue dark flow you really need it

then reach out to me I'll put you in

touch with some professors who will pay

100 bucks for the rights to use your

catastrophically bad management as a

case study for future students to learn

from you want to know what the kicker

about all this is the worst part the

worst part is that under it all enlisted

is a good game a damn good game

it's a great game I dare say it's an

Innovative game I can make a video twice

as long as any critical video setting

just how it does an amazing job in so

many different ways I love that it's not

afraid to try new weird things like

paratroopers here's this weird gun that

shoots Fireballs that was apparently a

real thing it's not meta or anything but

it's cool here's a sword that's also a

gun I never heard of it before enlisted

but it's pretty awesome that they put it

in the game I love how Dynamic and

evolving the gameplay is and how all the

different classes and vehicles interact

with each other oh you cheeky little

[ __ ]

you I love how you can get creative with

your strategies here I used barricades

to block this entire Road for except for

this little Gap that tank could drive

through and then it put an anti-tank

mine on that spot and it worked a tank

drove right through it even the goofy

voice lines have a nice little charm to

them if I'm being honest like just look

at this April fools event they put

together it's insanely fun they could be

its own game well it pretty much is but

everyone loves this mode and there's

barely any microtransactions in it this

shows what the team can accomplish when

the developers are focused on making

good fun player experiences and the

executives aren't coming in and

decapping the game because they want to

squeeze a few more dollars out of the

players enlisted could have been big it

could have been the next hell divers it

could have been the next big smash

success it's that good it's really damn

good and the developers have made large

strides when it comes to planning and

improving the game in the last year

they've shown that they have Direction

passion they're planning things out more

than one update in advance the updates

are no longer just aimlessly Meandering

around they got their [ __ ] together they

sat down they created a plan and they

really just crunched it out and the

resulting game could have been

incredible but it doesn't matter there

was too much greed greed killed it dead

by nickel and Diamond charging the

player for every damn minute of their

time and it drove away everyone that

wasn't a DieHard fan of this concept

some people saw the enormous promise and

decided to grind hundreds of hours and

just stick it out but that will never be

everyone the game in its current state

will never capture enough players to

make this project a success the wrong

people are steering the ship I don't

know or care if dark flow or gun are the

ones who are responsible it doesn't

matter the game is failing because

someone's bad management and that's just

the way it's going to stay until we see

some real serious

change so that's it thanks for watching

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