Are MMO Founder’s Packs Anti-Consumer?

when MMO alphas and betas used to be exclusive testing phases that only the luckiest of gamers were invited to attend? It was only ten or fifteen years ago when getting into an MMO alpha or beta required filling out a veritable job application form – and that was for a small chance in hell to actually get in. There were no Founder’s Packs or massive beta key giveaways. You were either stupid lucky or you weren’t.

Getting into an alpha or beta used to be something to brag about. Now it’s as easy as shelling out a bit of cash or setting a Google Alert for key giveaways. I’m not saying this new trend is necessarily a bad thing – more people get to be involved on the ground floor of their most anticipated titles than ever before, which is theoretically great for all parties involved – I’m just saying getting into a game’s alpha or beta has lost all meaning.

But there’s a more pressing issue to discuss here, one that gamers everywhere need to be made aware of and start seriously discussing – the increasingly anti-consumer nature of the games industry.

I’ve talked about the issue of anti-consumerism in the AAA games industry before, laying out the psychology of hype and pre-order culture for all to see and judge for themselves, and I think it’s time MMO players started taking a hard look at the potentially anti-consumer nature of Founder’s Packs.

What is Anti-Consumerism?

Don’t get hung up on terminology or isms. We could argue all day over the exact beliefs of anti-consumerism. Suffice to say, for the sake of this discussion, any business practices that go against consumer interests are anti-consumer. For us gamers, this tends to mean any business practice that directly goes against a game’s overall quality, production and/or distribution purely for the sake of a company’s bottom line – i.e. whenever a company greedily puts its profits over the needs of its product.

Rushed development, abusive microtransactions, and content cut for pre-order purposes are all examples of anti-consumer practices in the video game industry. These practices often take away from the games we spend our hard earned money on for no other reason than a developer’s or publisher’s bottom line.

However, cases of anti-consumerism aren’t always a matter of black-and-white. I’m sure some people are already taking to the comments about how one of the three examples I just mentioned aren’t actually anti-consumer at all, and they may have a point. That’s why I’m simply seeking to open the discussion.

Founder’s Packs are a little odd in nature because of their ties to free-to-play games. Buy-to-play or subscription based MMOs don’t have Founder’s Packs. They exist in the land of pre-orders, where consumers are pre-purchasing a product they were theoretically going to have to spend money on eventually. Founder’s Packs, on the other hand, ask players to pay for early access to a game that wouldn’t otherwise cost them a dime.

The Good Side of Founder’s Packs

Let’s go ahead and address the elephant in the room – funding. Video games require a lot of time, effort and resources to create. Ever since the games industry formed, developers have been trying to find ways to fund their creative ideas and bring their games to life. Today we have platforms like Kickstarter and Steam Early Access that help more game developers see their dreams to fruition than ever before.

MMOs are the epitome of costliness in the games industry. They require more content than most games, which means more assets and overall development time, all of which costs money. To compound the issue further, these games also often have deal with massive server costs due to their online nature. Even the most basic, frugally developed MMO costs many times more than your average video game, especially if it wants to compete in such a highly competitive market.

Founder’s Packs were created as a way for MMOs receive funding and amass testers, knocking out two important birds with one stone. On the surface it’s a pro-consumer idea. Buying a Founder’s Pack s the development of a free-to-play MMO you’re anticipating while also giving you early access to the title and enabling you to have a voice when it comes to the game’s development.

The Road to Hell…

Most anti-consumer practices were born from pro-consumer ideas. The idea for pre-orders originated as a simple means for companies to ensure every consumer who wanted Day One access to games had an opportunity to guarantee their purchase on release before the practice was riddled with manipulative bonuses and incentives. Founder’s Packs could quite easily go in the same direction.

Let’s say there’s a sandbox free-to-play MMO set to come out soon that, for the past year or two, I may or may not have been heavily receiving press release and marketing materials for (*cough* Albion Online *cough*). Hypothetically, let’s say it becomes quite evident by the amount of marketing being seen all across the internet that said game has spent millions of dollars advertising its existence and that it just so happens to have Founder’s Packs ranging up to $100. Now let’s say the game builds up enough hype to sell 100,000 copies of its most expensive Founder’s Pack.

In said hypothetical, the game in question would’ve already made $10 million while still in its early stages of development. It doesn’t even have basic quality-of-life functions, but it’s already made eight figures worth of profit from its theoretically least purchased Founder’s Pack option. Now tell me what incentives the developer has to not simply staple the game together and start new project? Or, on the other side of the equation, what incentive does the developer have to work hard towards release instead of simply milking Founder’s Packs for another year or two?

The answer is to both questions is, “None whatsoever.”

If you don’t think these MMOs reach Founder’s Pack purchase numbers up in the tens of thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands, think again. While I couldn’t find a situation where a developer publicly announced the number of Founder’s Packs it sold before release, anyone who’s ever purchased a Founder’s Pack can surely attest to the massively populated nature of Founder’s Pack driven alphas and betas. (If you can find hard numbers or a public statement, please link to it in the comments below.)

I’m Not Saying Founder’s Packs Are Anti-Consumer

They can certainly be used to serve a pro-consumer purpose, but are they starting to get out of hand? Many packs now offer heavy incentives in the form of headstarts, bonus resources and exclusive-items that could almost classify these MMOs as pay-to-win. When does a pro-consumer function start becoming anti-consumer? Do Founder’s Packs already do more harm than good?

Personally, I’m not sure where I stand on the issue. I’m in the Albion Online closed beta thanks to a Founder’s Pack a friend purchased for me and I couldn’t be happier. Founder’s Packs can certainly be used positively for all involved, but the temptation for abuse seems readily apparent and cause for concern if nothing else.

I will say this: The “well you don’t HAVE to buy it” answer/excuse is a namby-pamby cop-out. It’s a way to wash your hands free and say, “It’s not my problem.” Inaction and indifference is how Holocausts happen. Think for yourself and stand for something or quit calling yourself a gamer, because if you’re unwilling to take a hard look at the industry you claim to love then you aren’t fit to count yourself among the MMO gaming community.

Let your voice be heard in the comment section below. In the meantime, I’ll see you on the servers.