How to Fix the Gaming Industry
So I decided to collect the most common pain points and put them in the form of a simple, clear “Gaming Industry Consumer Bill of Rights.” These are 12 principles that, in my opinion, should become the standard if we want a fairer and more transparent market. I have tried to approach the subject sensibly, from a player’s perspective, but also without hostility towards creators.
Share your thoughts – what would you change, add, or remove?
§1. Prohibition on remastering young games A remaster/remake may be released no sooner than 8 years after the original's release.
§2. Prohibition on deleting original versions of games after the release of a remaster/remake. The original must still be available in digital distribution.
§3. The remaster must contain the original. By purchasing the remaster, the player must have access to the original version of the game in the library.
§4. Discount for owners of the original. The player receives a discount on the remaster/remake if they bought the original at least 6 months before the official announcement, the first official information or a leak informing about the production of the new version. Publishers cannot announce remasters/remakes earlier than 12 months before they reach their minimum age (i.e. 7 years after the premiere of the original)
§5. Prohibition of announcing DLC before the game's release. Additions may only be announced after the base game's release.
§6. DLC Price Limit. DLC cannot cost more than 50% of the base game price. If it costs more, it must be considered a separate game and meet the full requirements.
§7. Micropayments are prohibited in single-player games. Unless they are full-fledged story add-ons. Skins, boosters, currencies should be prohibited.
§8. Prohibition of manipulation of fictitious currency. Each item in the game must show the price in real currency. The conversion rate must be constant in all packages. The player must be able to buy the exact amount of fictitious currency needed to buy a given item
§9. Prohibition of depriving access to paid games. A game that was paid for must remain available for download and launch.
§10. Obligation to provide a date for shutting down servers in paid online games. The date must be known on the day of release. It can be updated, but no more than once every 6 months.
§11. Marking of games dependent on DLSS/FSR/FG. Games that do not work well without these technologies must receive a special mark warning players about poor optimization until the problem is fixed. The mark will be awarded on the basis of a mandatory pre-release game test by a specially designated group.
§12. Mandatory free demo of games. Every game costing more than $50 must have a free demo with at least 10% of content. The demo cannot be removed after the game's release
Let me know what you think.