The microtransactional approach that has been a buzzword for the past year or so is shoved front and centre to the player in one of Electronic Arts' feature franchises, Madden 10. While Bethesda was universally roasted by the gaming media and players alike when it tried to introduce improved horse armour as a microtransaction for Oblivion, it underscored the fact that North American players at the time just weren't hip to this jive.  Have things changed today? What have the EA CEO's learned from the Asian markets in the meantime? Sadly, not enough.

To the uninitiated, a "microtransaction" is the latest hot topic in the world of online monetization. It has been in working operation over in the Asian gaming markets for several years, and has in fact become so successful that it has become pretty much the dominant online business model.

It is a system that removes any monthly or sign-up initiation fee to play the game; leaving the online game completely free to start / play. The publisher and/or developer then designs and creates an environment in the game that provides incentives to purchase in-game items. For example, you would get a drab looking outfit as your "basic adventuring garb" within the game but can purchase some lovely feathery hats of various colors, tunics made of different fabrics and patterns and even matching shoes; for a small fee.

In order for the "economics" of this system to keep the game alive and growing, and to allow the developers to send their children to private school, the goal is to not convince one person to part with $39.95, but 40+ people to part with an arbitrarily small fee (say $0.99). Judging by the legions of fans devoted to the Asian online games, this is not a problem.

Today in North America, however, is a different player market than during Oblivion's tenure. Gamers of all stripes on all platforms have since been meticulously (and steadily) targeted on the idea of small-fee-in-game purchases. Thus it is back into these waters that EA is dangling the Madden franchise into, with the hopeful goal of not becoming chum in the process.

The problem I have with this approach in Madden 10, is that it's fairly clear the EA CEO's are working with different playbooks than those available in South Korea. Since my childhood days of gaming, we in North America have been trained with the notion that the sticker price we pay for the game, covers not only the complete game itself but any updates, patches and/or "extras" offered by the developers. However, in Madden 10, not only are we charged with the initial sticker purchase (of roughly $60.00 USD), but must now face additional fees for the plethora of items available in the Madden Shop. In effect, the publisher wants its cake AND eat it as well since players will be left feeling betrayed at being "double dipped" into the money pit.

Perhaps they just didn't "get it" or perhaps they couldn't convince enough managers in the organization to sign on to the root core beliefs which seem to highlight the microtransactional ecosystem: "If you produce content of superior quality (and love?), players will pay gobs of money if they're convinced their playing experience is enriched". Another important belief seems to follow the thinking that if the publisher removes the monetary value of the content (by removing the initial sticker prices / monthly fee, etc), the players will individualize their own perception of worth placed on the content and react accordingly.

I'm not suggesting at all that the sticker price of Madden 10 should have been zero. That doesn't make sense, since the content experience isn't "suitable" for that move. But certainly I would expect the sticker price to be lower than the standard price given the amount of microtransactional items leveraged into the game.

The Japanese have a term / philosophy called "Kaizen" which roughly translates to "continuous improvement in all aspects of life". As more and more North American gaming businesses move into the microtransactional model, hopefully they will continuously work to improve some of these "business barriers" that players must face in the pursuit of gaming happiness.