When I’m not busy being a console gaming elitist, I still play my number of mobile games, admittedly less so these days because of what’s happened to the genre. What used to be a promising, emergent market of interesting concepts and input methods (RIP Infinity Blade) slowly devolved into a nightmarish cacophony of monetization schemes and in-game advertisement. As companies realized that there was more money to be had not in premium priced mobile games, but free ones, the entire market became awash with games constantly poking, prodding, shamelessly vying for your wallet in order to further their predatory game loops, often to the tune of several types of purchasable currency.
For the most part, though these practices have seen its fair share of dissent among groups, the general consensus is that “Well, the game is free, and needs to pay for itself somehow.” So we accept it as par for the course for this type of game. Ideally, all free-to-play games would be like Warframe, a title where the content on offer is so substantial, that it almost feels like robbery to not pay at least a little for it, but we instead live in a world where the majority of them either hold you to ransom, or beat you to death with their purchasing options until you finally fold. As mentioned, I play my fair share of mobile games, but I know what I’m getting myself into when I download one. So when the option to say, earn more “Red Rings” in Sonic Dash at the expense of a forced 30-second ad arises, I can decide whether or not to debase myself for a pair of sweet running shoes on my digital avatar.
Which brings us to Street Fighter V, a not free-to-play game and the recent addition of “Sponsored Content”.
I’m not here to make fun of the characters, and garish AdStyle costumes, as there’s plenty of that all over the internet, and several have already had fun making this enough of a meme that there’s little I can contribute in THAT space. Instead, I’m going to go over the whole “optional” argument being made everywhere else on the internet, and initially, to Capcom’s credit, the announcement did make it sound that way.
Capcom, in an entry on their Capcom Unity blog, has announced the initiative as such:
Sponsored Content will be introduced into Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition on December 11. Sponsored content will be displayed in several locations in-game to remind you about costumes, bundles, and the Capcom Pro Tour. When Sponsored Content is enabled, players can obtain additional Fight Money in Ranked and Casual Matches – these bonuses come with an upper limit.
Basically, Street Fighter V will be imbued with in-game advertisements, with ads coming in the form of mid-match commercials, additional graphics in certain stages, and in special “Ad-Style” costumes for each character in-game. It goes on:
If you’d rather not see Sponsored Content, you can easily turn this feature off by going into Battle Settings.
This is the part unfortunately, where I found myself genuinely surprised, and aghast at how clever Capcom was actually being about all of this. Never mind that they actually implemented ads in their premium priced, non mobile game three years in, never mind that the actual implementation is so shameless, so tacky that I feel sick, as if I’m viewing my game through the eyes of a marketing exec and not a genuine fan–
–The fact that Capcom actually did this, while convincing us all that it’s an option shook me, and it’s down to one distinction, honestly. You have to turn the ads OFF.
As in, the ads are on by default. As in, whether you’re a returning player who has downloaded the latest update, or a new player trying the game for the first time, the default settings of the game place “sponsored” ads between matches, in stages, and on characters. The word default by definition is “A preselected option made before an alternative option can be introduced by a user.” Essentially, by making the ads the default setting, Capcom has already made the decision for you–you just need to go against their grain to undo it.
It’s worded so precisely in fact, that I don’t blame anyone for glossing over it. When Capcom says “You can earn additional bonuses” for having the ads on, they’re carefully wording a fallacy. As players, we are not making a choice to earn more FM by enabling ads. What we are actually doing, in practice, is making a decision to earn LESS by having them off. That is the kind of distinction you have to make when the “choice” Capcom thinks they’re having you make is actually you going against the default, recommended settings. Suddenly, what sounds like “additional” bonuses become subtractive, and what sounds like an optional bonus quickly feels like a ransom.
Players didn’t get to “choose” the new Fight Money rate post-update, the new rate IS the default setting, and you get it as long as the ads are on. Turn them off, and you get less of the aformentioned “bonuses”, essentially penalizing players who do not wish to see ads in their game.
Fight Money, as any dedicated player will tell you, is less of an in-game currency than it is a psychological tool Capcom’s been using for the better part of three years to push players to just buy Season Passes instead of unlocking characters with normal play, as the rate you earn is so stingy that it can take weeks to unlock a single character without doing so. To tie the ads to the in-game currency, all while bombarding the player with constant reminders, and calls to action about the additional content in the game just waiting to be bought, feels more than a bit slimy, and completely destroys whatever shreds of integrity Street Fighter V has left at this point.
Of course, the move has its share of defenders. I had a friend attempt to shield Capcom’s move by stating the obvious: That the rate earned using AdStyle is still low anyway, and thus doesn’t read as a penalty in his eyes when shut off. That to me, is exactly what Capcom is counting on. It doesn’t matter to me that the increased rate is near negligible (as previously stated, FM is less a viable currency than it is a tool), or that you can truly, turn the ads off and have nothing to do with them. My issue is the way Capcom did this, and how quickly everyone acclimates to the slimiest business practices as long as the company brands them as “optional”.
What we are seeing here is not okay. What we are seeing here is, like loot boxes before them, another dark shadow of the free-to-play market invading a not so free game, all while convincing you that a small precedent isn’t being set. All while convincing you that it won’t get any worse than this. Capcom wants us to be okay with this. They need us to be, because when the next round of ad content rolls around and they need to push the boundaries ever so slightly and make them (somehow) more egregious than replacing Akuma’s “Heaven” kanji with a CPT logo, we’ll have already been conditioned to not mind them.
I’m also not going to act like ads are new to games, or that the 16-bit era of gaming didn’t have entire titles built around product placement. Personally, I loved Cool Spot, and even when the implementation of ads is so in your face it hurts, as in Final Fantasy XV having an entire sidequest based around Cup Noodles, I think we can all have a laugh at the brazen absurdity of it all. The difference is, in those instances, they were either the entire point of the game, or the brand association didn’t actually affect the game itself, how it’s presented, or how it fundamentally works.
By updating their game this far into its life, lacing it with their own ads, for their OWN downloadable content, in the most garish, disrespectful, and outright tacky way possible, all the while convincing us that this is a throwaway option that nevertheless diminishes your ability to earn content in-game? Capcom has completely shown their hand about where they think predatory practices in AAA games can go next. The fact that it resonates with a whimper instead of a bang is just smart business on their end, because companies like EA go all-in with a bang, and we’ve seen how that turns out for all parties. If you think other companies aren’t paying close attention to the reaction Capcom’s getting here, and whether or not they’ll get away with it too, you haven’t been in the game long enough.
I personally remember the moment when loot boxes started becoming less and less optional as companies began basing the entire progression of their games around them. If players don’t truly see what Capcom’s really doing here, and don’t envision a future where, like the mobile market, premium priced console games begin assaulting you with unavoidable ads even though you already paid the asking price of $59.99USD to avoid them, well then–
I’ve got some adspace to sell you. I’ll place it right on your back so the entire world knows.
