https://www.gamespot.com/articles/like-a-dragon-infinite-wealths-new-game-plus-feature-is-locked-behind-a-paywall/1100-6520476/

"Infinite Wealth" indeed.

Sega, seemingly never content unless they're boning something up, has locked off New Game+ mode for Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth to people who pre-order the more expensive versions of the game as part of the "Master Vacation Bundle", which I presume you could also buy separately later. I thought we had already lopped off just about everything you could from a game in order to resell it to people and hit the bottom of the barrel of pre-order incentives with selling the game later to people who don't pre-order. But Sega, defiantly, scrapes their teeth across the lemon rind to get every ounce of juice they can squeeze.

If you think this is bad, developers are already talking about possibly charging $100 for their AAA games, either starting later this year or beginning next year. Meaning GTAVI, which a lot of people are waiting for, could very well cost $100 instead of $70. If they are going to do it, they always pick a game they know a lot of people want to start.

I feel it's important to point out that, while charging for New Game+ is scummy, what they're talking about is NOT the Premium Adventure mode that has always been a part of the Yakuza series. That mode is still available as soon as you finish the game. New Game+ is actually (afaik) something new for the Like a Dragon series.

I was worried this announcement meant that previously free content was being taken away from us, but that ended up not being true.

@sunie: I don't think this is true. For example Yakuza 0 had both Premium Adventure and New Game Plus. I think it's true that some of the older games only had Premium Adventure, but it's been in the Yakuza games for awhile now.

@sunie: New Game Plus modes aren't new to the series.

Oop. My bad. Carry on.

Doesn't seem like there's much to carry on with this one. I didn't see Sega get any backlash for it from the industry, press, or consumers. Not that this is the most note-worthy example that the AAA industry is currently broken. But it sure would be nice if the people in charge of breaking it could come up with some actual solutions instead of nickel and diming costumers and laying off workers. I'm just exhausted by all of it. Someone call me when the industry figures it's shit out. I think I'm just going to play Genesis games until then.

@brian_: I'm with you on this, but it's been going on for a long time. Remember the online pass? Arguably even worse.

I think that the industry has had bad practices for so long people have just accepted them. I mean look at the "always online" crap for games that absolutely do not need it. Redfall, a 4 person co-op shooter, is always online. We had 4 person co-op shooters online IN THE ORIGINAL XBOX DAYS and they were perfectly playable without a connection.

The closest anyone has come to an idea to fix the industry was Game Pass, which could have allowed smaller single player games to work as part of a subscription where they wouldn't have to deal with the issues of people waiting for price drops or their inability to provide repeat revenue. That hasn't worked. Instead games have gotten more and more expensive to make and companies have reacted not by rethinking things but by trying to get more money for them, and we end up in this place where even good games that perform well like Spider-Man 2 result in layoffs.

@bigsocrates: In my fantasying about a AAA gaming industry with a manageable budget, I've wonder if there's a possible future where all consoles become a Switch style console/handheld hybrid. If there is a route to cutting costs by getting games with lower specs. I wonder if, with the popularity of the Switch and mobile PCs like the Steam Deck, consumers would accept that trade-off for games with more manageable size and scope. I mean, I'm guessing probably not. Most people seem content to pay the price of $70 on top of all the other nickel and diming and anti-consumer policy over the years to get the games we have now.

@brian_: I don't think that's going to happen. There's always going to be a contingent who wants shinier graphics and more power. And it's one of the easiest ways for the AAA studios to stand out. Suicide Squad and Skull and Bones (among many others) show they can't beat the smaller studios with creativity and good design, but they can outspend them. It's also the model of the Hollywood studios.

And the hardware people are always going to want to sell new boxes and compete on power, especially in an age when a lot of games get sold based on what they look like streaming.

There may be an alternative ecosystem that grows up alongside AAA gaming. To some extent there already is, though it's mostly indie now. But we see it with games like Rollerdrome that aren't competing on graphics but are still polished 3D experiences. And some other examples. I think that Steamdeck isn't going anywhere and hopefully that will enable at least some studios to build games that aren't the most stunning but that play well and don't "require" gross monetization.

Then EA will buy them up and Rollerdrome 2 will have a monthly battlepass and Rollerdrome 3 will never get made because EA will shut the studio down and make it work on fixing Battlefield.