My Hot Take on the new monetization (It's gotten Worse)

[Zacattack99]

I know I haven been here since the WMS-TPA purge of 2018, and spent the course of the last 5 years becoming a moderator for a VOCALOID-rhythm game forum, but now I'm back. Yes I'm one of those people that bought in to the tickets system, but my beef with the change back isn't because of cross-buy (the dream of TPA fans if I recall correctly) or the fact the currency (now Pinball Coins) and Pinball Pass still remain; it's the cost, and the non-scientific research I did that came to that conclusion.

It maybe 22 pages long, I may have been doing some edits here and there, you may not care about or absolutely hate the system Zen were initially going with and are happy with it getting scrapped, but I highly suggest you read it anyways, especially since it's probably the only time someone broke down the game's discount system.

Pinball FX’s Monetization Mess

I’ve gone through 3 revisions of this very document. I’ve been working on this since the December 8th 2022 episode of The Pinball Show. I've dealt with sickness and the Holidays, and I was hoping to get this out sooner before the end of 2022. Regardless of how late into the new year this would wo...

docs.google.com

 

[gameaddict4life]

To me the biggest advantage of the ticket system after hearing more about it was Zen's ability to release tables at a faster rate. That's been the biggest problem with these games on console, we lag sometimes years behind the PC version. The cross platform would be nice as well since I plan to play on Series S but also have a Switch and PS4. Also the new game is coming out on PS4 and Xbox One as well. As I've said before with it being a cross-gen game I'm wondering how big of a jump it's really going to be from FX3. If the physics are improved, the ball is waaaay too fast on FX3 for one thing, and the tables are uncensored I'll probably buy the real world stuff they put out. Have never been a fan of the originals and I own a few.

Here's a way to not spend any money on Pinball FX and still get the tables you want. If you are on Xbox just save up and use Microsoft Rewards points to purchase the tables. It only takes a few minutes a day and from my calculations a $10 dollar Xbox gift card is achievable in around a month. These stack as well. Wait for sales for an even bigger savings. Monetization solved.

 

[Zacattack99]

Mel did mention offering tickets/Pinball coins as rewards for gameplay, like in-game events and from what I can assume Pinball Royale. Another advantage they brought up was self-curation, namely being able to say, just buy Theater Of Magic, Attack from Mars, and Medieval Madness without having to also buy Champion Pub, The Party Zone, Junk Yard, Getaway, Black Rose, and Safe Cracker: Tables a user might have felt forced into also buying, and might not touch.


The way I was envisioning my time was using any My Nintendo Gold Points I have lying around from unrelated eShop purchases and using that on some Tickets/Pinball Coins.

 

[yespage]

Simple reality, I don't want to pay up front for something I might not want to buy. The ticket system rewards paying larger up front for an unknown (potentially non-existent) product.

 

[superballs]

Luckily they recanted on the ticket system and will just offer tables to pay for.

Not sure why they can release tables faster with a ticket system. Are their tables not selling or something? They need their own version of crowd funding or something?

 

[Pinballwiz45b]

Not sure why they can release tables faster with a ticket system. Are their tables not selling or something? They need their own version of crowd funding or something?

Red tape/approval for consoles is a factor. Every time they submit new DLC on a front-end store like Sony or Microsoft, that's additional wait time. Pinball Arcade went through this on consoles too.

With tickets, you don't need console approval for new releases, since the only things you could purchase were tickets (and Indiana Jones as of speaking).

 

[Zacattack99]

Luckily they recanted on the ticket system and will just offer tables to pay for.

Not sure why they can release tables faster with a ticket system. Are their tables not selling or something? They need their own version of crowd funding or something?

They still have purchaseable tickets, it's as of before the Jan. 26th 2023 edition of Pinball Show there used only for Pinball Pass, with the additional woes being that THAT's cross-platform, but the tables you now need to spend with real money will not.

 

[Pinballwiz45b]

Fake news, you can still purchase tables with tickets until February's console release.

Oh, and all three of the ticket calculations don't check out in-game. Your 2nd example for 328 tickets is flawed.

 

[Zacattack99]

Fake news, you can still purchase tables with tickets until February's console release.

Oh, and all three of the ticket calculations don't check out in-game. Your 2nd example for 328 tickets is flawed.

please elaborate.

(edit) if you were wondering how I did the math, here you go: (45 x 7 + 100 + 60) x (.23 +.10) - (45 x 7 + 100 + 60) rounded up, then subtracted by (45 x 7 + 100 + 60)

I did run the numbers by adding the totals first, then applying the discounts seperately instead of combining them, and rounding them out

User A would be 329, and User B would be 882, so I can see how I went wrong.

also; I wasn't saying as of today, tables will no longer be purchased with currency, I was stating that outside of Pinball Pass there is nothing else to spend currency on other than tables as of the time of writing.

 

[Pinballwiz45b]

if you were wondering how I did the math, here you go: (45 x 7 + 100 + 60) x (.23 +.10) - (45 x 7 + 100 + 60) rounded up, then subtracted by (45 x 7 + 100 + 60)

I did run the numbers by adding the totals first, then applying the discounts seperately instead of combining them, and rounding them out

User A would be 329, and User B would be 882, so I can see how I went wrong.

Still not right -- that's more complicated than needed. Look closer at the "View Cart" option.

(Base price - Bundle % - Brand % - Seasonal/Special % = table cost, ROUNDED). Do this for every table/category, where applicable per Brand.

(45 - 23% - 10% = 31) X 7 = 217, Legacy WMS
(100 - 23% - 10% = 69) x 1= 69, World Cup
(60 - 23% - 10% = 42) x 1 = 42, Swords of Fury

= 328 total.

 

[Zacattack99]

Buying everything costs $279.77.

If one missed out on the Founder’s Form, and bought the same tables across Switch, Steam, and PS4|5, this would blow up to $839.31.

If these were purchaseable in-game, this would instead amount to just $214.97 (or $199.98 if Indy was purchasable for 150 VC)

Been waiting for the day, and I’ll be overhauling the document to reflect the current values.

 

[Byte]

Does anyone know whether PS4 and PS5 are also considered cross-platform? Note: not talking about FX3, but Pinball FX on both platforms and for the same PSN account. I only have a PS4 at the time, so I need to decide whether to buy any tables for PS4 or wait until I have a PS5.

 

[Gorgar]

Does anyone know whether PS4 and PS5 are also considered cross-platform? Note: not talking about FX3, but Pinball FX on both platforms and for the same PSN account. I only have a PS4 at the time, so I need to decide whether to buy any tables for PS4 or wait until I have a PS5.

Yes, they announced it is cross platform for PS4 and PS5. Also, if you go to the PSN store online, it is the same purchase item.