Heads up for everyone that I've merged some other topics about the skins with this one.
Old BF fans are NOT the target playerbase. EA will not read your thread. If they do, they will not care.
I just invited my kids and asked them if they like the new skin. They do. They will try to get it too. That's how it works.
We are getting older. Most people as they get older, stop playing. It's reasonable that they move to new kids. They are not developing for your love.
Get on with it ffs.
@ZoikonI mean, it's not as bad as it (still) can be. We can get tanks with flowers drawn all over it... oh wait, maybe I should just shut up :D
EDIT: lol, just saw the post above, oh well
@BrokenCompile wrote:We are getting older. Most people as they get older, stop playing.
No they don't. I'm middle-aged and it's still the go-to hobby for me and a lot of people I know of a similar age.
The idea that gaming is a youth market is old hat. The average age of a gamer has been steadily skewing upwards since the 90s as that first console/PC generation ages.
Plus the older part of the market is the part with the most disposable income to shovel EAs way.
Here's one of many articles pointing that out:
https://techjury.net/blog/video-game-demographics/#gref
"The average gamer is 34 years old, owns a house, and has children"
@FatherDedOh come on now.
The age is shifting for sure but kids will always have more time/will for gaming. And sure they do not have disposable income but they have parents. Plus kids are not as nearly as critical when it comes to the quality.
I mean, if it's not EA shifting to younger and larger playerbase, then what is it? And by younger I do not mean neccessarily younger then we were back then but younger then us now. When we were 15 for sure we wouldn't like tanks with flowers, but new 15 yo's are well, new. Times are changing.
@BrokenCompile wrote:And by younger I do not mean neccessarily younger then we were back then but younger then us now.
EVERYONE is younger than I am now.
Yea, I am not a very uptight player. I didn't care when they added female soldiers and such in previous titles as some did. I am a history buff - a big one in fact, but I was able to look past it in a video game. In this game, I have enjoyed it and didnt mind most of the changes they made. I try to go along with the design as long as its fun. In other words - it takes a lot for me to start really gunning the developers over issues.
These new skins though, I am just honestly flabbergasted. When I saw screenshots of them going around I 100% said to myself "Wow someone put a lot of effort into these meme's." I never even considered that they were legitimate, until I realized they actually were 100% legit and in the game. I sat there kind of stunned for a moment. The ONLY thing that finally came to my mind is HOW ARE THEY SO OUT OF TOUCH? Not a single person said "this is a terrible idea, we are about to get massively roasted if we release this". I'm just utterly baffled at how out of touch this move is. I touched on the issue of being out of touch back in disucssions about the decision to remove the scoreboard and similar issues. I typed paragraphs trying to come up with some explanation, to try and understand the developers perspective on the issue. Rather than blast developers I tend to always try to ask myself "What is there intention with this change...there has to be one" I try to never just assume that developers are anything short of very smart, educated, and passionate people who devout hours of their lives to make these products. I try to first assume they had to have very good reasons for things. Maybe it is because these skins finally have just sort of pushed me over the line, but I am just baffled and feel there is just no explanation to be had anymore. They are simply massively out of touch with their players. I HAVE to believe that they knew this would befuddle and * off many players; particularly their older players. The only possible explanation I can even come up with is that they are simply marketing this game toward a younger audience. These skins just scream that they want a piece of the fortnite success, or a piece of the black ops flavor of CoD. I tells me they just dont feel they dont feel confident they can make a straight military warfare game anymore on its own merits. The thing that they so clearly miss however is that as soon as you go down this road you * off or otherwise alienate the vast majority of your playerbase.
Im just so baffled. I just imagine sitting in a meeting and the topic of these skins coming up, if such a thing would even come up in a meeting. If I am sitting in this meeting, as soon as they pop these things up on the big screen I am chuckling to myself, and then I quickly say "we can not release that guys.....you will be laughed out of the building if you drop that in the game" I am not a game designer and I could have seen that coming a mile away. How do they not see these things coming? Perhaps they do and still proceed........If that is the case then I really do not get it. Risk the anger, meme's, being made a joke, diminishing your brand, for what greater purpose? If you cant tell I am trying REALLY hard to find justification from a developers perspective. I just really do not want to believe that they are THIS out of touch. If I am the digital artist who designed this tank skin....The whole time I am working on this skin I know my work is about to be made a complete joke. I just know that before I even start. So Why ? What greater purpose or reason are they chasing with design decisions like this?
