2024-04-12 00:12:00
Mike Ybarra has been working at Microsoft for 20 years, primarily on the Xbox team, but in 2019, he packed his bags and headed to Blizzard. There, he eventually became an executive at the veteran developer, leaving shortly after Microsoft took over the studio late last year.
Lately, he’s been very active on social media (mainly X), often writing surprisingly candidly about issues in the industry as well as his own thoughts and opinions. Now he’s at it again with a rather unexpected suggestion.
Ybarra believes it should be possible to tip developers who deliver something truly special and have a complete gaming experience that feels like the studio has been trying to rip you off. In these cases, he said, a full price tag isn’t enough, and by the time the credits roll, it should be possible to “make another $10 or $20 because it’s worth more than my original $70, and they’re not trying to make every Give me a penny for every second.”
Ybarra added that he knows a lot of people don’t like the concept of tipping, but said there’s no pressure on tipping because it’s done anonymously at your home. Maybe such a system would encourage developers to actually deliver something more complete and complete without microtransactions, season passes, etc., because doing so might suddenly lead to higher revenue.
What do you think, would you be willing to pay a $10 tip for a game that you thought in the end credits was worth more to you than the actual price tag?
Photo credit: Mike Ybarra
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