There are games that just don’t hit the right notes, and then there are games that go above and beyond what we expected of them. And what it is the latter, what do we do? Write a positive review, recommend friends and family to play it too, or maybe share our experience on forums and social media.
But former president of gaming studio, Blizzard Entertainment suggests an unusual and different idea. Mike Ybarra suggests a different way in which fans can appreciate and show support for the games they love.
Ex-Blizzard president suggests tipping developers
Mike Ybarra, former president of Blizzard, suggested that players should be able to tip developers after beating $70 games.
Ybarra, who quit the Diablo 4 game studio in January 2024, shared a post on his official X handle suggesting the rather baffling idea. He wrote,
“I’ve thought about this idea for a while, as a player, since I’ve been diving into single player games lately. When I beat a game, there are some that just leave me in awe of how amazing the experience was. At the end of the game, I’ve often thought ‘I wish I could give these folks another $10 or $20 because it was worth more than my initial $70 and they didn’t try to nickel and dime me every second.”
I've thought about this idea for a while, as a player, since I've been diving into single player games lately.
When I beat a game, there are some that just leave me in awe of how amazing the experience was. At the end of the game, I've often thought "I wish I could give these…
— Mike Ybarra (@Qwik) April 11, 2024
He further gives examples of games like Horizon: Zero Dawn, God of War, Red Dead Redemption 2, Elden Ring, and Baldur’s Gate 3 that deserve to be tipped. He further clarifies that he realized that $70 could be a lot, but he wishes he had that option at the end of the game at times. “Some games are that special,” he says.
Fans think it is the worst idea
As Ybarra himself pointed out he was aware that the idea would not go well with most people, it certainly did not. Users rushed to social media to express how bad they thought the idea was. A user named ‘GhostRMCF’ questioned the ex-president, “Why don’t you tip your developers yourself”
Similarly, several users expressed their views on how instead of asking players to tip the developers, the game studios should pay their developers better instead. User Samantha J. Foster writes,
“They should just pay the developers better instead”
And yet I bet devs made less after the price jump from $60 to $70
— Richard Heaton (@RHNintendo) April 16, 2024
On the other hand, there were a bunch of players who took this as an opportunity to criticize Blizzard games. ‘CapCorgi’ writes,
“How about the large gaming corporations treat their employees fairly instead of throwing money at shareholders? Games you mentioned don’t HAVE shareholders. That’s why they are good. Blizzard is one of the WORST for putting shareholder profits above quality and employees.”
Another user ‘Escoluffy’ says, “Most of the games that are that special ain’t Blizzard games so..”
The idea not only angered a lot of fans, but experts alike. Several people from the gaming community pointed out that the tipping culture in general doesn’t work. In general, it has been observed, that although businesses theoretically cannot keep the tips themselves, they do make a lot more money through tips than they otherwise would.
If the tipping culture is introduced into video games, the plight would be the same as any other industry, The real developers would not get paid more than they are, it will be the executives who would rake in more since they can replace wages with tips.
