Mike Ibarra, formerly the head of Blizzard, wrote on Twitterwho sometimes feels like paying a little more money for a game as a thank you to its developers.
He suggests that when buying a game, an additional option should be displayed that would allow you to pay another $10-20 as a tip directly to the developers.
«At the end of the game, I often think about what a great experience I had. And I want to give these people another 10-20 dollars, because this experience was worth more than the initial 70 dollars. And they didn’t try to extort a cent from me every second», — Ibarra writes.
According to the ex-Blizzard executive, such games as HZD, GoW, RDR2, BG3, Elden Ring, etc. evoke similar feelings.
«I know that $70 is a lot for some people, but I would like to have an option like a tip at the end of the game. Some games are so special».
Ibarra realizes that many people will not like his idea, as everyone «is tired of» tipping in other industries.
In fact, his proposal has been met with mixed reactions in the comments: some say they already spend too much on video games; others add that some platforms (such as itch.io) already offer tips, and small indie developers often use established donation platforms. They also write that any additional revenue «will invariably end up in the pockets of» publishers, not the developers themselves.
The rest generally supported the idea, given the recent difficulties in the industry — layoffs of thousands of employees and studio closures (in 2023 alone, games «lost» more than 6100 jobs).