The point i presume he makes is while no-one would normally entertain the idea of a game where you paid for a reload once hooked and in a position where money is required to continue competing, many will do so.
i think he as using that game as an example to create a scenario where a game player is sufficiently dramn in that thier resistance to paying money is greatly weakened.
An example is the take over of APB by gamersfirst.
They have a marketplace for APB where you can buy both cosmetic and competitive items for the game with prepurchsed 'G1 credits' which are obtained in differning amounts.
This is a good idea in the first place - as the actual transaction you make is made with a fake currency - thus making it easier to forget the actual real cost of the item you obtain.
Also you cannot cash these credits in and the amounts you are able to buy means you will always have some left over - which rather than waste you are more likely to add to and go shopping again.
All items are linked to your character only rather than your account- so if you re-roll you will have none of the items you purchased.
Examples run from ciggarettes and hats - to unique cars and modfication parts to customise certain in game cars (unlimited use but expensive at around $15) - to weapons
The best weapons bought with game money (ie free] take a long time to unlock - and ALL weapons in game are only leased for 10 days.
So the market offers a shortcut to obtaining these weapons for around $10 for a short duration (though i dunno why ppl would spend real money on a rental) and, of course, a permanent version - but these can be up to $40-$50.
There are also a couple of weapons at top price that are unavailable in the game - of course these are generally considered amoung the best available, or at least the most easy to use effectively
(which in turn creates an atmosphere of resentment)
They even created mystery boxes where for 1 euro you could take a chance to win a permanent weapon (but most likely some useless crap rental) - and ppl were buying over a hundred of them trying to win the rare item.
I play with a guy who has spent over $500 on extras for his character.
I mean not many ppl give that much money to one developer for a series of games over years. Unbelievable.
The game isn't even that good - many ppl spend a lot of time raging about it yet keep playing - with the customisation elements and progression it's strangly compelling.
All in all it's a very effective money making machine - run by a company that didn't even have anything to do with the game's conception - they just reskin a weapon with adjusted stats or produce some new fancy car wheels and put them on the market.
Getting back to the video it's easy to come down on EA here but i was under the impression that it was Fat gabe and freinds who really kicked off this micro transaction thing - so succesfully that they could happily make the game in question free.
They even had DLC animations ready to purchase for a subsequent game on it's day of release.
And these are ppl who don't have any stockholders to answer to.
It's their money making model that the other companies are looking at with envy - and as such they deserve as much as anyone the wrath of gamer's that dont like the way things are going.
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