Anyway, as it turns out Disney had to step in and yank EA’s chain to get them to stop shitting all over the Star Wars franchise just before a big movie launch next month. So I suspect we won’t see EA suspend their temporary moratorium on predatory practices and straight up pay to win until Star Wars: The Last Jedi makes its billions in screen revenues and toy sales.
— Wilhelm, The Ancient Gaming Noob
In my experience, while Disney would like to monetize everything, they recognize that every price point is a pain point. Disney will give you as many chances as you like to give them money, but their Parks and Resorts model encourages all inclusive prices, “buy the box” not microtransactions, and they want to put a fig leaf over the microtransactions so you do not think of them as separate expenses.
For example, if you go to Walt Disney World, Disney would like to sell you a “Magic Your Way” package. They want to pick you up from the airport, take you to a Disney resort, have tickets for the theme parks, provide transportation within Disney territory, and provide all your meals while you’re there. Is that expensive? Yes, even after the discounts to encourage you to do that. But it is one big purchase, and then you can forget it. Extra purchases while you are there are hidden behind your MagicBand, and the wristband scan that gets you through a line quickly or uses one of your pre-paid meals does not feel quite like pulling out your wallet. The model is to keep you from ever leaving Disney territory. Every time you need to make a separate spending decision, you might buy that a la carte piece somewhere else. Better to give you an incentive to spend everything all at once.
You can opt out and pay for each piece separately. Pretty much every one will have a reminder that you could have the all-inclusive package instead.
But that’s my experience, and I have not explored say the microtransactions in their mobile games. Your experiences?
: Zubon
I remember once going on a Disney cruise and being surprised that bottles of water on the ship, where you can’t just walk next door and buy from a competitor, were cheaper than they were in the park at Disney World.
So perhaps I did not sufficiently express my surprise that even a cash conscious company like Disney felt the need to step in and restrain EA. Then again, EA is a company who makes you pay for their their mobile games like Scrabble up front and then still makes you watch ads in them as well. That too might be too much for even Disney to stomach.
Bonus tip: any quick service restaurant at Walt Disney World that serves fountain drinks will give you cups of ice water for free.
Oh, and I later found out that the prices of things on the ship were less than in the park because, at the time, Carnival was running the cruises for Disney. That may have changed in the decade or so since we went on that cruise.