After adding a convenience fee for opening your packs for you, then taking away all those pesky cards inside so all you’re left with are wildcards (the true currency of Arena), WotC decided to take this idea a step further. Since the request for buying wildcards outright has been granted, WotC is moving on to monetizing another trend from fans. Starting next week, there will be a $25 bundle on the Magic Arena store that will also circumvent another experience players have come to find tedious, Magic Arena.
We sat down with Tardy Lateson, a monetization consultant for many F2P games to get his opinion on the announcement.
“One of the best aspects of Magic Arena is the satisfaction a player has after a play session. They’re now offering that experience as a product. If successful, this will revolutionize game monetization.”
This new product was created due to an overwhelming number of fans who reported they were “uninstalling Arena and doing something else.”
“It’s a sign they’re listening,” Lateson said. “That’s the core of monetization – listen to players and capitalize on what they want. And what players want right now is to stop playing Magic Arena and move on with their lives. This product aims to provide this experience in the same way the new wildcard bundle circumvents the need to actually click on packs.”
After purchasing, players will now have the ability to use custom voice commands to close the program, with options to set a lock timer to prevent reopening or uninstall the software completely. No clicks needed.
“Paying for the Arena experience without having to waste your time actually playing Arena is going to be huge,” Lateson said. “Time is valuable, and for a mere $25 I can see many players finding value in having more time to do other things.”
We’ve heard rumors that this idea may make its way to paper, by immediately giving players the secondary market value of packs upon opening instead of actual cards.
This is the best thing ive ever read. Thank you for standing up for the fans who are tired of the game draining us.