US kids want games subscriptions and virtual currency more than games this Christmas

Evil genius marketing, working as it always does. The kids don't know any better, so they are being exploited and conditioned to think the horrible new normal is just the way things have to be. And most parents are too tired and busy to find better alternatives.

Here are some relatively cheap games to give kids that aren't fortnite or roblox and dont run on some subscription/internal monetary currency:

• Risk of Rain 2
• Minecraft (Java)
• Tunic
• Stardew Valley
• A Hat in Time
• Baba is You
• Fate (Wildtangent)
• Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga (Not the Skywalker Saga)
• Chip's Challenge 1 and 2
• Shovel Night (Treasure Trove)

Too bad. They’re getting copies of Burger King’s Sneak King and they’re going to like it.

"ESA survey showed" -- not exactly an unbiased report

That is super dystopian.

That's what a lack of street drugs does to the youth, the OG subcription services.

Hot take: this is better than them getting a bunch of plastic crap that will end up in a landfill in 6 months.

Where did we go wrong?

I can understand the sentiments of the thread to offer alternatives

Just remember whats going to happen based on your own christmas as a kid, when you got "The next best thing"

Given there's a lot of good picks, it's still a tale as old as time.

Just dropping a gift recommendation for younger kids with a Nintendo Switch. Kirby and the Forgotten Land. A few years old at this point, but my two younger kids still play the heck out of it. It’s wholesome, and doesn’t have any in game purchases or online subscription.

Everyone's wondering where we went wrong as a society but honestly a year of game pass during a time of my life where I didn't get new games very often sounds way better than getting like three games for Christmas.

Better idea: Get them a ton of classics from the Steam sale, put them on a fresh acct, and then give them hundreds of hours of good shit for like $50. You could get 5 copies of Undertale for the equivalent price of 1 Fortnite skin.

gestures at the outside I am not surprised. Outside is a McDonald/Starbucks laden hellscape. There are a dwindling number of places for kids to get enrichment outside their own homes. People in general spend increasingly long times in front of screens for various activities. Gaming is an activity that they can do alone or with their friends that doesn't require them to pay for things to enjoy them. Some of them don't even recognize that there is a real world cost for things like vbucks and so on.

Toy stores are few and far between. We don't watch media that has significant commercials anymore. What did we expect?

As long as FFXIV exists, I can understand the desire for a game subscription over literally every other paid game.

This is why we can't have nice things.

I want game subscriptions to be deeply discounted for cyber Monday.

No they don't

F*** big gaming and their microtransaction/subscription/pay to win bull****! Indie and retro games are way better than overpriced AAA titles at his point anyway.

I hope if I ever have a hell spawn or adopt, that I can teach them the ways of not getting addicted to those types of games.

Gamepass is an absurd value. I've saved literally over $3,000. There is very very little reason to purchase games.