I wasn't talking about TCGO. I'm talking about the physical card game. True it is way more money incentive lately than it used to be but the point remains.
I don't endorse it completely replacing everything. I don't see it as nonsense because unlike most of the freemium games out there Pokemon's pretty fair about it excluding Shuffle which is a good example of what not to do (yet somehow has a lot of support from people?? idk I just prefer the way Puzzle & Dragons and Love Live do it. Especially Rumble world - Way more fair.)
However I see many complaints about people not wanting to buy OR/AS for a good number of selfish reasons. To top it off - again, Pokemon League is a factor. They try to press that on people but do nothing to encourage people's attendance because Prize Support is garbage outside of a few staples like Muscle Band and N.
I'm not talking about completely butchering the game by making everything NEEDED a pay2win. In fact the only Pay2Win out of this is Shuffle. but I can see them doing something for the anniversary. Not a lot of people can afford full games lately, especially Pokemon's fanbase.
for example: College Students.
I've met many college students who want X/Y or OR/AS but sadly cannot really afford it in their current state. Heck I've seen friends have no other choice but to sell their games to make some money for needs.
So for this reason I think the freemium aspect benefits a lot of people. Especially the way Pokemon does it.
1. The physical card game is NOT 'freemium' by any means at all. In fact, it is 100% premium. What is 'free' in the TCG? It is a very expensive card game which requires sufficient funds for collection and/or competitive use. The prices of certain cards are over-inflated with a positive correlation against demand. It is by no means 'freemium.' This is an investment which you make.
2. I have never heard such complaints, you are not entitled to join the Pokemon League Championships, the majority do not, but it's not because of 'prize stables' so much as it is availability. The leagues in Europe are extremely lackluster compared to our North American counterpart, we also have fewer event distributions, that is a huge factor in our participation.
3. I'm arguing that pay2win games are the destruction of gaming as we know it. If you were a business and sought to make money, why put effort into making full price video games which require more effort and funding rather than getting a small group together and making the monstrosity that is freemium gaming for a quick buck? Do you understand the power of this marketing? A child may see the face of Pikachu on an otherwise Candy Crush clone and immediately desire gems or whatever currency to try to capture it, if this is acceptable by today's means then why waste time on full-length games?
4. Your argument that college students can't afford XY/ORAS and rely on freemium games makes no sense. I am a college student myself and without a doubt I can already see Pokemon Shuffle and Rumble World costing me much, much more down the line than a pay once to play game. In addition, the games are announced months before release, if you put aside the money you would spend for micro transactions weekly, you would be able to purchase a full game two-fold.
'Heck I've seen friends have no other choice but to sell their games to make some money for needs.'
If your friends are in such a state that selling video games to fulfill their needs is the only way for them to survive, I cannot possibly see what they would be doing trying to play freemium games. They will eventually reach a stalemate, like many others, where they must fork over money to proceed. It is how these games are engineered.
Finally, you say 'especially the way Pokemon does it' and it begs the question, how do they do it differently? They use the same micro transactions prices, the same 'currency', same 5 lives mechanic (Candy Crush) and same wait 5 hours to play again scheme.
