Why do they rotate items in the shop?

[Timmy]

I was interested in getting something but its not in the shop now. Do they really think this transparent artificial scarcity tactic will work? It honestly makes me less interested in buying anything O_o

[varicose 'vascular' vinny]

because some egghead spreadsheeted that they would make more money. it sucks that with so many garbage revisions lately they don't at least change it to every week or something, with the amount of cosmetics in the game now all I see are people whining every refresh. so they could easily double the rate at which people rage at it.

[FoxKing]

FOMO

[ThePaleHunter]

Yeah the shop sucks. They should open the catalog so people can buy what they want, but some marketing consultant told them they'd make .04% more money this way.

[Runic Tunic]

It's not about if it works on the majority but the few it does work on. Specifically, the ones with a lot of expendable income and poor impulse control. These people will end up spending hundreds of dollars more than than the average player. So much so that despite making up only a fraction of the community, it's more "financially viable" to encourage their spending habits with FOMO tactics than opening up the shop and/or reduce the prices.

It's why it's so prevalent in free/always online games. Also horrible business practice, but clearly it's paying off, otherwise they'd abandon it by now.

[Slithy]

Honestly, it's leaving money on the table. Most people wait for the specific outfit for the 40K thing they specifically fangirl about. I highly doubt a Krieg fan is going to settle for Chem-Dogs.

[EnStorEn]

FOMO, because Fatshark sold out to tencent and became horrible, greedy people.

[EnStorEn]

Originally posted by Slithy:

Honestly, it's leaving money on the table. Most people wait for the specific outfit for the 40K thing they specifically fangirl about. I highly doubt a Krieg fan is going to settle for Chem-Dogs.

Krieg outfit is terrible anyway. The meshes aren't even complete and are lore inaccurate. Like most of the cosmetics they are poorly made cashgrabs.

[Zsrai]

Originally posted by Slithy:

Honestly, it's leaving money on the table. Most people wait for the specific outfit for the 40K thing they specifically fangirl about. I highly doubt a Krieg fan is going to settle for Chem-Dogs.

It's not though. Normal buyers will pick and choose 1 or 2 outfits, but whales with their FOMO means they buy most/all of what's available. If the store was just open, and the whales could pick and choose, they'd probably buy a handful but not at least one purchase every rotation.

[Tunnfisk]

Originally posted by FoxKing:

FOMO

Originally posted by EnStorEn:

FOMO, because Fatshark sold out to tencent and became horrible, greedy people.

Originally posted by Moon:

It's a model that makes more money, and therefore is the correct model to implement.

People with either lots of money or bad financial discipline will spend more on a rotating store. They are more likely to say "eh I might as well get this, $15 whoop-de-do".

Buyers with low income or just more frugal have a more cautious approach to a rotating store - waiting for that one perfect skin to come along, but never pulling the trigger. A full catalogue benefits these buyers because they can choose their favourite product without fear of buyer's remorse or "maybe I should have waited". A rotating store causes anxiety and stress for this demographic of buyers - as we see in these forums.

If FS implemented a full catalogue then most buyers would likely just choose 1 or 2 of their favourite skins and stick with them (thus not making any more money for the company).

To summerize the discussion:

[Pride Lizard Pride Lizard]

buy thing now because if you dont who knows when it will be back, is the reason

[Silhouette]

It's anti-player, anti-consumer, and a scumbag way to scare folks to buy something before it disappears. :/

I love Darktide's gameplay, but absolutely despise Darktide's cash shop. :(

I wish their store were more like Path of Exile's - were all items are available all the time.
Maybe one day they'll change it; currently though, it's a major disappointment.

[Silhouette]

Originally posted by Moon:

Nothing wrong with maximising profit...

Does it maximize profits though? o_O

Sure, it ensures all current players are fearful they might miss-out on owning an item and pressure them into buying it, but it totally ignores the fact that newer players who missed older items have no way to buy them. o_o

There's old items I've missed that I would purchase if I could. . . but I can't. :/

Either way, It still feels incredibly anti-player. :P

I still love Darktide, but I hate the cash shop's FOMO.

[Phantom Limb]

It is mindboggling, I tell you. Because the same time VT2 has all skins available for purchase at any time. Yet DT is stained by this dumb decision.

[Zsrai]

Originally posted by Silhouette:

Originally posted by Moon:

Nothing wrong with maximising profit...

Does it maximize profits though? o_O

Yes, it does. Read the rest of the thread. A bunch of whales falling for FOMO and buying the majority/all of the cosmetics, and a fair number of "normies" buying more than they otherwise would is more money then everyone buying the 1 or 2 items they want and ignoring the rest in perpetuity. There is a reason this business model is successful. The opportunity cost of pissing some players off and getting zero sales from them is worth the increased sales to people falling for the FOMO aspect.

That's not to say it's good for consumers, but it's good for business.

[Weltraummann Sareth]

Originally posted by Timmy:

I was interested in getting something but its not in the shop now. Do they really think this transparent artificial scarcity tactic will work? It honestly makes me less interested in buying anything O_o

It's because your bird brain would be confused by having such power at your hand. Fatshark themself said so and why you still want to give them money is beyond me at this point.

"It’s important to note that the store is on rotation to give players some variety while at the same time not creating clutter. We feel that unlimited store pages are likely to create confusion and a bad user experience. Rest assured, the cosmetics are not gone forever and will likely reappear."