Monitization
Fair, honest, ethical how to monetize your game
Introduction
Monetization isn’t just about making money—it shapes how players experience your game and impacts the industry's long-term health. This article explores ethical monetization models, tools, and best practices while calling out harmful tactics that developers should avoid.
At Heathen, we oppose exploitative monetization. Some of our language may be blunt, but the goal is to inform, not offend. Bad practices harm players, developers, and the industry as a whole, and it's time to be honest about their consequences.
We'll break down major monetization models (such as pay-to-play and free-to-play), discuss effective monetization tools (like expansions and subscriptions), and highlight sustainable approaches that benefit both developers and players.
Direct Impact on Game Design and Players
Your monetization model doesn’t just influence revenue—it directly shapes your game’s design and how players interact with it.
Monetizing through low-cost consumables (MTX), whether intentional or not, inevitably shifts design away from entertainment and toward engineered frustration. Instead of exploring a world, players navigate a system designed to extract transactions.
This leads to two common player mindsets:
The "Free" Player – Treats the game like a job, grinding endlessly to avoid spending money.
The Whale – Seeks dominance through spending, making purchases the core gameplay loop.
Very few players in this model are simply enjoying the game. Instead, they are either fighting against the monetization or trying to buy their way past it.
Conversely, when monetization aligns with player enjoyment, through direct purchases, DLC, or subscriptions, it enhances the experience: ✅ Players buy what they enjoy rather than paying to bypass frustration. ✅ Developers profit from creating compelling content instead of designing roadblocks. ✅ Communities thrive on shared experiences rather than pay-to-win hierarchies.
Take EverQuest, once called EverCrack. The nickname wasn’t about exploitation—it was about engagement. Because EverQuest used a subscription model, the developers’ success depended on making a game that players genuinely wanted to keep playing. Expansions added meaningful content, not artificial barriers.
If your prosperity depends on player happiness, you will build a better game. If it depends on frustration, you will design a worse one.
What Works & What Doesn't
What Works Ethical monetization follows these key principles: ✅ Clear, upfront pricing – Players should always know what they are paying for. ✅ No premium currencies – These obscure real costs and encourage overspending. ✅ No loot boxes or randomized purchases – Players should never have to gamble for content. ✅ DLC and expansions should be transparent – Clearly defined content, upfront pricing, and consumer protections (like refunds) build trust.
Done right, these approaches create a sustainable business while fostering long-term player loyalty.
What Doesn't Some monetization methods, intentional or not, are inherently exploitative: ❌ Premium currencies – Obfuscate real-world costs to encourage overspending. ❌ Loot boxes – Randomized purchases encourage gambling-like behavior. ❌ Endless microtransactions – Uncapped spending invites financial harm. ❌ "Surprise mechanics" – A marketing-friendly term for gambling-adjacent systems.
These tactics damage trust, invite regulatory scrutiny, and ultimately harm the industry.
The Problem with "Whaling"
Some developers argue that high-spending players ("whales") willingly participate, making extreme monetization acceptable. This ignores key realities:
Predatory monetization disproportionately harms vulnerable players, including minors and those susceptible to compulsive spending.
Regulation is increasing worldwide, as governments impose stricter oversight on exploitative practices.
Unchecked monetization damages the industry long-term, leading to lawsuits, market backlash, and declining player trust.
If your game allows infinite or excessive spending, it is part of the problem. Ethical monetization not only prevents harm but also ensures long-term sustainability.
Ethics vs. Legality
A common defense is that no one is "forced" to spend money in a game. By that logic, fraudulent schemes should also be acceptable since participation is voluntary.
The reality is that industries like gambling are heavily regulated due to their potential for harm. If the game industry continues to ignore ethical concerns, stricter regulations will follow. The best approach is transparent, consumer-friendly monetization from the start.
The Long-Term Risks of Predatory MTX
Even if predatory monetization delivers short-term profits, it carries significant risks:
Player backlash – Pay-to-win accusations, distrust, and negative publicity.
Legal consequences – Fines, lawsuits, and potential bans in key markets.
Market instability – The collapse of mobile gaming trust has already led to declining revenue in some sectors.
As Unity’s former CEO infamously (but correctly) put it, ignoring ethical monetization is "foolish." Sustainable practices benefit both developers and players, ensuring longevity instead of short-term cash grabs.
Moving Forward
Bad practices may still be common, but the tide is turning. Governments, platforms, and players are pushing back against exploitative monetization.
The solution is simple: ✅ Charge fair, upfront prices for clear content. ✅ Cap spending to prevent excessive financial harm. ✅ Be transparent—players should always know what they’re paying for.
Fair monetization isn’t just the ethical choice—it’s the best business strategy for long-term success. Build trust. Build loyalty. Build a better game.
Models
👌Free
You’ve probably heard the saying, “Nothing is free.” That’s true, but when we call a game free, we mean it’s not monetized directly through the player. Instead, revenue comes from external sources.
Here’s how:
Ad-Funded Models
Instead of relying on predatory monetization, some games use the broadcast TV model—ads. This can work honestly if done right.
Playable Ads – Mini-games disguised as ads, often rewarding players for engagement.
Ad Rewards – Players watch an ad in exchange for in-game benefits.
Product Placement – Can enhance immersion or feel like a dystopian nightmare. Execution matters.
Old-School Banner Ads – Like web ads, but in a game. Low engagement, often annoying, but an option.
Companion Games
A companion game is a small, standalone title that expands your game world. It’s not directly monetized but serves as a marketing tool, keeping players engaged even when they aren’t playing the main game. If done well, it can drive interest in your core game without feeling like a hard sell.
👌Free to Play (F2P)
When Free to Play first emerged, it faced a major issue: misunderstanding. Many players assumed "F2P" meant free, but that’s never the case.
💡 "Nothing is free, Zoomer!" – Some Boomer, probably.
What F2P means is that starting the game costs nothing. The monetization comes later, whether through progress caps, time gates, content restrictions, or other limitations. Games cost money to make, so playing them will always cost something.
Why Choose F2P?
For indie devs, the zero barrier to entry is the main draw. More players can try the game risk-free, which helps build a player base, especially crucial for multiplayer titles where an active community = fun.
The F2P Stigma
F2P games still carry a stigma, often seen as: ❌ Cheap cash grabs ❌ Predatory schemes ❌ Pay-to-win nightmares
While some quality F2P games have proven this doesn’t have to be true, they remain the minority. If you go this route, your marketing must be clear and upfront—otherwise, players will assume the worst.
Modern Issues
F2P games pioneered predatory monetization, and for mobile titles, it’s now assumed by default. Major publishers like Blizzard and NetEase are pushing to normalize this on PC and console, but players remain skeptical. If your F2P game includes MTX, expect an uphill battle for trust and goodwill.
✅Pay to Play (P2P)
The original form of monetization. A player pays once, you deliver the game, and that’s it. Simple, transparent, and the gold standard for consumers.
So why does anything else exist?
The Reality of "Pay Once"
The biggest challenge with P2P is sustainability. A one-time purchase often isn’t enough to cover:
Ongoing support & updates (even for single-player games).
Inflation—game prices have remained stagnant while development costs have skyrocketed.
The modern gaming landscape, where players expect long-term engagement and content.
This doesn’t mean Pay to Play is dead—it just means studios need to plan for post-launch costs and consider additional monetization strategies.
Key Factors in P2P Success
Team Size – Smaller is Smarter
Keeping your team lean reduces overhead and improves efficiency. Instead of "staffing up" just to crunch and lay off, consider working with specialized partners when needed.
Scope – Scale Realistically
You’ve probably already reduced your vision—but reduce it again. Most developers overestimate what they can achieve within their budget. A well-scoped, polished game will always outperform an over-ambitious, unfinished one.
Monetization & Sustainability
P2P lacks flexibility. Some studios have tried raising game prices ($70–$100+), but this alienates players and isn’t a long-term fix.
Instead of fighting an endless pricing war, consider hybrid monetization models that align with your audience and don’t feel exploitative. Well-integrated DLC, expansions, or fair subscription models can support P2P without undermining trust.
The Goal? Sustainable, Consumer-Friendly Monetization
There’s no one-size-fits-all solution. Every game is unique. The key is finding a monetization model that respects players, sustains your studio, and doesn’t feel like a cash grab.
💩Pay to Win (P2W)
Pay to Win (P2W) refers to a Free-to-Play (F2P) model where game mechanics intentionally hinder non-paying players—forcing them to spend money to remain competitive.
This is typically done through:
Buying grind skips – Paying for time advantages.
Purchasing power – Directly increasing player strength.
At its worst, P2W removes skill as a deciding factor, making victory a matter of who spends more.
When Pay to Win Goes Too Far
Diablo Immortal: The Poster Child of P2W Gone Wrong
In Diablo Immortal, players can spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to overpower even the most skilled competitors. No matter how talented a non-paying player is, a paying amateur will always have the advantage.
Common Defense:
“It’s not Pay to Win, it’s Pay to Play at a Higher Level.”
Reality? There’s no cap on spending.
This means the competitive balance is completely broken—whoever pays more, wins more.
Why P2W Fails as Game Design
Beyond issues of fairness and predatory monetization, Pay to Win introduces fundamental design flaws:
1. It Undermines Player Motivation
A well-designed game should motivate players through skill progression and mastery.
P2W replaces this with extrinsic motivation:
"Have I paid enough to win?"
"Should I buy more to guarantee victory?"
"Can I skip gameplay altogether?"
At this point, players aren’t enjoying the game—they’re avoiding disappointment.
2. It Mimics Gambling Psychology
When in-game power has real monetary value, player behavior shifts toward risk vs. reward calculations, similar to gambling.
P2W exploits this by subtly encouraging spending to "avoid losing" rather than playing to win.
The Verdict: P2W is Not Game Design—It's a Monetization Trap
Pay to Win isn’t about making a great game—it’s about monetizing narcissism. Wealthy players get to stomp skilled competitors, and studios reap the profits.
But in the long run?
Players leave once they realize they’re in an arms race against wallets, not skill.
Studios lose trust, and the game's lifespan suffers.
A fair, well-balanced monetization model will always outperform P2W in building a sustainable, engaged community.
🚓Play to Earn (P2E)
Play to Earn (P2E) is an extremely problematic monetization model, and in Heathen’s professional opinion, it should be avoided at all costs.
This goes beyond NFTs and other hated buzzwords—the core mechanics of P2E are more common than many realize, often crossing legal and ethical lines.
What is Play to Earn?
Definition: A Play to Earn model requires players to invest value into the game and, through gameplay, they can gain or lose value.
At its core, this is gambling.
"Player invests some value" = Placing a bet or "anteing up."
"Playing the game can earn or lose" = Winning the pot or losing the wager.
Because of this, many governments classify P2E as gambling. Additionally, depending on the design, P2E may also be considered securities fraud.
Legal & Ethical Problems with P2E
1. Gambling Laws & Regulatory Issues
Many countries strictly regulate or outright ban gambling-like mechanics in video games.
EU & UK: The UK Gambling Commission and European regulators have taken action against games that allow real-money transactions with loss potential.
US: Gambling laws vary by state, but if money or valuable digital assets can be won or lost, it often falls under gambling regulations.
China & South Korea: Both have severe restrictions on real-money gaming and have shut down multiple P2E projects.
If your game involves financial risk or reward tied to chance, you must comply with gambling regulations, which often means licensing, oversight, and age restrictions.
2. Securities Fraud Risks
Depending on how P2E is structured, it may be classified as an investment security.
If players purchase in-game assets with the expectation of resale for profit, your game could fall under securities laws (like the SEC regulations in the US).
This is why many crypto-based P2E projects are under investigation—they promise financial returns without proper regulation.
Failure to comply with securities laws can lead to legal action, heavy fines, and game shutdowns.
3. Exploitative Business Model
Most P2E games rely on new players investing money to fund the rewards of older players, which mirrors the mechanics of a Ponzi scheme.
Early adopters profit, but later players get burned.
Many P2E games collapse when the influx of new players dries up.
This leads to a cycle of short-lived, unsustainable games, where only the developers and early whales benefit.
4. Environmental & Economic Issues
Many P2E games use cryptocurrency-based economies, which come with their own problems:
High energy consumption (if blockchain-based).
In-game economies become unstable, leading to crashes where players lose real money.
Exploitation of players in low-income regions, where companies target people with promises of income, but the earnings often don’t justify the investment.
The Verdict: Stay Far Away from P2E
While the idea of earning from gameplay is appealing on paper, the real-world execution is deeply flawed.
🔴 Legal risks (gambling & securities laws). 🔴 Unethical exploitation (Ponzi-like structures). 🔴 Unsustainable economies (games collapsing when new players stop investing).
Play-to-Earn is not a viable model for any game that values long-term sustainability and player trust.
Instruments
❌Artificial Scarcity
Artificial scarcity is a manipulative and predatory tactic commonly used in digital commerce and gaming.
Why is this bad? Creating limited-time or exclusive items triggers FOMO (Fear of Missing Out), pushing players to buy out of fear rather than genuine interest. This leads to buyer’s remorse and a negative impact on the community when items are later re-released or reskinned. Players feel deceived, which harms brand trust and loyalty.
Why Do Developers Use It? It’s an effective strategy based on supply and demand. By limiting availability, demand rises, boosting short-term sales. However, this can damage long-term relationships with players and erode consumer trust.
👌Bundles
Bundles combine multiple items at a discount, but excessive bundling or poor execution can devalue your products and harm your brand’s sustainability.
How It Can Be Harmful Frequent discounts or poorly structured bundles can reduce the perceived value of your products, making the pricing model unsustainable in the long run.
Types of Bundles
Season Pass / Pre-order Bundles: Sold in advance for upcoming content at a discount.
Content Bundles: Fixed-price bundles like "Game of the Year" editions, offering known content without FOMO.
Game Bundles: Multiple games bundled together at a discount to encourage exploration.
Best Practices
Dynamic Bundles: Adjust prices based on items the user already owns to ensure fairness.
A La Carte Options: Let users buy individual items to avoid frustrating customers with unwanted content.
⚠️Community Marketplace
Allowing players to buy and sell items with real currency can be a risky practice, often leading to unintended consequences like legal issues and harm to the community.
Why It Can Be Harmful Community marketplaces can unintentionally turn into exploitative systems, similar to Play-to-Earn models. They introduce “real value” to in-game items, which affects player motivation and shifts focus from intrinsic enjoyment to extrinsic rewards like gambling or investment. This creates a disconnect between what makes games fun and what makes them a business transaction.
Community Building While a marketplace can build a community by encouraging engagement, when real money is involved, it transitions from game enjoyment to market manipulation. This can turn gameplay into more of a job than a fun experience, detracting from the overall experience.
Anti-Grey Market Marketplaces can be used to combat grey markets (unregulated player-to-player sales), but they often create new problems, like regulation and security issues. They don’t resolve the underlying issues and can even worsen them.
Best Practices
Use with Caution: If you implement a marketplace, carefully consider its impact on player motivation and ensure it doesn’t shift the focus of your game away from fun to financial investment.
✅Expansions
Expansions are an excellent way to monetize, offering additional content for purchase while keeping the core game intact. They are transparent, flexible, and consumer-friendly. This model works well with various other monetization methods.
DLC (Downloadable Content)
What It Is: DLCs unlock additional content, often already present in the game, through a license key. This concept evolved from physical expansions (like additional disks) to digital licenses.
Full DLC: Major expansions like Witcher 3's Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine, which add significant content and could be priced similarly to a full game.
Small DLC: These include smaller updates, like new characters or items, often priced lower.
DLC Hell Many games end up with too many DLCs, making the full buy-in price prohibitively expensive (e.g., Stellaris costing 300€ for all expansions). This creates frustration for players who must spend excessively to catch up.
Solution: Use dynamic bundles to reduce the impact of DLC Hell. This allows new or returning players to catch up with all content at a reasonable price, rather than forcing them to buy every expansion separately.
Expansion Bundles Bundling expansions can offer discounts and attract purchases. A Dynamic Bundle adjusts the price based on what content the player already owns, allowing for a fair and reasonable price.
Editions Re-releasing games with all expansions included, often as “Game of the Year” or “Ultimate” editions, can alleviate DLC Hell, especially for older titles with many expansions. This approach bundles the core game and expansions together for a single, discounted price.
Best Practices
Avoid pricing players out with high "full buy-in" costs.
Use dynamic bundles to offer fair pricing for new and returning players.
Consider offering editions that bundle all expansions for a single fee, especially for older games.
❌FOMO (Fear of Missing Out)
FOMO is a marketing tactic that manipulates customers into making purchases based on fear rather than desire. It relies on creating artificial scarcity (limited time offers, flash sales) to pressure consumers into buying quickly. This practice is inherently manipulative and often linked to other predatory mechanics like gacha or surprise mechanics.
Variants of FOMO
Lightning Deals: These deals use a countdown timer or progress bar to create urgency, often paired with steep discounts. This is typically used when the product lacks inherent value and needs to induce anxiety to drive sales.
Limited Edition: A marketing tool that claims products are in limited supply. In reality, digital goods can be infinitely copied, so "limited editions" often only apply to those willing to pay more, not a true scarcity.
Vaulting: Popularized by companies like Disney and Nintendo, vaulting involves delisting products for a while to create scarcity. Customers are encouraged to buy now under the guise that the product will be unavailable for a period, often creating an artificial sense of urgency.
Risks and Ethics
Manipulative: FOMO tactics push consumers to make quick, emotionally-driven decisions rather than informed purchases, which can lead to dissatisfaction.
Legal Concerns: Practices like Limited Editions and Vaulting may violate consumer protection laws, especially in regions with strict rules like Europe and parts of the US.
Recommendation Avoid using FOMO tactics as they can damage trust and lead to long-term negative outcomes. If employed, they should be handled with caution to prevent exploitation and legal issues.
❌Gacha
What is Gacha? Gacha refers to randomized loot mechanics in games, similar to slot machines, where players spend money for a chance at rewards.
Is Gacha Gambling?
Yes, gacha is a form of gambling. It relies on probability and investment, often with no guaranteed return. Some regions regulate it as gambling due to its similarities with slot machines and its potential harm, particularly to vulnerable players.
Types of Gacha Mechanics
Complete Gacha: Collecting random items to complete sets, with rare items becoming increasingly harder to obtain.
Box Gacha: Hidden costs where each loot pull may not reveal the true price, encouraging more spending.
Redraw Gacha: Re-rolling for better rewards, often disguised as "free spins."
Trade Gacha: Unwanted items are traded for currency or extra pulls.
Consecutive Gacha: Bulk purchases for "discounted" pulls, pushing players to spend more.
Step-up Gacha: Odds of getting rare items increase with each pull, encouraging higher spending.
Discount Gacha: Offers discounts to make high-cost loot boxes seem like a better deal.
Ethical Risks
Gacha exploits gambling psychology, encourages addictive spending, and may result in legal scrutiny, particularly if odds aren't transparent. It's advised to avoid or disclose full costs and odds when implementing such mechanics.
⚠️Microtransactions (MTX)
MTX is a common monetization strategy, neutral by itself but impactful based on what and how it's sold.
Key Considerations
Max Spend: Control the maximum amount a player can spend, ensuring fairness and transparency. Healthy MTX models are often structured as expansions or DLCs.
What NOT to Do
Premium Currency
Players buy in-game currency with real money, obscuring true value and often leaving them with wasted, unspendable amounts.
Free Currency
Players earn small amounts of currency that aren’t enough to buy items, pushing them to spend more to unlock rewards.
Play-to-Earn
Long grinds make players more likely to buy currency instead of earning it, creating a cycle of spending.
Player Power / Skips
Allowing players to pay for time-saving skips or advantages leads to a "Pay-to-Win" model, disrupting game balance and player motivation.
⚠️Seasons
Seasons in games are timed events offering both free and premium content, often in the form of progression paths and rewards. When done right, they can create shared experiences and value for both free and premium players. However, if misused, they can lead to predatory practices, community toxicity, and player frustration.
Heathen's Recommendations for Seasons
Pre-Build the First Few Seasons
Pre-plan the first few seasons to gauge development effort and ensure quality.
Start with 2 seasons per year, and increase if successful.
Plan for the "Last Season"
Seasons should link into a long-term journey, with a plan for when to end support or the series.
Don’t assume the game will run forever; plan for a final season in the storyline.
The Good
Avoid FOMO: Ensure content remains accessible, even after a season ends. Players shouldn’t feel they’ve missed out.
Avoid Pay-to-Win: Event rewards should not impact the core game experience. Premium players shouldn’t have a competitive advantage.
No Skips/Boosts: Skips or boosts create FOMO and unfair advantages, undermining the integrity of the game.
Persistence: Where possible, make meaningful content persistent. This allows players to enjoy past seasons' content, even after the season ends.
The Bad & The Ugly
FOMO-driven Seasons: Predatory designs use time-limited content to create stress and pressure players into buying boosts or passes.
Toxic Communities: FOMO mechanics and time-limited content can lead to players feeling like they’re "working" instead of having fun, breeding negativity and frustration within the community.
In summary, seasons can add real value to a game, but when designed poorly, they become manipulative and alienate players. They should be carefully balanced to avoid exploitation.
✅Subscription
A subscription model is a straightforward approach to cover operational costs by charging players for access to ongoing content and services. While it can provide a stable revenue stream, it has the same challenges as "one-time purchases" in terms of player accessibility and long-term sustainability.
Challenges of the Subscription Model
Pricing Out Players: A high subscription fee can limit the player base, requiring more costly subscriptions to make up for the loss in volume.
Sustainability: Over time, the subscription model becomes harder to manage, particularly if player churn is high or if the value proposition doesn’t scale well.
Recommended Use of Subscriptions
Offer a low-cost or free entry point to attract players.
Provide optional expansions as one-time purchases for players who want deeper content.
Introduce a subscription option for fans who want ongoing perks and benefits at a discounted rate.
In this model, the subscription is not forced upon players, making it a consumer-friendly alternative to a purely pay-to-play structure.
❌Lootbox / Surprise Mechanics
Surprise mechanics, often in the form of loot boxes, are a predatory practice when used in monetization. These mechanics obscure the contents of a purchase, making it a gamble for the player. While the mechanics might be framed differently—such as packs of cards, bags of tokens, or other items—the core concept remains the same: the player doesn't know what they're getting until after purchase, and the outcome is based on chance.
Key Issues with Surprise Mechanics
Obscurity & Chance: Players cannot know what they will receive in advance, making the process similar to gambling. Even if odds are displayed, the fundamental mechanics are still based on chance, leading to a game of risk for the player.
Gacha Mechanics vs Loot Boxes:
Gacha: A system where players collect items, often with the goal of completing a set. Lower-tier items are exchanged or combined for higher-tier ones. This creates a cycle of increased spending with diminishing rewards.
Loot Boxes: Often used in conjunction with gacha mechanics, loot boxes can contain parts of an item, requiring players to repeatedly purchase them to complete a collection. This layering of chance-based rewards and collectible systems increases the exploitative nature.
Variants of Surprise Mechanics
Show Before Buy:
Players are shown the contents of a loot box before deciding to buy. They may pass on it, but after passing, they lose the chance to buy that specific box again.
This variant uses Fear of Missing Out (FOMO), driving players to buy more frequently, often for fear that they might miss out on something better in the future.
Slot Machine Model:
The allure of a "jackpot" or rare loot item creates a gambling dynamic, where players continuously "spin" to see what they get.
This taps into psychological triggers like the excitement of the unknown and the desire for a rare reward.
Displaying Odds:
Even if the odds of receiving a certain item are displayed, this doesn't change the underlying issue that the player is still gambling. The system still capitalizes on chance-based rewards and the psychological manipulation associated with gambling.
Exchange Mechanisms:
In some regions where loot boxes are banned, systems may exchange non-loot box items or currency for loot boxes, like "keys." This is similar to Pachinko-style exchanges, which are still a form of gambling and circumvent regulatory concerns.
Why It's Predatory
The primary issue with surprise mechanics is that they exploit the same psychological mechanisms as gambling. Players are driven to spend money in hopes of obtaining rare or valuable items, with little transparency or understanding of the actual odds. Even with odds displayed, the mechanics remain a gamble, and the overall effect is that players are incentivized to spend more and more, often without receiving anything of tangible value in return. This creates a cycle of frustration and spending, especially when rare items are unattainable without continuous investment.
Recommendation
Surprise mechanics, when not handled carefully, can lead to negative player experiences, fostering toxic communities and dissatisfaction. If used at all, they should be implemented transparently, with clear and fair systems that avoid exploitative practices.
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