The former Blizzard president believes that players should be able to tip developers in the amount of $10-20

A few days ago, former Blizzard president Mike Ybarra suggested in his X suggested a new form of expressing gratitude to developers: the ability to leave a $10 or $20 tip for a game, PC Gamer reports. If this is a replacement, not a supplement to the usual microtransactions, then there is something to it.

“When I beat a game, there are some that just leave me in awe of how amazing the experience was. At the end of the game, I’ve often thought “I wish I could give these folks another $10 or $20 because it was worth more than my initial $70 and they didn’t try to nickel and dime me every second,” Ybarra writes.

Ybarra mentioned games such as Horizon: Zero Dawn, God of War, Red Dead Redemption 2, Elden Ring, and Baldur’s Gate 3 as examples of games worth tipping for.

Most commentators were not enthusiastic about Ibarra’s idea. Even if we do not take into account the increase in game prices and the widespread microtransactions in paid games, the question arises as to whose pockets these theoretical tips will end up in.

Collecting tips for further distribution among developers does sound good, but not in an industry where the lion’s share of employees hired for development are often fired after the project is released.

This idea makes a little more sense for small indie developers, but they mostly all have some form of monetization, such as Patreon. Or indie developers often look for funding for new projects on Kickstarter – what better way to support them?