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TenTonHammer - The $med cash interview
jinxit
Member UncommonPosts: 854
John Smedley on Station Cash: "We aren't going free to play"
Posted December 10th, 2008 by Ethec
SOE's President pulls no punches on what Station Cash means to SOE MMOGs.
SOE President
John Smedley
Yesterday, SOE released a FAQ discussing Station Cash, which (in their words) is SOE's "new virtual currency that players can buy to fund a virtual wallet. Once a wallet has been funded, Station Cash can be used to purchase premium in-game items through the in-game Marketplace in EverQuest® and EverQuest® II."
We caught up with SOE president John Smedley to briefly discuss what Station Cash will mean to SOE's venerable stable of MMORPGs now and in the future.
Ten Ton Hammer: Having a partial items for cash and subscription model is a little outside the ordinary for MMOGs. What caused SOE to go in such a radical direction?
John Smedley: "Over time we want Station Cash to be used for a lot of cool stuff (including subscriptions at some point). That will include things like getting a photo of your guild physically mailed to you, or a t-shirt of your character. We want it to be our currency across all our games. It really isn't a radical change in direction from our perspective. EQ and EQ 2 are not going to switch to being microtransaction based games. We're just adding some additional cool things players can do."
Is this a model you think other companies will attempt to incorporate?
"I'm not sure. I think this model paves the way for new ways of monetizing MMOs. Not everything needs to be a subscription in the future."
Is this an experiment in your current games? Are there plans to go fully Free-to-Play?
"This isn't an experiment and we aren't going free to play."
SOE is known for its dedicated and loyal fanbase. How are you expecting the community to react?
"Our fanbase is always very vocal in telling us how they feel about our games. I would expect there to be some positive and some negative. I think mostly people are just going to play the games. Some will try it, and others won't."
Does this indicate a change in the overall SOE revenue model for MMORPGs?
"No... it is adding another model though and one that should allow us to do a lot of cool things."
The comments after the interview are very interesting and is it just me or does this guy overly use the word "cool" in every statement he makes?
Comments
thanks for posting this
its depressing (to me) because its made clear that StationCash is a permanent feature (not an experiment)
but worth reading
EQ2 fan sites
Indeed, it also makes it clear that it doesn't matter how much protesting the SOE players / fanbase do , it won't change a thing. Station cash and it's cash shops are here to stay and will eventually be expanded across numerous SOE titles...whether current/future SOE customers like it or not.
To me it sounds like they are slowly planning to make their smaller games F2P.
But this is really dumber even than the NGE, at least that could have worked. This will kill SOE for good.
And yes, if they don't lose every single player from EQ 1 and 2 they will use the system at least in SWG also. Vanguard might be to small for them to bother about.
I really hate Smedley, SOE could have been so much bigger without him.
Indeed, it also makes it clear that it doesn't matter how much protesting the SOE players / fanbase do , it won't change a thing. Station cash and it's cash shops are here to stay and will eventually be expanded across numerous SOE titles...whether current/future SOE customers like it or not.
Are you suprised?
The NGE was pushed through all our throats as well. The vast majority didn't want it and mass cancelation of accounts was the result.
A mass cancelation of such proportions only Funcom with Age of Conan has managed to achieve.
Yet they kept the NGE in place and appearently didn't give a darn they lost over 80% of their playerbase in a record short time.
And now they going to lose a lot of EQ1/EQ2 players over this and they won't give a darn either.
Appearently Mr. Smeds eyes are already focussed on Free Realms, The Agency and DC Universe Online.
All other games, EQ1 and EQ2 are appearently already history to him.
Cheers
"This isn't an experiment and we aren't going free to play." - smedy boy.
[charsig=http://lotrosigs.level3.turbine.com/032020000001a0f62/01007/signature.png]Altineen[/charsig]
Indeed, it also makes it clear that it doesn't matter how much protesting the SOE players / fanbase do , it won't change a thing. Station cash and it's cash shops are here to stay and will eventually be expanded across numerous SOE titles...whether current/future SOE customers like it or not.
Are you suprised?
The NGE was pushed through all our throats as well. The vast majority didn't want it and mass cancelation of accounts was the result.
A mass cancelation of such proportions only Funcom with Age of Conan has managed to achieve.
Yet they kept the NGE in place and appearently didn't give a darn they lost over 80% of their playerbase in a record short time.
And now they going to lose a lot of EQ1/EQ2 players over this and they won't give a darn either.
Appearently Mr. Smeds eyes are already focussed on Free Realms, The Agency and DC Universe Online.
All other games, EQ1 and EQ2 are appearently already history to him.
Cheers
There are probably ways they could have done this without such an outburst around various forums. Then even if they eventually add more items it would probably have been time to head to the next game anyway.
The major issue with SOE is that they didn't even ask any current player what they thought about this. When they did the polls before the station exchange servers.. it should have been an indication.
This is the exact same thing they did with the NGE. I had just got a bunch of people to come back as I had learned to live with the CU. Just as about 100 people were back in our city we saw a post that in 14 days a new system that no one had ever heard of.. or given feedback on would be put into the game.
I actually lost a lot of friends over that and I really don't blame them.
I could swear I saw Smedley post somewhere once that the NGE taught him to communicate better with the players.
Communication would have been to show the proposed system and gotten feedback. Not push it live then ignore the feedback.
Anyway the short version:
The main reason there is such outrage imho is that they didn't even ask for feedback prior to adding this.
Or just sent the feedbakc forms to the shill and fonboys of SOE..but more likely just made up the story about "feedback"
They did made it up.
They said they held an ingame survey and that this Cash Shop was what the majority wanted.
Funny thing is, that nor me, nor my gf, nor any of my friends, nor any I know, nor the people on the official forums know about this Cash Shop survey!
It simply doesn't exist.
It's just another SOE lie to cover it up and justify this crap.
Cheers
They did made it up.
They said they held an ingame survey and that this Cash Shop was what the majority wanted.
Funny thing is, that nor me, nor my gf, nor any of my friends, nor any I know, nor the people on the official forums know about this Cash Shop survey!
It simply doesn't exist.
It's just another SOE lie to cover it up and justify this crap.
Cheers
According to the general chit chat on the forums there was a "survey" carried out rather than feedback being taken into consideration.
From what i can gather there was no ingame survey as such ( besides the recent "why did you quit?" survey that was done ).
The " survey " and " feedback " that SOE are actually talking about was taken at the various SOE fan faire's.
That's why no one knew of a cash shop survey...because it was only open to the die hard SOE fans at the fan faire's.
How can someone answer such a survey if they really did quit? Returning players no longer had quit the game.
Kind of defeats getting a truthful answer, too!
.:| Kevyne@Shandris - Armory |:. - When WoW was #1 - .:| I AM A HOLY PALADIN - Guild Theme |:.
Fixed.
How can someone answer such a survey if they really did quit? Returning players no longer had quit the game.
Kind of defeats getting a truthful answer, too!
Your taking that part of my post completely out of context . I did not say that the "why did you quit?" survey had anything to do with the implementation of station cash. Try reading the post again.
All this guy ever talks about is money. I can't find one interview with him where he focuses on gameplay in any of his games. He can't even muster a believable statement that would make anyone think he even plays his own games. Even the interviews where he is forced to talk about what makes a game fun devolve into some revenue stream discussion. That is all that John Smedley knows anymore and sadly he is in charge.
Tshirts and coffee mugs my ass. This is the same exact slight of hand they did with the NGE. Wouldn't it be cool if guilds could have their own star destroyers? These changes will allow us to add much more content much faster! Just wait, keep waiting and paying. Don't pay attention to right now, imagine how great the future will be with all my empty promises.
Why doesn't he for once in his life wait to introduce something that has all the "cool features" he promises in the future instead of his typical bullcrap about how rosey the future is, just wait for it. Soon we will add all these cool things. Just wait.
We all know how this story is going to end. SOE is just figuring another way for its subscribers to pay additional fees for the same exact product they were playing a month ago. There is zero benefit to their paying customers by removing content and putting a price tag on it. I fully expect the SOE hardcores to roll over while Smedly takes a big steaming dump on their carpet and then rush to defend his actions, as usual.
NGE was not just SOE tho it was LA just as much.
and No I am not a fanboi I dont play any of SOE's games and dont plan to anytime soon, Just do like seeing ToyBoy Lucas get off with the crap he has pulled and now we will all get to see that with this next failed release that is coming KoTOR.
Assassin's like to do it in the dark and from behind.